The gruelling off-road dirt-bike marathon that is the Forestland Hard Adventure Enduro was dominated by all the young men Sean Clarke had wisely predicted would probably lead the way, it was just the finishing order that was unpredictable. The premier Gold Grade prize at the annual Husqvarna-sponsored event( FHAE) featured different leaders on the Friday afternoon of Labour Weekend, and again the following day and also on Sunday and, as Clarke had forecast earlier, it was mainly fought over between Amberley’ s Archer Pascoe( Husky TE300), Whitecliffs rider Luke Corson( KTM 300EX), Whangaparoa’ s Jacob Refoy( Sherco 300) and New Plymouth’ s Sam Parker( Husky TE300). The tense battle between the rivals lasted into the final few minutes of the last day. Also, just as the event title indicated, it was always going to stretch every one of the 150-
Whangaparoa’ s Jacob Refoy( Sherco No. 3), in action in the Friday evening prologue and on his way to winning Labour Weekend’ s Forestland Hard Adventure Enduro
plus competitors, although perhaps mostly so for the premier Gold Grade individuals, these elite of the dirt bike community naturally being set the most difficult and unforgiving of forest tracks to traverse and conquer over the course of Labour Weekend. New Zealand Motorcycling Hall of Fame inductee Clarke has been organising events and setting courses for many years now and riders always flock to his events in great numbers, a testimony to the excitement and challenge they provide, and he had warned that this year’ s annual FHAE event in the Central Plateau region would be‘ particularly
24 KIWI RIDER