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By - Ian Miles:
WHIBLEY RETAINS NZ TITLE:
Enduro ace Paul Whibley has defended his national 400 class title with a barn-storming ride on the new KTM.
The multi-talented 24-year-old, who next month resumes an interrupted international career in Europe, carved to within a few seconds of the outright New Zealand title over two brutal days in Hawkes Bay.
Whibley, from Marton, just failed to peg back the lead of his old rival Chris Birch with a flying Sunday performance.
At the end it was sheer lack of time familiarising himself with the new KTM 450EXC that undid Whibley. He collected the orange machine just a week ago and barely had to time set it up, much less adapt to riding it at national-winning pace.
"I was just a bit tentative on the bike on Saturday, especially through the trees, and I lost some time to Chris," said Whibley. "I felt much better in the Sunday ride, much more at home on the bike and I won the day quite easily, but overall the clock was against me. "I'm ready for the next big ride now and I'm very much looking forward to the future."
Whibley flies to Germany in mid-October to ride for the powerful KTM factory of Austria in an international race against some of the leading world championship stars.
