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Sean Clarke the Suzuki mounted Enduro commisioner is arguably the quickest off-road rider in the country right now.
TOKOROA Suzuki rider Sean Clarke goes into this weekend’s Auckland Motorcycles and Powersports (AMPS) Grand National Cross Country series final as firm favourite. It’s not just that the final GNCC round is in his Tokoroa backyard either. From the pine tree covered sandhills of Auckland’s Woodhill Forest through the variable forest and farmland of Waimiha to Maramarua’s fast, open trail, Clarke has simply been in a class of his own.
For the final, he only has to drive a few kilometres from his home to what the AMPS GNCC series organisers describe as one of their best venues: great forest tracks and soft loamy soil, with the added twist of a short tar seal road section. With the AMPs GNCC Series decided over the best four of five rounds, Clarke is leading the No Fear Elite class on 150 corrected points ‑ 27 more than the only other man to have won a round, Hamilton’s Karl Power (Honda CR250).
Clarke elected to miss the Matata round in order to help his local school with a fund raising trail-ride. In his absence, Power ran away with the event, in slippery going. And although he has yet to win a round this year, Power’s Auckland-based cousin Chris Power also has 123 corrected points in this year’s series. But unless Clarke has a major problem at Tokoroa, the Power cousins look like fighting it out for the runner-up spot in the series with Suzuki rider Steven Croad, who is just one point behind them.
If the No Fear Elite class looks almost a forgone conclusion, the same cannot be said for the Alpinestars ATV class. Here the action is sure to be torrid with just 10 points separating the top five riders.
Going into the Tokoroa round, consistency and a win at Maramarua has paid off for Honda TRX rider Alister Cole. He heads the points table, with 132, but Matata winner Roger Macdonald (Yamaha YZF450) is only three points adrift, on 129. Five points behind him is Hawkes Bay Suzuki rider Adam ‘Moose’ Youren, best known for his exploits on Suzuki two-wheelers.
Youren has been knocking on the door on his LTZ400 Suzuki, but has yet to score a win. Tokoroa could be his turn to grab ATV glory.
However, fellow Suzuki rider Mike Higgie knows what it’s like to win in the GNCC ATV class, romping to the chequered flag at Woodhill and Waimiha. However, he has been a little too hard on his equipment at other rounds, which is why he finds himself nine points behind the class leader.
Rounding out the top five ATV men is Andrew Dwyer, who has been on an upwardly mobile path since battling to 31st place at Woodhill. At Matata he was fifth, then grabbed third at Waimiha before taking the runner-up spot at Maramarua.
Tokoroa could just be his turn to win.
Meantime, in the RK Chains Expert division, Hayden Power (Yamaha YZ250F) holds a nine point lead over KTM rider Peter Flexman heading into the Tokoroa final, while in the Bridgestone Pro class, Reese Burgess has his 125 KTM 23 points ahead of Mitchell Nield (Husqvarna WR250) with Gas Gas rider Chris Jeffreys just three points further back.
The AMPS GNCC final will be contested this Saturday and Sunday, February 12 and 13. The Tokoroa venue is 10 km south of Tokoroa on Highway One.
For more information: Contact David Palmer: 021 339-442
