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JANUARY 21, 2008: Hamilton’s Jesse Wiki is a postie and he delivers the mail during the week, but he swaps a bicycle for a fire-breathing motocross bike at the weekends and continues to deliver; only this time it’s thrills and excitement that he distributes.
The 20-year-old Kawasaki ace is in hot form at the moment and he reckons he is only just starting to warm up.
Wiki had the large crowd of their feet at round two of the New Zealand Supercross Championships at Tokoroa on Saturday night, delighting an appreciative audience with his incredible aerial acrobatics.
A two-class ironman, the Hamilton Motorcycle Centre rider finished 3-4-3 in his three Lites class outings, then backed that up with similar 4-3-6 results in the open class as well – riding the same Kawasaki KX250F in both divisions.
Even with a smaller engine bike than the 450cc bikes of his open class rivals, Wiki continued to threaten.
However, that may yet get him into trouble and, with a protest pending, he may yet be disqualified from one class.
But, at the end of the night, he was provisionally running third overall in the lites class after two rounds and fourth overall in the open class.
“It was a good, consistent night. I have such a great crew behind me and that helps.
“I have been working a lot of my riding lately and it’s starting to pay off. Supercross is my forte. I love doing jumps,” said Wiki, who finished fourth overall in the lites class last season, jus behind fellow Kawasaki rider Michael Phillips (Rotorua). Phillips is sidelined with injury this season.
“I’m so happy to be up there and fighting with the leaders. It feels good to be able to run at that pace. My riding is really starting to click.”
Fellow Kawasaki rider Nick Saunders (Taupo) also shone on Saturday night, finishing third overall in the open class and cementing himself a podium position in the championships after two of four rounds.
In addition to the serious business of racing, Wiki also claimed runner-up spot in the “cross-up” jump competition, a feature event of the night that is judged by the roar of the crowd.
Fellow Kawasaki rider Brad Groombridge (Taupo) -- who crashed spectacularly while attempting one of his jumps -- won the crowd’s approval and took the main prize.
Groombridge finished fifth overall in the lites class at Tokoroa and is sixth in the series standings.
Hawera’s Daryl Hurley continues to lead the open class standings and Queenstown’s Scott Columb leads the lites division.
Meanwhile, in the junior ranks, nobody has an answer to Feilding’s Haki Waller. The AFC Motorcycles Kawasaki rider finished 2-1-1 in his three 11-12 years’ 85cc races and stretched his lead at the top of the rankings to 37 points over Rangiora’s Cody Murphy.
LEADING STANDINGS:
New Zealand Supercross Championships standings after round two:
