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MAY 14, 2008: Pahiatua's Adam Reeves made an almost unforgivable mistake on Sunday but, thankfully, his hopes of winning the New Zealand Motorcycle Cross-country Championships remain alive.
Yamaha's Reeves allowed his bike to run out of fuel at round two of the four-round series near Waipukurau on Sunday, the 25-year-old so focussed on his position in front of the chasing bunch and perhaps relying just a little too much on the after-market fuel tank he'd fitted to his Yamaha YZ250.
Reeves was in front of eventual winner Cam Smith by about four seconds when the pair had completed lap three of nine but, instead of heading in to refuel, Reeves bypassed the pits and headed back out onto the slick and hilly farmland course.
Although trailing Reeves at that stage, Smith stopped off for a petrol top-up and that decision proved decisive. With Reeves' Yamaha rolling to a halt and him therefore unable to complete lap four, Smith was untroubled and went on to win the race easily.
But all is not lost for Reeves because, with only three of four rounds to count and riders able to discard their worst result, he will be able to consign Sunday's miscalculation to the garbage bin.
Reeves finished runner-up to Smith at round one of the series near Nelson last month so, if he can win the remaining two events -- round three this weekend near Pahiatua and round four near Ashburton on June 14 -- then he can still take the title.
"I don't know how I got it so wrong at Waipukurau," said Reeves. "I had an after-market 12.1 litre tank fitted and that's been good for about 90 minutes of racing. I ran out after about 70 minutes on Sunday. It was a fast track in places and perhaps the bike carrying extra weight because of the mud, it sucked more gas. I don't know.
"I've just got to win the next two rounds and hope Cam (Smith) has some bad luck ... he's due for some."
