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MAY 19, 2008: Whitby's Rory Mead was in a class of his own on Sunday.
Some of the best endurance motorcycle racers in the country hit Taupo at the weekend as the region hosted the fifth of six rounds of the northern regional phase of the popular Yamaha Top Trail Rider Enduro Series.
Mead took a Yamaha WR450 to the front in each of the day's three timed sections, eventually winning the expert class overall by 36 seconds from Te Puke's Phil Singleton (Honda CRF250), with Hokianga's Damon Nield (Husqvarna CR125) third, another 14 seconds further back.
"The conditions were perfect and I really enjoyed the ride," said the 21-year-old Mead.
"Damon Nield was riding really well and he got quite close to me ... the same with Phil Singleton. They certainly made me work for it."
In finishing third on Sunday, Nield had done enough to top the series standings, five points clear of Mead, and Singleton is third best, 14 points adrift.
With riders able to discard their results from one of the series’ six rounds, it means the race is still very much alive for top honours and it will probably go down to the wire between Nield and Mead at the final round in the Woodhill Forest, near Auckland, on September 14.
Nield has thus far finished sixth, third, eighth, first and third in the five rounds and, depending on what happens at the final round, he will likely discard his eighth placing from his series tally.
Mead has contested just four of the five rounds and must therefore count them all. Mead has finished 3-5-7-1 so far and he will need to win the final round -- and hope that Nield finishes third or worse -- to take the title.
The Yamaha Top Trail Rider series is aimed at introducing beginners to the sport of enduro racing and the steadily increasing numbers of junior riders attending these events is vindication that the concept is popular.
"The sport of enduro riding is growing at the moment," said the organiser of Sunday's event, Taupo bike shop owner Darryl August.
The Yamaha New Zealand TTR series features two parallel but separate series -- the five-round TTR Yamaha Central Enduro Series and the six-round TTR Yamaha Northern Enduro Series.
The third round of five in the central region TTR series is set for Gwavas Forest, in Central Hawke's Bay, next weekend (May 25).
The twin series are both sponsored by Yamaha New Zealand, Kiwi Rider magazine, Acerbis, Mitas Tyres, HJC Helmets and is supported by Motorcycling New Zealand.
Results are in Excel 5.0 format AND PDF
EXCEL - Taupo TTR Northern Enduro
EXCEL - TTR Northern Series
PDF - Taupo TTR Northern Enduro (By Class)
PDF - Taupo TTR Northern Enduro (By Grade)
PDF - TTR Northern Series (By Class)
PDF - TTR Northern Series (By Grade)
If you don't have excel BUT do have a fast connection then download OpenOffice. It's free and is what I use.
An easier example would be an Excel Viewer (3.8 MB,download in 10 minutes on a slow dial-up line)
or from....
support.microsoft.com
No need to go for the latest version. Almost any one will do the job.
