KTM New Zealand Extreme Enduro Series
The NZ KTM Extreme Enduro Series is a five round series containing three Extreme Enduro events and two EnduroX races run over the course of seven months to decide NZ’s toughest Extreme Enduro racer.
Round one back in September saw Chris Birch take a convincing win on board his KTM350 ahead of international trials rider Jake Whitaker (Husaberg FE250). But with Birch away chasing down another Roof of Africa podium it was open for anyone to step up with round two being the Riverhead 100 event.
100 km of usually tough and wet clay tracks, the weather was seasonally dry meaning it wasn’t going to be as tough as in previous years. Instead riders had to contend with kilometres of off camber terrain and seat height tress set out through four laps of racing.
Beta rider Greg De Lautour scored the holeshot in this dead engine race and led the field off into the trees for the first time. But it was KTM rider Mike Skinner who emerged first from the 25km, 53minute loop with a 30 second lead from his KTM teammate Jason Davis. By the end of lap two Davis had caught Skinner and made the pass in the fuelling section and took the lead. He then extended to about two minutes by the end of the 100km event on board his 300XC. Third saw the youngster of Liam Draper with Jake Whitaker in fourth. But with competitors being able to drop one round of the series it is still anyone’s game.
