Beau Taylor, pictured at round three of the New Zealand Enduro Champs near Tokoroa in April, has finished up round five of the competition in fourth place. Photo – Andy McGechan / BikesportNZ.com.
Cambridge’s motocross rider Beau Taylor has finished the fifth round of the New Zealand Enduro Championships in fourth place.
Round five on June 29, played out on a demanding farmland course near Masterton, saw Rotorua’s Bradley Lauder claim the top spot with Whanganui’s Seth Reardon in second, Wainuiomata’s Jake Whitaker in third and Tokoroa’s Jake Wightman rounding out the top five.
Lauder won four of the day’s five high-speed “special tests” and ended the full day’s racing one minute and 14 seconds ahead of Reardon, with Whitaker ending his day 53 seconds further back. Whitaker is now third overall in the series standings, up from a seventh overall ranking in the previous round.
There have now been five different winners in as many rounds of this season’s competition. Cambridge rider Dylan Yearbury clinched the win at round two near Porirua in April, whilst rounds one, three and four were won by Tom Buxton (Helensville), Chris Birch (Thames) and Seth Reardon respectively.
It could be anyone’s lead when the competitors next race at the double-header final weekend, rounds six and seven, in Hokitika in three weeks’ time on July 19 and 20. With scores counted from only six of the seven rounds, it means riders can discard their one worst result. The race for the championship win outright, and for the various class titles too, could still go down to the wire at Hokitika.
