Recently I bought an old WR 500 with the thought to doing some Vintage MX for a bit of fun. So when I saw a Vintage Enduro Series starting up I thought that would be awesome. I only managed to get to the last round just south of Tokoroa but it was well worth the trip.

A leisurely start time of 10:30 and a not so leisurely kick to life of the WR. I had done a couple laps around the MX track at Taikorea on the bike but this was the first time riding it in anger. The first section would reveal all.

Setting off on minute 20, the trail was nice and run in. Some awesome single track mixed in with a couple gravel roads. The road section were cake for the 500. The single track required some attention. All the power is on the bottom so smooth applications of throttle were required. The first section and test completed and I started getting my head around this beast. A few corners where overshot and with overly excited throttle twists and brakes that don’t quite match there modern counterparts.

Some fine tuning, some gas and into the next section. The trail was perfect and the trail time was starting to tighten so a higher pace had to be maintained. As I got used to the bike I began to get the most out of it. A whole lot of fun!!! Winning the final test and staying clean on time gave me the win.

1st: Paul Whibley

2nd: Craig Brown

3rd: Shaun Prescott