Round 5 of the NZXC Series was held in conjunction with the opening round of the NZ GNCC series. An awesome track was laid out at the Burts Farm venue and the sun was out with clear blue skies. We returned from the States early to attend the service for Ritchie Ebbett. A close friend and title sponsor of the NZXC Series. A moment silence was held at briefing to remember a great man who was lost way too early.

I didn’t have my race bike so I borrowed Aprils FX 250 again.

I got a great start and rounded turn one in the lead. The track was in perfect shape, even a little dusty in the open but if you had seen pictures from a week earlier, the transformation was incredible.

I built a lead quickly but late in the lap I went down on a loose off camber and bent the bars pretty good. I was back on the bike and rolling before second caught up but was definitely a reduced pace after that. I struggled to ride with the bars so bent. Liam Draper caught me on the second lap and took over the lead. I stayed pretty close for a couple laps but then had a problem with the bike running poorly. I tried to keep flowing and not load up the bike too much, hoping it wasn’t going to get worse. After the race I discovered the problem to be the fuel breather line had come off and was dumping gas straight onto the airfilter. Still a really fun race on a cool track made even better by the sun being out!

1st: Liam Draper
2nd: Paul Whibley
3rd:  Callan May