ahead of Jack and Groombridge . The 20-year-old from Oparau , near Kawhia , had been forced to skip the opening two stanzas of this year ’ s abbreviated New Zealand Enduro Championships due to enforced isolation when he contracted COVID-19 , and , with the series only a three-round affair this season , it meant he had absolutely no chance of winning the main prize . But he at least showed his calibre with a dominant performance at the finale . Scott took his Honda CRF250RX to win the first of the four tightly-timed “ special tests ” at Martinborough and from there he kept up a terrific pace to run out as comfortable outright winner for the day , finishing the steep and slippery course an impressive 29 seconds quicker than runner-up rider Josh Jack . Scott demonstrated that his 2022-model 250cc bike still had more than enough power to out-run the entire competition , even with many of the other riders choosing to campaign 300cc two-stroke or 450cc four-stroke machinery . “ Because of COVID , I had not been able to ride recently , but I did take the opportunity to have a bit of a warm-up ride around Santoft
Forest ( south of Whanganui ) on the Saturday ,” explained Scott . “ I obviously had a good day on Sunday . I felt okay and the bike never missed a beat . It was perfect . I did suffer a couple of crashes , so I wasn ’ t 100 percent , but no damage was done . “ Being in isolation for a period wasn ’ t ideal and it was certainly seven days on the couch that I didn ’ t need , but my fitness was not too bad in the end . I ’ ve got a few more events lined up for me to race at in the coming weeks , so things should improve .” Overall for the national series , Jack finished runner-up for 2022 ( behind Yearbury ), with Yeoman third overall , while Groombridge and Manawatu ’ s Paul Whibley rounded out the top five . In terms of individual class honours , Yearbury won the over-300cc two-stroke class title this season ; Whibley won the veterans ’, over-40 years , class ; Yeoman won the under-300cc fourstroke class ; New Plymouth ’ s Sam Parker won the under-200cc two-stroke class and Omihi ’ s Ethan McBreen won the over-300cc four-stroke class .
Rider briefing : Watch out when you get ‘ here ’...
28 KIWI RIDER