MAY
“I quickly made a few passes and was
past about six riders within a few hundred
metres and I was up to sixth position after
about 300 metres. I put the hammer down
and, as everyone in front of me made
mistakes and slowed or crashed, I managed
to work through and take the lead about 10
minutes into the race. I settled into a good
pace and took it a little bit easy because it
was very slippery under the bike’s wheels.
After the first lap I knew where the track was
taking us and that was it really.
“It’s mission accomplished for the GNCC
series and now I can look ahead to
tackling the 2019 New Zealand Enduro
Championships.
“I have no plans yet to contest the New
Zealand cross-country Championships... I
don’t much like farmland racing and prefer
the challenge of racing in forestry, so the
enduro nationals will be my main focus in
the New Year.”
22 KIWI RIDER
May finished runner-up in the GNCC Series
overall, with Yearbury, Drury’s Richard
Sutton and Rotorua’s Ethan Harris rounding
out the top five riders in the senior grade for
this series.
Taupo’s Wil Yeoman won the junior grade in
the GNCC Series, with Tirau’s Alex Butler and
Morrinsville’s Liam Calley completing the
series podium.
Buxton had been racing overseas for most
of this season and not able to race much at
home, making this series victory a fantastic
way to herald his arrival back on the
domestic scene.
He had led the New Zealand Enduro
Championships after winning the opening
two rounds of that six-round series in April,
but then decided to follow his dream and
head to the renowned annual Romaniacs
hard enduro event in Romania, abandoning
the domestic racing scene at home.