I
n a 2020 campaign disrupted by the
Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, it
would be understandable if the focus
of Cambridge’s Dylan Yearbury was slightly
blurred and his motivation at a low ebb, but
the 25-year-old builder from Cambridge has
been exhibiting none of those shortcomings
in recent weeks.
In fact, Yearbury took his new Husqvarna
TE300i to finish runner-up in the opening round
of the always-popular Dirt Guide cross-country
series, just after virus lock-down restrictions
were eased in June, and backed that up by
also finishing overall runner-up in the justcompleted
New Zealand Enduro Championships
– which was abbreviated to four days of racing
over just two weekends.
With the second of three rounds in the Dirt
Guide series being run at Ohakuri, south of
Tokoroa, on July 18, Yearbury seemed
determined to take it up a notch.
And that’s just what he did, by winning the
gruelling two-hour race by a solid 46 seconds
over Helensville KTM rider Tom Buxton, with
Yamaha-mounted Manawatu man Paul
Whibley claiming third spot on the podium.
It wasn’t a straight-forward win though.
Yearbury was in strife early on, but he dug deep
and battled through the traffic to record victory,
his win also earning him the series lead outright
from round-one winner Whibley.
With a 4-2 score-card after the first two
rounds, Buxton is third overall for the series.
“I got off to a great start and was in third
position (out of 129 starters) as we headed
into turn one,” Yearbury explained.
“But then I tried to make a pass on a rider at
the end of a fast gravel road section and
KIWI RIDER 109