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Results Online
Full results, with Series, EXCEL spreadsheet
JUNE 4, 2007: From out of sight and behind the scenes to out in front and very much in the foreground, enduro legend Sean Clarke slips comfortably into both roles.
Tokoroa’s Clarke rolled up to round four of the Yamaha-sponsored Top Trail Rider (TTR) Northern Enduro Series near Taupo on Sunday with a few surprises in store for his rivals, not least of all national champion Chris Birch, from Auckland.
Clarke turned up at the Taupo event with one of Kawasaki’s new KLX450 enduro bikes, a machine he had never previously raced, and hounded runaway series leader Birch (KTM 250 EXC) all the way to the finish.
Birch won from Clarke, with Hokianga’s Mitchell Nield (Gas Gas) finishing third overall.
“I have not raced in about three months and only picked up the bike on the day of the event,” said Clarke afterwards.
“It was great to see such a large number of riders turn out too. I think there were more than 100 riders here.”
That Clarke should feature so close to the front of the field perhaps comes as no real surprise.
The 39-year-old is a two-time International Six Days Enduro gold medal winner (in 1992 and 1998) and he even added a silver medal to that when he raced at the 2005 ISDE in Slovakia.
He was the man responsible for running the ISDE when it was staged in New Zealand for the first time, near Taupo, last November and did such a remarkable job of that he was awarded Motorcycling New Zealand’s 2006 Services to Motorcycling Award.
The prestigious event, considered the Olympic Games of Motorcycling, attracted more than 600 riders from 31 nations.
While the course at the weekend was similarly challenging, the event organiser, Taupo motorcycle dealer Darryl August, said the TTR enduro series was primarily an “entry-level” enduro.
Series co-ordinator Shaun Stanbridge said the two Yamaha-sponsored TTR enduro series -- the event calendar features a five-round northern series and a parallel six-round central series -- have been an outstanding success in this respect, with many first-timers taking up the challenge.
“There was one young rider – Putaruru’s Kian Scherer -- who was tackling only his second ever enduro on Sunday. I recall him failing to finish his first enduro because of a flat tyre (at round two of the TTR series near Tairua in April) and he had problems again at the weekend,” said Stanbridge.
“His bike’s drive chain broke about three kilometres into the event but, to his credit, he worked feverishly to fix the problem and rejoined the race. Kian finished the event and that’s a great achievement.”
The TTR series is sponsored by Yamaha, Kiwi Rider magazine, Acerbis, Mitas and supported by Motorcycling New Zealand.
The 26-year-old Birch was a key member of New Zealand's six-rider representative Trophy Team at the ISDE last November. Birch and his team-mates finished seventh of the 31 nations who started at the ISDE.
