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Chris Birch and his faithful KTM 250 EXC have taken Motorex KTM Racing to the top of the podium at the annual Rut 100 cross country held at Tokoroa on the North Island over the weekend.
While others struggled in the wet and muddy conditions, Birch from Auckland brought home the win up to 40 minutes ahead of second place, despite being held up at the start.
Commenting on his win, Chris Birch said, “While others struggled in the rain, I had the KTM 250 EXC easily handling the tough conditions.
“My start was average with up to 20 riders ahead of me but by the end of the first lap I caught up to the top three. First to pass were my Motorex KTM team mates, Karl Power and Jason Davis who held down 2nd and 3rd position.
“I first caught up to Jason Davis who kindly let me pass, and I soon caught Karl Power in second and a very hard charging Gary Powell in first. I was happy to sit in behind them and wait it out, but I didn’t have to wait long as Karl had a massive cartwheel right in front of me, very spectacular and Gary took a poor line allowing me to sneak past him into the lead.
“All this excitement had left my arms pretty pumped and I had to try very hard to relax whilst listening to the others roaring away behind me.
“Sucking away on the Camelbak my arms soon came right and I could pick the pace up a bit more and opened up a gap. The course got tougher and tougher as the laps clocked up, with the biggest obstacle being one hill that was very long, sludgy and rutted out.
“By the end of the race a lot of the top riders had dropped out, finding it too tough and allowing me to pull out a 40 minute lead over the rest of the field. I ended up finishing the course in 3 hrs 46 minutes but it felt more like 5 hrs on my body.”
Chris Birch will next race this weekend at the Top Trail Rider enduro race in Whangarei on the North Island.
Pictures:
Event photos of Chris Birch competing at the Rut 100 are available at www.smileclick.co.nz. For the search engine Chris’ race number is 5.
