9 Mar 2010

Rory Mead is not one to waste time.

The talented dirt bike racer from Whitby, on the outskirts of Wellington, has been away overseas for the past two months but flew back into the country last week and needed no second invitation to enjoy two days of racing action near Auckland at the weekend, even if it meant delaying his much-anticipated return to the family home in the lower North Island.

Mead had been tasting success internationally, racing a Yamaha YZ250 two-stroke in Italy, Wales and England, and was looking forward to getting to grips with the new Yamaha YZ450F four-stroke that awaited him in New Zealand.

With overseas assignments to call him away, the 23-year-old national enduro champion has not been in a position to defend his domestic title this season - he's had to miss both the opening two rounds of this year's five-round championship.

But he was one of the stars at the Yamaha TTR Enduro Championships round in the Riverhead Forest on Saturday and at the third round of the Yamaha-sponsored national championships at the same venue the following day.

He won the over-301cc four-stroke class on both days.

Riding a stock standard YZ450F bike that he'd only just collected, Mead won his class as he finished second overall in the TTR event on Saturday and again won his class as he placed third overall in the national championship event on Sunday.

"It's totally different to ride from my YZ250, but I loved it. The Riverhead Forest has a reputation for being very brutal on bodies and on machinery but the bike was a dream to ride.

"I'm not concentrating on national honours so much this year but more focussed on international events.

"I'm home for a little while now but plan to head away to contest the Australian Four-day Enduro in April and then I hope to race at the famous Erzberg Enduro in Austria and the Romaniacs Enduro in Romania in June, but that will all depend upon my budget."

In the meantime, Mead has plans to tackle as many major events in New Zealand as he can over te coming weeks as he builds up for his next series of trips abroad.