BASALAJ Takes His Honda To Establish Champs Lead
Even when things weren't going his way, South Islander Bailey Basalaj managed to overcome the odds and prevail at the opening round of this year's New Zealand Enduro Championships series near Nelson at the weekend.
Nelson man Basalaj (Honda CRF250) looked comfortable racing near his hometown, and he emerged as series leader after a difficult two days of racing on different extremes of terrain.
It was actually harder for him than he made it look, and it was only his determination, resilience, riding skill and, of course, his fast, reliable and trusted motorcycle, that got him through in the end.
'The first day of racing on Friday was more of a GP-style course, with lots of bunting marking it out, and it was quite fast in places,' said Basalaj afterwards.
'I put in some good lap times, and I managed to flow really well with the terrain. The track was reversed for the next stage and again I adapted to the changes quite quickly,' said the 21-year-old refrigeration engineer.
'Day two was among trees and forestry slash and I was not as comfortable on this terrain. I couldn't get a good flow going, although I managed to make up time on my main rival, New Plymouth's Josh Houghton, even with the track marking not being so clear.
'By the second special test section we could see wheel tracks, so it was more obvious where the course went, but, basically, I didn't click with this course on day two.
'The bike didn't miss a beat and I managed to scramble to an overall win for the weekend.'
In addition to Houghton, the other nearest challengers for Basalaj in the premier expert (AA) grade at the weekend were Owaka's Blake Affleck and Nelson's Luke Heaphy (who finished runner-up to Basalaj on Friday).
Basalaj produced a solid first on day one and was a close runner-up to Houghton on day two – finishing just nine seconds behind his main rival after a frustrating day – and Basalaj therefore leads the championship standings in the premier grade after round one.
Houghton finished runner-up for the weekend with 3-1 results, while Affleck claimed the third podium spot with a 5-3 score-card. Whangamata's Ethan Jameson (with 7-4 results) and Judgeford's Cameron Judd (8-6) rounded out the top five.
Best of the intermediate (A grade) riders was Whanganui's Grant McKinlay, followed by Masterton's George Callaghan.
Basalaj was thrilled to win this first of three-rounds of the 2025 series and now has his fingers crossed as he looks ahead to wrapping it up at the back-to-back concluding rounds in the North Island in June.
The next round of the series will be held on rugged terrain near Whanganui, on the weekend of June 1-2, and the third and final round will be staged near Masterton a week later, on June 7-8.
Looking ahead to the future, however, Basalaj will be heading to France, Italy and Germany later in the year to ride the final three rounds of the Enduro Grand Prix World Championships.
'It's possible I might race the full GP series next season,' Basalaj revealed.
2025 NZ Enduro Champs calendar:
Round 1: April 25-26, Nelson. Day 1, 725 Dovedale Road, Day 2 Moutere Highway, 3.8km west of the Redwood Valley Hall.
Round 2: June 1-2, near Whanganui.
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