It is the final throw of the dice for New Zealand’s elite off-road bike riders on Saturday.

It has been a real see-saw battle all season in the premier experts grade at this season’s Yamaha New Zealand Enduro Championships and it all comes to a crunching finish at the fifth and final round near Taupo on Saturday.

Auckland’s Chris Birch won round one at Kawhia in January, Whangamata’s Jason Davis won round two at Whangamata in February, Birch won round three in the Riverhead Forest, near Auckland, in March and Davis won again at round four at Akitio, near Dannevirke, also in March.

But both Birch and defending national champion Rory Mead, of Whitby, have not raced all the rounds and this means it is actually Davis who is top of the expert grade standings, with an eight-point buffer over Auckland’s Karl Power, with Power’s cousin, Chris Power, not far behind him.

With just Saturday’s event near Taupo to wrap up the series, the 21-year-old Davis perhaps just needs to maintain his momentum to secure the outright title, although he will no doubt be pressured by Birch, Mead, the Power boys and possibly by Mokau’s Adrian Smith as well.

Smith has been impressive all season, racing either a 144cc or 125cc two-stroke Yamaha motocross bike against the 450cc four-stroke bikes of many of the leading riders. Smith is not in the running for the outright crown – he was forced to skip round three of the series because of wrist injury – but he will be a threat for honours on Saturday.

“The tracks are bulldozed, flowing trails, with plenty of bermed corners, so no long boring road sections,” said event organiser Gordon Maisey, of Taupo. “There will be tree roots, the odd log or two and hopefully we will start to get some good rain to make things a little interesting.

“The soil is pumice based, so can withstand plenty of water, without things actually becoming unrideable.”

It probably comes as no surprise that Davis leads the chase for over-201cc two-stroke class honours, Smith heads the under-200cc two-stroke class and Karl Power is on top of the under-300cc four-stroke class.

Saturday’s venue is the Tahorakuri Forest, on Tetoke Road, and will be signposted from State Highway 5 on the Taupo/Rotorua road, just north of Wairakei.

© Words and photo by Andy McGechan, www.BikesportNZ.com