It wasn’t quite the perfect start to Bay of Plenty rider Callum Dudson’s national title defence, but he’ll gladly take it.

The Honda ace from Rotorua kicked off round one the 2025 cross-country nationals on Friday by winning the day comfortably ahead of Taupō’s three-time former national champion Brad Groombridge.

However, there was little time to rest and recover and their roles were reversed in the rapid-fire format that saw round two staged almost immediately afterwards, just two days later, on Sunday.

In a bid to make this four-round competition more affordable for riders travelling up from the South Island, the back-to-back opening two rounds were staged on two separate nearby farmland properties at Waituna West, near Rewa, on Friday and Sunday, which meant that by late on Sunday afternoon, the series had already reached the halfway stage.

With Dudson finishing his weekend 1-2 and Groombridge ending up with a 2-1 score-card, the two riders emerged from their weekend equal at the top of the standings, with just the concluding two rounds still to come, at farm properties near Gore in seven weeks’ time, on March 20 and 22.

Nelson’s Bailey Basalaj (Honda CRF250) finished third overall on both Friday and Sunday, so he will also perhaps fancy his chances of upsetting Dudson and Groombridge at the final two rounds.

“Finishing the weekend first equal is a good start to the season,” said Dudson, a 24-year-old builder.

“Obviously two wins would have been better,” he laughed.

His Honda CRF450 motocross bike was fitted with an over-sized after-market fuel tank, but any perceived advantage that might have provided was spurned by Dudson, who decided to refuel at regular intervals anyway during the gruelling three-hour race.

“I’m not quite sure yet what the fuel consumption might have been, so decided not to take any risks of running out of petrol. Brad and I were both pushing pretty hard, with us changing positions at the front, back and forth throughout the race, so that might have burned fuel at a faster race too.

“I crashed halfway through Sunday’s race and then pushed even harder to catch back up to Brad, but I just ran out of steam in the end.

“I had broken my finger late last year and had only had splint removed and cleared to goi racing again on January 6, so I had not have much time to work on my bike fitness,” he explained.

“But it’s seven weeks now until the South Island rounds and I expect to be 100 percent by then.

As for 21-year-old Basalaj, an industrial refrigeration engineer, he’s also hoping for big things to happen in Gore.

“I was thrilled to be able to finish on the podium for the first time at the weekend and don’t see why I can’t do that again in Gore, maybe even a step or two higher,” Basalaj grinned.

“I had broken my ribs in practice just seven days ago, but I was able to manage the pain. The head can be a powerful tool.

“I think I finished fifth or sixth in the nationals last year, so if I can now achieve anything above that I will consider it a successful season.”

Basalaj leads the way in the battle-within-a-battle for senior under-300cc class honours.

Meanwhile, defending junior champion Nixon Parkes, from Te Awamutu, comfortably won the 90-minute junior races on both Friday and Sunday, and he leads the junior section overall from Eketahuna’s Sheldon Brown and Masterton’s Harvey Williams as the riders head to Gore for the finale.

-By Andy McGechan, www.BikesportNZ.com