Raglan dirt rider Jason Dickey is in the chase for New Zealand Cross-country Championships title, after an impressive start to the four-round series at Purangi.

Raglan's Jason Dickey battles for the lead at the New Zealand Cross-country Championships opening round in Taranaki. Photo by Andy McGechan, BikesportNZ.com

Following on from his earlier success winning the Raglan Rocx cross-country title in January, his competitive riding at the inland Taranaki farmland circuit has him now being rated as one of the top picks to win the senior national title.

Jason, 19, finished second coming in only two minutes behind ultimate winner, South Islander Ethan Bruce, after a see-saw three-hour race. The Raglan dairy farmer was neck and neck with Ethan through the race's early stages, swapping the lead as they battled the steep and rugged course, before losing it with a refuelling stop. A crash near the end spelt the end of his hopes to regain the lead.

'In the end, I decided to settle for second place. I'll do all four rounds of the series, so there will be a chance to change the points.

'I'll be back at round two and we'll see what happens there,” says Jason, who along with other Waikato riders will be hoping for a local advantage when the second round is held in Huntly on March 15.

Other Waikato riders in the hunt include third-placed Nathan Tesselaar from Morrinsvile and fourth-placed Adrian Smith from Mokau.

On top of Adrian's pedigree as defending national champion, he also had a lot of people taking notice, after reminding everyone: 'it's not how you start but how you finish that counts”. He recovered from almost dead last in a terrible start in the 57-strong field to eventually claim fourth place.

'To have a bad day and still finish fourth is not too bad,” says Adrian.

'I went berserk on the first couple of laps to make up ground, but I blew myself out in the end and just had to settle for fourth.”

The national series will wrap up with the last two rounds in Westland on April 13, before the final round in Marlborough on May 17.