Nelson Rider Basalaj Claims First NZ Title

JUNE 9, 2025: South Islander Bailey Basalaj finally lived the dream at the weekend as he collected his first major New Zealand motorcycling title. 

The Honda rider from Nelson has been racing at the ultimate level for many years now, and on Sunday he finally broke through to achieve his career-long ambition. 

He won the opening round of the 2025 Yamaha New Zealand Enduro Championships near Nelson in April, but he was still taking nothing for granted as he headed to round two near Whanganui over the King’s Birthday Weekend, barely a week ago. 

Basalaj managed to win the weekend near Whanganui and, with two outright victories in a row, it set him up for “a more relaxed third and final round”, two back-to-back days of racing, near Martinborough on Saturday and Sunday. 

Basalaj finished runner-up in the ‘sprint’ segment of the competition held on Saturday, beaten to the finish by Owaka’s Blake Affleck, and it was the same story again the following day, during the more-arduous long-loop phase, with Affleck once more winning ahead of Basalaj. 

This gave Affleck overall honours for the weekend, but, more importantly, it was enough for Basalaj – with his eventual 1-1-2 scorecard for the series – to wrap up the premier Expert Grade title overall. 

Second overall for the series was Affleck (with 3-4-1 round results over the series) and New Plymouth’s Josh Houghton (2-6-3) completed the Exert Grade podium, while Whangamata’s Ethan Jameson (4-3-11) and Amberley’s Nathan Hodge (6-5-5) rounded out the top five for 2025. 

Best of the Intermediate Grade riders at the weekend was Masterton’s George Callaghan, followed by Masterton’s Dave Edmonds and Tokoroa’s Mark Newton. 

For the series overall it finished with Callaghan on top (with a 2-1-1 score-card over the three rounds), followed by Whanganui pair Grant McKinlay (1-6-5) and Jason Wakeling (0-2-7). 

Best of the women this season was Stratford’s Megan Collins, who finished a highly-creditable fourth overall in the Intermediate Grade. 

In addition to Yamaha-Motor New Zealand, the 2025 Yamaha NZ Enduro Championships were supported by Motorcycling New Zealand, Tasman Pine Forests Ltd, Macaulay Metals, Best Build Construction, Silver-bullet web site and Kiwi Rider magazine. 

2025 Yamaha 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. 

Round 3: June 7-8, Ruakokoputuna Hall, Martinborough District, South Wairarapa. 

Credit: Words and photo by Andy McGechan, www.BikesportNZ.com

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