Hampered by blinding mud in his third race in the second round of the New Zealand motocross championships, Scott Columb took a risk.
He flung his ineffectual goggles off and sneaked past race leader and main rival Michael Phillips, of Rotorua, who was racing on his home track at the weekend.
The Queenstown international rider was passed back by Phillips and seized a chance to reverse their fortunes again.
"I tried to dive back on the inside, otherwise I would have been eating his roost [mud flung up by the rear tyre] the whole race," Columb said.
The two MX2 class front-runners collided, went down, and once they returned to a racing rhythm, it was Phillips home fifth and Columb sixth - a broken front brake lever hampering his Suzuki.
The latter's wins in the first two races were enough to lift him level with Phillips on points, with two rounds remaining in November.
A bonus may arrive in the form of the fuel injection Suzuki RMZ, which Columb hopes will be his new steed for the season's remainder.
In the MX1 class for 450cc motorbikes, Christchurch's Justin McDonald had a consistent run carding three seconds behind various winners after series leader post-round-one, Daryl Hurley, crashed damaging an ankle.
