Bailey Basalaj: Nelson's enduro champion
His 1-1-2 series card won Basalaj his first NZ Enduro title in 2025.
By ROOST New Zealand desk · 17 October 2026
For years Nelson's Bailey Basalaj had been knocking on the door in New Zealand enduro. In 2025 he finally got through it.
The 21-year-old industrial refrigeration engineer, as BikesportNZ described him, won the opening round of the 2025 New Zealand Enduro Championships near Nelson in April and then won again near Whanganui over King's Birthday Weekend. That set him up for what he called "a more relaxed third and final round" near Martinborough. Fellow Honda rider Blake Affleck from Owaka won both days there, but Basalaj's second places were enough to wrap up the premier Expert Grade title with a 1-1-2 card. Affleck was second overall and New Plymouth's Josh Houghton third, giving Honda a 1-2.
"I was just concentrating all weekend on not making any silly mistakes," Basalaj told BikesportNZ. "I ran into a fence post on day two and so, after that, I just toned it down a bit."
He's quick in cross-country too. He finished third at several rounds of the 2025 national series and led the senior under-300cc class at one stage.
He said his next goal was Europe: "I head to Europe on August 24 to hopefully tackle the French Enduro GP, followed by the Italian and German rounds of the world series."
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