    |
 |
|
|
|
It was always going to be a Suzuki on the top step of the podium but the fifth and final round of the New Zealand Motorcycle Roadracing Championships in Christchurch at the weekend was all about deciding which of four Suzuki riders it would be.
Suzuki riders hogged the first four positions in the glamour Superbikes class this season and, in one of the most exciting finishes in many years, it wasn’t until the very last race of the series that the finishing order was determined.
Hamilton’s Andrew Stroud had led the class heading into the final round of the SsangYong-sponsored series but fellow Suzuki kingpin Shawn Giles, on a virtually identical GSX-R1000, was just 10 points behind and very much in the running for the top honour with 75 points on offer over the weekend’s three races.
Stroud threw down the gauntlet and easily won the day’s opening race, showing he was determined to finish the season the way he’d started, on top.
But Giles’ response was typically resolute and he accepted Stroud’s challenge by winning the day’s next Superbike race as Stroud struggled with a slippery tyre, thanks to an incorrect air pressure setting, and battled home in an unaccustomed seventh spot.
With that swing of the pendulum, the 35-year-old Giles had gobbled into Stroud’s lead and stormed one point clear at the top of the standings, setting up a nailbiting final race.
“Shawn leapt away at the start and I was probably two seconds a lap slower than him. I had just raced the smaller bike in the 600 sports production class and it usually takes me a couple of laps to adjust to the different bike and I don’t like to push too hard,” Stroud explained.
“But, once I had settled in, I soon caught him up and followed him for about half the (15-lap) race. I wasn’t too concerned. I soon worked out a couple of places where I could pass and got past him with about six laps to go.
“I put in a hot lap to try to get a break on him but Shawn wasn’t giving up. He started coming back at me and I had to really put my head down for those last few laps,” said Stroud.
In winning that final race, Stroud re-took the points lead and claimed the crown, finishing the series just four points ahead of Giles, with fellow Suzuki men Ray Clee (Kumeu) and Scott Charlton (Australia) in close formation behind them.
“It’s brilliant to have Suzuki finish 1-2-3-4 … we were so dominant,” said Stroud. “I think Jared (Love) was the only non-Suzuki rider to get a podium all season, in a wet race in Invercargill. Being on the right brand of bike certainly makes my job a lot easier.”
Suzuki riders had already wrapped up both the 600 Sports Production and Formula Three titles at the previous round at Timaru’s Levels Raceway, but that didn’t make the action any less intense at Christchurch’s Ruapuna finale.
Feilding’s Craig Shirriffs (Suzuki GSX-R600) continued to dominate the 600cc class, running off with three more wins at Ruapuna, hounded all the way in each race by dual-class man Stroud.
“Craig was awesome,” said a magnanimous Stroud, the 600 sport production class champion last season. “He deserves the title this year … he’s ridden very well indeed. To tell the truth, because I knew Craig had already wrapped up the title, so I was just out there enjoying myself. I wanted to save a bit of energy anyway for my superbike races.”
New Plymouth’s Terry Fitzgerald (Suzuki SV650) had scooped the Formula Three title the previous weekend at Levels but the 47-year-old was determined to go out with a bang and he finished 1-2-2 at the final round, locked in a battle with Oamaru’s Andy Bolwell (Kawasaki ZXR400) who won the day with 2-1-1 results.
“I finished one or two in every race this season,” said Fitzgerald, making a startling comeback to the racetrack this season after a cancer scare 13 months ago.
“I was pretty happy just to be out there racing and I didn’t think I’d be at the sharp end of the results.”
“Winning the title has been great but there’s still the street series race at Paeroa to go and that’s pretty important to me.”
Fitzgerald won both races at the first round of the streets series, at Wanganui’s Cemetery Circuit on Boxing Day, but says he does not have the same fondness for the bumps of Paeroa’s main street.
“I’ll need a good day at Paeroa,” he said.
LEADING FINAL POINTS FROM THE 2005-06 SSANGYONG NEW ZEALAND MOTORCYCLE ROAD-RACING CHAMPIONSHIPS, AFTER THE FINAL ROUND AT CHRISTCHURCH’S RUAPUNA CIRCUIT AT THE WEEKEND:
