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The streets of Paeroa might as well have been paved with gold, Suzuki gold, on Sunday.
Suzuki stars Andrew Stroud and Craig Shirriffs ran away with the main prizes at the second and final round of the Battle of the Streets series, capping off a brilliant run for the two motorcycling superstars this summer, although there’s still plenty more to come with the circuit racing series set to resume with round four at Manfeild next weekend.
Consistently fast, Hamilton’s Stroud won the glamour Formula One class by finishing second (behind Australian Chris Seaton) and then first in the two races at Paeroa on Sunday. He also won the Robert Holden Memorial feature race.
Stroud (Suzuki GSX-R1000) had earlier established a winning foundation when he put himself on top in both the F1 and Robert Holden Memorial categories at the series opener in Wanganui on Boxing Day.
“But it really wasn’t easy,” remarked the modest Stroud (38).
“Craig Shirriffs and Chris Seaton made me work for it. Chris won the first F1 race. There was nothing I could do to get past him. He was riding very well. He was sliding everywhere and I think that will look good on the television coverage.
“But it was nice, in the end, to be able to retain my two (F1 and memorial race) titles,” he said.
Though Shirriffs may have been pipped by fellow Suzuki star Stroud in the F1 and memorial race battles, once again, few riders had an answer for the 33-year-old Feilding man in the F2 division, for 600cc bikes.
Suzuki pair Shirriffs and Stroud shared the battles at Paeroa, with a win each, but Shirriffs won the series war.
“I won the 600cc series again,” he beamed afterwards. “I’ve won this series about five or six years in a row now but I think I’ve been pretty lucky.
“I was hoping to do a little better on the 1000cc bike (in F1) though. It took me too long to catch up after bad starts in F1,” he explained.
Even so, Shirriffs finished runner-up to Stroud in the F1 and memorial races, making it a Suzuki 1-2 in the final standings.
“I only rode a 1000cc bike here at Paeroa for the first time last season and I won the first race that day. That was pretty cool. I threw the bike into the hay bales in the second race last year and that was my initiation to the big bikes.
“But I’ve learned a lot in the past 12 months. It just wasn’t enough to beat Andrew on Sunday.”
Provisional results from Yamaha "Battle of the Streets" Paeroa on Sunday, February 18, 2007:
