    |
 |
|
|
|
IN AN eleventh-hour bid to keep the New Zealand Production Superbike title in New Zealand hands, Suzuki has flown in a brand new 2007-spec. machine for Hamilton’s Andrew Stroud to race at this weekend’s championship finale at Pukekohe.
The 39-year-old Stroud leads the Production Superbike Championship by a scant six points from hard-charging Australian Robbie Bugden (Suzuki GSX-R1000K5).
Bugden aims to achieve what fellow countryman and three times Australian Superbike Champion Shawn Giles failed to do last year – snatch the New Zealand Production Superbike Championship from seven-times title winner Stroud.
An Australian has never won the New Zealand title, although Kiwi Aaron Slight managed to snatch the Australian Superbike crown, on a Kawasaki, in 1991.
With a potential 50 points up for grabs at the Auckland circuit this weekend, Stroud knows he has a real battle on his hands.
“This has been a very tough championship,” Stroud admits. “Robbie has pushed me hard at every round and I have really had to extend myself to get back in front of the points. I’d have to say this has been the hardest New Zealand Superbike Championship I have ever contested, because apart from Robbie, the other two Aussies – Scott Charlton and Chris Seaton – are never far behind on their Yamahas, and Craig Shirriffs is always right there on his Suzuki as well.”
Going into the final round at Pukekohe this Sunday, Shirriffs is 32 points behind Stroud, and 26 behind Bugden.
However, whether Stroud will race the new bike remains in question. That’s because is has been in the country for a little more than a week and race kit parts for it are unavailable, apart from the new exhaust system.
Suzuki has entrusted preparation of the bike to Aucklander Ray Clee who also chased Stroud for the Production Superbike Championship last year.
Clee has also had to re-build the bike Stroud has been racing up to now and faces an uphill battle to have both the new bike and the 2006 model ready in time for the New Zealand Championship finale.
After bumping up the compression of the new 2007 GSX-R1000K7, Clee fitted its intake cam into the exhaust side of the 16-valve cylinder head then installed a racing spec. intake cam from the 2006 model.
That, and a new Yoshimura four-into-two-into-one titanium race pipe that exhausts into twin mufflers, was enough to get the power of the new bike very close to that of the fully developed 2006 model, with the hint of more to come.
But whether he will have time to unlock the new bike’s potential is the question.
The controlling body of motorcycle competition, Motorcycling New Zealand (MNZ), is proposing more restrictive new rules for the Production Superbike class so Ray Clee has prepared the new bike with that in mind.
Consequently he has left the intake and exhaust ports in the cylinder head untouched whereas in the past there has been total freedom in this area.
On the chassis front, Clee is preparing to put together a WP suspension package based on what he has learned from previous seasons, but was uncertain whether he would also alter the steering geometry by changing the fork off-set.
While Stroud is no stranger to the fast but dangerous Pukekohe circuit, Australian challenger Budgen has never raced there before.
However, Stroud does not see that as any advantage.
“Robbie has proved a very fast learner. He’d never seen the Levels circuit near Timaru before, but right from his first lap of practice, he was pushing his Suzuki hard,” he smiles. “After ten laps, I had made no impression on him at all. So he’s not easy to beat.”
Interestingly, Budgen is racing a New Zealand-built 2005 Suzuki that is an amalgamation of Stroud’s championship-winning engine from last year with some Yoshimura parts Suzuki New Zealand sourced from Japan. Stroud was offered this bike before the season started but opted to race the same machine he’d used to contest the 2006 Australian Championship.
