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Dean Fulton of Mt Maunganui won the New Zealand Formula One motorcycle championship for the first time at Manfeild yesterday, after a tense final race in which both the top contenders ran into tyre problems.
Fulton, 24, and former champion Jason McEwen of Palmerston North started the final heat in the Motorcycle Trader series equal on points after McEwen had won a tough first race ahead of Hamilton\'s Jared Love and Fulton.
But on the warm-up lap McEwen realised something was wrong with his Kawasaki ZX-9R, and during the race he could only drift back through the field. At the end of the race he discovered his front tyre was half-flat.
Meanwhile Fulton started the race fired up to take whatever risks were necessary to achieve his dream of winning the country\'s premier title, but found that his rear tyre had worn badly and was sliding in the corners. He nearly crashed his Kawasaki ZX-7RR superbike on the first lap, and had to allow Love\'s Suzuki GSX-R750 and Aucklander Ray Clee\'s Honda Fireblade to pass him. It was Love\'s first F1 victory.
\"My back tyre wasn\'t hanging on,\" Fulton said. \"I didn\'t know Jason was down the field till late in the race. I\'m very happy to have won the championship.\"
For McEwen it was a frustrating end to a great day\'s riding but he accepted his situation with grace and gave Fulton a congratulatory hug before the riders mounted the podium.
McEwen won both the RK Chains Open Sports Production races on his other Kawasaki, and finished the series just four points behind Kawerau rider Tony Rees, who crashed his Yamaha R1 without injury in race two trying to keep up with the flying McEwen. Rees also wrapped up the 600cc Sports Production class after two more victories on his Yamaha R6.
Young Hutt rider Daniel McLachlan clinched the Formula Two title after a first and a second on his Kawasaki ZX-6R, while 41-year-old Christchurch racer Steve Ward secured both Formula Three and 125cc GP on his Honda RS125.
