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Now into its third year, the Suzuki Road Racing Series will be bigger and better than ever, with seven rounds scheduled at Manfeild and Taupo.
The Suzuki Series has steadily grown in stature since its inception in 1998 and last year, a total of 388 riders contested the series.
Particularly pleasing for organiser Tim Gibbes was that more than 40 newcomers made their road-racing debut in the 1999 Suzuki series, with some of them improving so much that they actually won races at some of the rounds.
“No matter what sort of bike you’ve got, the Suzuki Road Race Series has a class for you”, says Mr Gibbes. “Last year we had a Buell win one class and a Harley 1200 Sportster winning in another. On top of that we had 900SS Ducatis, TL1000 Suzukis, R1 Yamahas and Kawasaki ZX-7RRs racing, while a few RD350 LCs, GSX1100 Suzukis and other early ‘80s bikes also had a run”.
A unique feature of the Suzuki Series is the appointment of a series coach. Last year Wanganui’s Brian Bernard took time out from his own racing to help newcomers learn the ropes, giving instruction on what lines to take and different riding techniques.
And Bernard’s worth listening to – he ran away with the Open Sports Production Championship on his Suzuki TL1000R and ended up recording the first win for the 175 bhp GSX1300R Hayabusa in Sports Production racing anywhere in the world.
The Suzuki Series kicks off on March 4-5 at Manfeild.
Suzuki Road Race Series dates:
March 4-5, Manfeild
April 16, Taupo
May 28, Manfeild
June 25, Taupo
July 30, Manfeild
August 27, Taupo
September 24, Manfeild
For more details on the Suzuki Road Racing Series contact Tim Gibbes, Phone or Fax: (06) 353-0750 or E-mail:
timgibbes@clear.net.nz
