New Zealand Superbike Grand Prix from Ruapuna
Sunday 06 January: Winning the New Zealand Superbike Grand Prix had a special meaning for Australian star Robbie Bugden in Christchurch today. From Bernard Carpinter for MNZ.
The NZ
Motorcycle
Grand Prix meeting, Powerbuilt Tools International Raceway,
Ruapuna,
Christchurch.
The
four-times
New Zealand champion won the feature race by a clear margin from
Feilding racer Craig Shirriffs, although Shirriffs pushed him
hard for the
first half of the race and briefly led it. Both rode Suzukis.
Bugden
riders
for the Christchurch-based Volvo Triple R team, owned by Peter
"Red”
Fenton.
"The
team’s
been through hell and back over the last two years,” Bugden
said,
referring to the earthquakes. "It’s great to do this for the
team.
"That
was
a tough race. Midway through it I changed my mentality, gave it
100 percent
and reeled off a few good laps.
"I
spend
three or four months a year in New Zealand now. I love the place
and I
love coming over.”
Shirriffs,
who
also finished second to Bugden in the preliminary race, said he
had lost
time when he nearly crashed in the Dipper corner. "I thought I’d
fallen off –
that’s when he got the gap,” he said.
In
both
races Christchurch rider Dennis Charlett (Suzuki) took third,
New Plymouth’s
Hayden Fitzgerald (Suzuki) came fourth and Hamilton racer Nick
Cole (Kawasaki) finished
fifth.
Charlett
was
delighted with his result as this is his first season back in
superbikes
after a long absence.
Wellington
rider
Sloan Frost had been one of the favourites but crashed out of
the Grand
Prix on lap one after contact with another rider.
Jaden
Hassan,
18, ran away with the GP in the 600cc Supersport class on his
Yamaha
but the Hamilton rider was pipped on the final lap of his
preliminary race when
local racer John Ross got his Suzuki in front at the end of the
main straight.
Two
other
GP classes went to Australians, Troy Guenther (Honda) in 125 GP
and Luke
Burgess (Kawasaki) in 250 Production. Other GP winners were:
Superlite, Neil
Smith (Blenheim, Yamaha); Pro Twins. Hamish Murphy (Wellington,
Suzuki); and Sidecars,
Spike Taylor (Masterton)/Astrid Hartnell (Wanganui).
Robbie
Bugden just
holds off Craig Shirriffs on his way to victory in the New
Zealand Superbike
Grand Prix.
Photo credit fotocd.co.nz
Results:
Superbikes
–
Race one: Robbie Bugden (Australia) Suzuki 1; Craig Shirriffs
(Feilding)
Suzuki 2; Dennis Charlett (Christchurch) Suzuki 3; Hayden
Fitzgerald (New
Plymouth) Suzuki 4; Nick Cole (Hamilton) Kawasaki 5; John Ross
(Christchurch)
6. Race two, New Zealand Grand Prix: Bugden 1; Shirriffs 2;
Charlett 3;
Fitzgerald 4; Cole 5; James Smith (Christchurch) Honda 6.
Championship points: Bugden
50, Shirriffs 40, Charlett 32, Fitzgerald 26, Cole 22, Ross 18
600cc
Supersport
– Race one: John Ross (Christchurch) Suzuki 1; Jaden Hassan
(Auckland) Yamaha 2; Jake Lewis (Christchurch) Yamaha 3; Daniel
Ormsby
(Christchurch) Yamaha 4; Jeremy Holmes (Invercargill) Honda 5.
Race two, GP:
Hassan 1; Ross 2; Alastair Hoogenboezem (Christchurch) Suzuki 3;
Lewis 4; Holmes
5. Points: Hassan and Ross both 45, Lewis 29, Hoogenboezem 25,
Holmes 25.
Superlite
–
Race one: Neil Smith (Blenheim) Yamaha 450, 1; Richard Newbery
(Balclutha) Kawasaki
450, 2; Gavin Veltmeyer (Auckland) Suzuki SV650, 3. Race two:
Newbery and Smith
=1; Jason Nairn (New Plymouth) Suzuki SV650, 3. Race three, GP:
Smith 1;
Newbery 2; Nairn 3. Points: Smith 72.5, Newbery 62.5, Nairn 48.
Pro
Twins
– Race one: Hamish Murphy (Wellington Suzuki SV650, 1; Nathanael
Diprose
(Auckland) Suzuki SV650, 2; Nick Southerwood (Auckland) Suzuki
SV650, 3. Race
two: Murphy 1; Diprose and Southerwood =2. Race three, GP:
Murphy 1; Diprose 2;
Southerwood 3. Points: Murphy 75, Diprose 58, Southerwood 50.
125
GP
race: Troy Guenther (Australia) Honda 1; Scout Fletcher
(Christchurch) Honda
2; Scott Kinder (Geraldine) Honda 3. Race two: Guenther 1;
Fletcher 2; Tyler
Lincoln (Havelock North) Honda 3. Race three, GP: Guenther 1;
Lincoln 2; Kinder
3. Points: Guenther 75, Kinder 41, Fletcher 40.
250
Production
race: Luke Burgess (Australia) 1; Bailie Perriton (Ashburton) 2;
Chris Sutcliffe (Timaru) 3. All rode Kawasaki Ninjas. Race two:
Burgess 1;
Perriton 2; Grant Ramage (Timaru) Kawasaki 3. Race three, GP:
Burgess 1;
Perriton 2; Ramage 3. Points: Burgess 75, Perriton 60, Ramage
41.
Sidecars
race
one: Spike Taylor (Masterton)/Astrid Hartnell (Wanganui) LCR
1000, 1;
Peter Goodwin/Darren Prentice (Bay of Islands) Windle 1000, 2;
Grant Waters
(Timaru)/Matthew Gibbs (Christchurch) Windle 1000, 3. Race two:
Taylor/Hartnell
1; Goodwin/Prentice 2; Waters/Gibbs 3. Race three, GP:
Taylor/Hartnell 1; Goodwin/Prentice
2; Waters/Gibbs 3. Points: Taylor/Hartnell 75, Goodwin/Prentice
60, Waters/Gibbs
48.