Brave move beats Superbike champ
Sunday 13 January: Craig Shirriffs ended Australian Robbie Bugden’s run of victories with a risky-looking but perfectly judged move at Timaru’s second round of the national Superbike championships today. Bernard Carpinter reports for MNZ.
Bugden leading Shirriffs at Timaru today. IPhoto and thumbnail credit fotocd.co.nz
Bugden,
the
defending and four-times champion, had won both races in
Christchurch last
weekend and also today’s first heat despite intense pressure
from Shirriffs.
Shirriffs,
from
Feilding, shadowed the Aussie through most of the second race
and pounced
just before the end, braking very late and shooting up the
inside as they went
into the chicane before the final straight.
"That
was
my plan all along,” Shirriffs said. "I was faster than him there
and if I’d
passed him anywhere else he would have got me back.
"I
went
in a bit hot and ran wide. Robbie said afterwards he thought I
wasn’t
going to make the corner.
"I
wanted
to do the same in race one but I wasn’t fast enough out of the
corner
before the chicane.”
The
finish
to race two was particularly exciting because Hamilton rider
Nick Cole
had caught up with the leading pair and was right behind
Shirriffs – although Shirriffs
had not realised he was there.
Bugden
now
leads Shirriffs by 10 points, with Christchurch rider Dennis
Charlett third
in his return to the superbike class.
The
day
started with some heavy rain but later dried out.
The
first
600cc Supersport race was run in the rain and saw plenty of
action,
including a few crashes.
Christchurch
rider
Seth Devereux was the bravest and he pushed his Kawasaki hard to
record
his first victory in this class, heading off Rhys Holmes and
Jeremy Holmes (no
relation).
Rhys
Holmes
also posted a first in the second race, claiming his debut class
victory
on his Yamaha in a frenetic race in which the top six all ran
very close and
positions changed constantly.
Christchurch
teenager
Jake Lewis took second, also on a Yamaha, while some of the
bigger
names fell by the wayside.
Australian
teenagers
Luke Burgess and Troy Guenther lead their categories, 250
Production
and 125 GP respectively. Burgess is now the only rider in any
class with a perfect
record of victories in all his races.
Leaders
in
other classes are: Superlite, Richard Newbery; Pro Twins, Hamish
Murphy; and
sidecars, Spike Taylor/Astrid Hartnell.
Superbikes
–
Race one: Robbie Bugden (Australia) Suzuki 1; Craig Shirriffs
(Feilding)
Suzuki 2; Dennis Chareltt (Christchurch) Suzuki 3; Sloan Frost
(Wellington) BMW
4; Ryan Hampton (Christchurch) Honda 5; James Smith
(Christchurch) Honda 6.
Race
two:
Shirriffs 1; Bugden 2; Nick Cole (Hamilton) Kawasaki 3; Charlett
4; Smith
5; Frost 6.
Championship
points:
Bugden 95, Shirriffs 85, Charlett 61, Cole 49, Fitzgerald 42,
Smith 37.
600cc
Supersport
– Race one: Seth Devereux (Christchurch) Kawasaki 1; Rhys Holmes
(Katikati)
Yamaha 2; Jeremy Holmes (Invercargill) Honda 3; Alastair
Hoogenboezem
(Christchurch) Suzuki 4; John Ross (Christchurch) Suzuki 5.
Race
two:
R Holmes 1; Jake Lewis (Christchurch) Yamaha 2; Adam Chambers
(Clive) Honda
3; Daniel Ormsby (Christchurch) Yamaha 4; John Ross
(Christchurch) Suzuki 5.
Points:
Ross
65, Lewis and R Holmes both 60, Jaden Hassan (Auckland, Yamaha)
49,
Devereux 43.
Superlite
–
Race one: Richard Newbery (Balclutha) Kawasaki 450, 1; Glen
Orwin (Auckland)
Yamaha 450, 2; Glen Agate (Oamaru) Kawasaki ZXR400, 3. Race two:
Newbery 1; Gavin
Veltmeyer (Auckland) Suzuki SV650, 2; Agate 3. Race three:
Newbery 1; Orwin 2;
Veltmeyer 3. Points: Newbery 137.5, Veltmeyer 81.5, Orwin 78.5.
Pro
Twins
– Race one: Nathanael Diprose (Auckland) Suzuki SV650, 1; Hamish
Murphy
(Wellington Suzuki SV650, 2; Nick Southerwood (Auckland) Suzuki
SV650, 3. Race
two: Murphy 1; Dean Bentley (Lower Hutt) Suzuki SV650, 2;
Nathanael Diprose
(Auckland) Suzuki SV650, 3. Race three: Murphy 1; Diprose 2;
Bentley 3. Points:
Murphy 140, Diprose 119, Southerwood 92.
125
GP
– Race one: Troy Guenther (Australia) Honda 1; Scout Fletcher
(Christchurch)
Honda 2; Scott Kinder (Geraldine) Honda 3. Race two: Guenther 1;
Fletcher 2;
Tyler Lincoln (Havelck North) Honda 3. Race three: Guenther 1;
Fletcher 2; Aaron
Hassan (Auckland) Honda 3. Points: Guenther 141, Fletcher 96,
Kinder 90.
250
Production
– Race one: Luke Burgess (Australia) 1; Grant Ramage (Timaru) 2;
Richard Willetts 3. All rode Kawasaki Ninjas. Race two: Burgess
1; Bailie
Perriton (Ashburton) Kawasaki 2; Ramage 3. Race three: Burgess
1; Ramage 2;
Sarah Elliot (Otaki) Kawasaki 3. Points: Burgess 150, Ramage
101, Willetts 78.
Sidecars
–
Race one: Peter Goodwin/Darren Prentice (Bay of Islands) Windle
1000, 1;
Grant Waters (Timaru)/Matthew Gibbs (Christchurch) Windle 1000,
2; Graeme
Harris/Colin Grace (both Christchurch) Yamaha 1000, 3. Race two:
Spike Taylor
(Masterton)/Astrid Hartnell (Wanganui) LCR 1; Waters/Gibbs 2;
Harris/Grace 3. Race
three: Waters/Gibbs 1; Taylor/Hartnell 2; Goodwin/Prentice 3.
Points: Taylor/Hartnell
133, Waters/Gibbs 113, Goodwin/Prentice 101.