MOIR
he fifth and final round of this season’s
New Zealand Superbike Championships
was an absolute thriller in the battle for premier
superbike class honours, with little to separate
friendly rivals Daniel Mettam and Scotty Moir
when they arrived at Taupo’s Bruce McLaren
Motorsport Park for the final showdown on
April 6-7.
Taupo’s Moir (Suzuki GSX-R1000) had led the
championship standings after rounds two
and three, but Glen Eden’s Mettam (Suzuki
GSX-R1000) pounced to snatch away the lead at
round four of the series at Feilding, the weekend
prior to Taupo’s finale.
And so, with the dynamic duo a long way
ahead of all the other competitors on the
championship points table, it really would come
down to a two-way battle between the friendly
rivals.
Weirdly, it was a Honda rider, Whakatane’s
Damon Rees, who determined which of these
two Suzuki riders would win the coveted trophy.
Christchurch rider Alastair Hoogenboezem
30 KIWI RIDER
With the dynamic duo a long way ahead
of all the other competitors on the
championship points table, it really
would come down to a two-way battle
between the friendly rivals
(Yamaha YZF-R1) celebrated his first race win of
the series on Saturday afternoon, while Mettam
finished runner-up, with Moir close behind in
third and this boosted Mettam’s championship
lead to nine points over Moir.
Rees (Honda CBR1000) won the first of
Sunday’s two superbike races, with Moir this
time taking the runner-up honours and Mettam
left to accept third place – the points difference
between the two title contenders was now back
to five points and it would all come down to the
third and final superbike race at Taupo.
In the end, it was the tightest of title fights –
Moir again finished runner-up behind Rees and
once more he had beaten Mettam across the
finish line, but it wasn’t quite enough. Mettam
settled for third in that final outing and took the
title by a solitary point.
“I had good pace early on in that final race, but
I lost out to a little bit of home track advantage
that Scotty enjoyed today,” said the 23-year-old
Mettam, a bike mechanic by trade.