So, even with just over half of the scheduled
the races completed, the NZSBK was
declared and winners named for each of the
championship categories.
It was especially pleasing news for Suzuki ace
Dibben, the bike shop owner a comfortable
leader anyway in his Supersport 600 class title
chase, despite this year being his first full bid
for the title.
“It came as a bit of a surprise, but was still
a fantastic way for me to celebrate my
31st birthday,” said Dibben, “I thought the
organisers would try to get the rest of the
races run. This is not how I wanted it to end,
but that’s it wrapped up.”
It’s certainly no hollow victory for Dibben
– the latest news really coming as mere
26 KIWI RIDER
confirmation that he was indeed the best
rider in his class for 2020.
In all, the Suzuki star won five of the nine
races – three races at each of the three rounds
that were run – and he finished runner-up in
each of the other four races. In addition to
that, he qualified his Suzuki GSX-R600 fastest,
therefore earning pole position, at two of
those three events.
Dibben was a whopping 60 points clear of
his nearest challenger, Upper Hutt’s Rogan
Chandler (Yamaha), after round three and this
meant road-race “rookie” Dibben already had
more than two races up his sleeve with just six
more to come.
“I probably would have had to crash out of at
least two of those remaining races for me not to