Thousands watched the drags
The Hirepool Twilight Drags was open for riders to enter, on competition bikes or just what you rode to the event on. Held on Teretonga’ s main straight, it pulled in thousands of spectators and also showed visiting racers in the F1 / F2 class that Jeremy Holmes is a wizard at getting off the line. The local lad headed off the CBR1000 superbike-shod Mitch Rees on his Superstock Honda CBR1000SP1. Winner of the Street category was local Mark Fredric on his Suzuki Hayabusa. With a chilled-out atmos for the spectators, as well as being an unofficial show‘ n’ shine and general bike show in the parking area, it also happens to be walking distance back to the rally site, which is ridiculously well-appointed with covered band / party marquee, kitchens, a fleet of portaloos and with around 3000 inhabitants for the week, was Southland’ s party town. Free bus service into town, walking distance to the Beach Racing, Circuit Racing, Speedway, Drags – and a scenic ride to the Hillclimb and a five-minute skip to the Street Circuit, it was One Hell Of A Week, as the T-shirt says.
Well-Oiled
The Honda Street Racing was poised to be the perfect finale. Set up ahead of schedule and looking picture perfect, the forecast band of light rain was not going to pose a problem. Qualifying went like clockwork on the wide and grippy surface. With light rain, racing got underway... and then. With racing paused, I used the lens to scope out the situation before wandering over to the officials tasked with the tough call I knew was coming. With the classic motorcycle leaving three distinct oil trails on different lines on 95 per cent of the circuit, in and out of every twist and turn – wide, narrow
and in-between and culminating in a solid drizzle effect on the damp surface, there was simply no line left to brake for the corners – if you got there. With street racing not having the luxury of run-off and kitty-litter, any mistakes result in sudden stops, so the call was made – the racing was cancelled.
KIWI RIDER 59