Cormac Buchanan ( Invercargill , Yamaha ); Silverdale ’ s Tyler King ( Supersport 150 , Yamaha ); Upper Hutt ’ s Kieran Mair ( Gixxer 150 , Suzuki ); Auckland ’ s Adam Unsworth and Bryce Rose ( F1 sidecars , Aprilia ) and Whanganui ’ s Bryan Stent and Dan Franzen ( F2 sidecars , Suzuki ).
ROUNDS THREE AND FOUR Just four weeks later – after the separate Suzuki International Series finale on Whanganui ’ s famous Cemetery Circuit – and it was the turn for the South Island to host the nationals action , with round three of the New Zealand Superbike Championships at Christchurch ’ s Mike Pero Motorsport Park ( Ruapuna ) on January 7-8 and round four at Invercargill ’ s Teretonga Park Raceway circuit on January 14-15 . Unfortunately , the series soon lost several of its big-hitters , with the previous season ’ s Supersport 600 champion and now superbike class frontrunner Dale Finch , from Christchurch , forced to drop out with injury , along with Supersport 600 class leader Ashton Hughes , from Bulls , also side-lined due to injury . It was a battle of attrition in the 600cc class , with not only Hughes sent to the side-lines , but Napier ’ s SJ Cavell , Taupo ’ s Karl Hooper and Tirau ’ s Dillon Telford suffering mishaps at Teretonga too . There were also a couple of other non-finishers
recorded in the glamour 1000ccc Superbikes class at Teretonga , with Taupo ’ s Scott Moir and Taupiri ’ s Zak Fuller dropping off the radar at different stages during the weekend .
ROUND FIVE With two months for riders to regather themselves , repair bikes , work on their techniques or simply build up their strength , the racing was always going to be fierce , and critical too , at round five of the New Zealand Superbike Championships at Hampton Downs ( on March 4-5 ), sharing the billing that weekend with the massive MotoFest extravaganza . Southlander Cormac Buchanan and Bay of Plenty man Mitch Rees were strong at Hampton Downs and able to celebrate successful 2022- 23 nationals campaigns with a round to spare , although the series would still go down to the wire in the other bike divisions . Buchanan successfully completed his Supersport 300 class title defence at Hampton Downs and Rees did likewise when he also made it two consecutive national 1000cc superbike title wins , both men able to crack open the champagne a week early . Despite this , neither rider was inclined to back off and take things easy at Taupo ’ s finale . Rees won two of his three superbike class races at Taupo , forced to accept the runner-
The 300 Supersport start didn ’ t go well for everybody .
60 KIWI RIDER