Whanganui ’ s Richie Dibben ( right , Suzuki RM-Z450 ), national champion again in the Supermoto class after brilliant display on Boxing Day . Here he is congratulated by visiting international rider Davey Todd ( Suzuki RM-Z450 ), Dibben ’ s main rival all series
and from which he drew so much pleasure . “ I wanted Damo to be with me on this ride and I felt emotional about that . I ’ ve applied for 92 to be my official number now too , in Damo ’ s memory . The number lives on . That ’ s actually the year I was born too , so it kind of lines up nicely . “ In the meantime , I want to hang onto the No . 1 for as long as I can though ,” he laughed .
SUPERSPORT 600 The most one-sided fight was for Formula Two / Supersport 600 class honours , with Invercargill ’ s Cormac Buchanan wrapping it all up after just two of the three rounds . He did not even attend the Boxing Day finale at Whanganui , but then he didn ’ t need to either after he ’ d aced a perfect sweep , winning all three of his races at Taupo ’ s round one and then doing the same thing at Manfeild ’ s round two .
He ’ d also gained the ‘ bonus ’ points for qualifying fastest at both rounds . With Buchanan out of the picture at Whanganui , it was left to Wainuiomata ’ s returning Kiwi international Shane Richardson and a former Suzuki International Series winner in the F2 / 600 class , Upper Hutt ’ s Rogan Chandler , to battle for 600cc class glory . Richardson qualified fastest and then won both F2 / 600 races at Whanganui and also impressed with a fighting third overall in the allcapacities Robert Holden Memorial Race near the end of the day at Whanganui , with Chandler forced to accept third overall for the series .
SUPERMOTO Perhaps the closest battles in the series were in the Supermoto class ( for highly-modified dirt bikes ), where Whanganui ’ s Richie Dibben found himself in the fight of his life with visiting British
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