Superbikes liven up cemetery

Whanganui’s iconic Cemetery Circuit celebrated its 70th Boxing Day motorcycle series in style with 13 classes competing.

Suzuki series promoter and organiser Allan Willacy said he was thrilled with how the series had panned out and was particularly happy with the street race finale, the iconic event following round one at Taupo’s Bruce Mclaren Motorsport Park and round two at Manfeild Circuit Chris Amon.

There were multiple race winners throughout the various classes, with standout performances in particular coming in the premier Formula One/superbikes class from Christchurch’s Alastair Hoogenboezem, Whakatane brothers Mitch and Damon Rees, Taupo’s Scott Moir, Glen Eden’s Daniel Mettam, Whanganui duo Richie Dibben and Jayden Carrick.

Hoogenboezem won three of the four F1 races at rounds one and two before dipping out of the competition and giving up his series lead to concentrate on his preparation for the upcoming nationals.

Damon Rees won both F1 races at the Whanganui finale and also won the stand-alone Robert Holden Memorial feature race there, while his elder brother Mitch wrapped up the series overall in the F1 class with a solid showing throughout.

Two-time former winner Moir finished a close runner-up to Mitch Rees in the series overall, finishing just ahead of Damon Rees and Mettam, while Dibben impressed on his F1 debut while fellow Whanganui rider Carrick delighted his home fans as he shone.

It was not until the last round

at Whanganui that some of the top honours were decided.

Even in the 600cc Formula Two class, it came down to the final round, despite Upper Hutt’s Rogan Chandler proving time and again that he was the fastest rider in the class.

A rare mistake that led to a crash at the second round of the seriesmeant Chandler started the day at Whanganui in second position and nine points adrift of former national 600cc champion Avalon Biddle, from Rangiora.

Chandler finished first and third in his two F2 races at Whanganui and was forced to accept second overall for the day, but this was enough for him to secure the series honours overall.

Taupiri teenager Zak Fuller came on strongly at Whanganui, winning the day with his second and first scorecard, and this remarkably elevated him from sixth to second overall for the series on his debut at this high level of close-fought competition.