Frost melts rivals to start series defence
Sloan Frost justified the No.1 adorning his Suzuki when the New Zealand Superbikes and Road Race championships got underway at Mike Pero Motorsport outside Christchurch on Sunday.
Frost made an impressive beginning to the defence of the championship by winning two of the three races, including the allimportant Grand Prix by 1.869 seconds over Honda veteran Tony Rees.
The 49-year-old from Whakatane won the opening race on Saturday but Frost took the chequered flag when it mattered most to build a handy lead and retain the GP crown he claimed in 2016.
Frost controlled the race from pole position and although Christchurch’s Alastair Hoogenboezem completed a tight passing manoeuvre on the 11th circuit of the 20-lap race, the champion swiftly regained the lead and powered to a comfortable victory.
The Wellingtonian’s dominance left Rees and Hoogenboezem to contest the other podium positions with the remainder of the 12-strong field consigned to back marker status from the opening lap.
Hoogenboezem looked on track for runner-up but after another brief passage in front of Rees on the final lap his rival Honda rider regained second to finish 0.168secs ahead of the home town favourite.
There was little between the top three until the latter stages when Frost built an impregnable advantage.
‘‘I saw I had a tiny gap where I didn’t have to cover my lines then I put the hammer down a little bit in the last four or five laps to give me the break I needed to relax at the end of the race,’’ said Frost.
‘‘We were fairly strong from the practice. I wasn’t expecting the Honda boys to be as quick as they were but I knew they’d be there or thereabouts. It was really tough racing out there. Probably the hardest racing I’ve had to do.’’
Hoogenboezem agreed after revealing fatigue set in during the championship’s longest and most physically demanding race on a four-round schedule that continues at Teretonga in Invercargill on Saturday.
‘‘In the first race I got really bad arm pump [pain]. We tried to sort that from the second race but from lap 10 it came back. ‘‘It was a battle from there on. I get a massive build-up of lactic acid so in the last few laps I was struggling to pull in the clutch.’’
In the Superstock 1000 class that ran concurrently with the Superbikes, Invercargill’s Jeremy Holmes set the standard, winning all three races on his Honda.
Christchurch’s Andy McLaughlin (KTM RC390) won two of the three races in the Lightweight Production class including the 12-lap Grand Prix by 1.839secs ahead of Sam Goulter (Ashburton) on a Yamaha R3. Goulter benefited from fellow Ashburton and Yamaha racer Lewis Dray – the reigning 250cc Grand Prix and national champion – crashing his Yamaha R3 on the final bend.
Third-place getter Regan Phibbs (Yamaha R3) also profited from Dray’s misfortune to make the podium – the Tauranga racer also set a new track record of 1:46.761. Fortunately Dray was not seriously injured although he left the venue with his left arm in a sling.
In the 250 production class Campbell Grayling (Kawasaki Ninja) from Opunake completed a clean sweep by clearing out to win the Grand Prix by a massive 19.029secs ahead of Timaru’s James Squire (Kawasaki Ninja). Damon Rees (Honda), the youngest son of Tony, built an early buffer in the Supersport division with a second placing and two wins, including the Grand Prix.