Southland, like the rest of the South Island, turned on some amazing weather for round three of the Castrol New Zealand Superbike Championships at Teretonga, this weekend.
The Aussie vs. Kiwi battle continued in the Superbike class, with Australians Robbie Bugden (Suzuki) and Gareth Jones (Yamaha) battling out in front, chased by the Kiwi pairing of Hamilton’s Andrew Stroud and Feilding’s Craig Shirriffs on their Suzukis. Bugden dominated the weekend with two wins and set a new lap record of 57.604 sec. during race one.
In the 600 sports production class, it was the TripleR Suzukis of series leader Dennis Charlett and team-mate James Smith, both of Christchurch, battling with Bernard Racing’s Sadowski Brothers (USA) on their Yamahas. Charlett picked up two more wins and a lap record of 59.949 sec for his weekend’s work.
The 125cc Grand Prix class had a new player with Christchurch’s Nick Cain, at only 14-years-old, taking two win and a second for the weekend. While in the Formula Three class, we had three different winners, series leader Palmerston North’s Glen Williams, New Plymouth’s Terry Fitzgerald and Blenheim’s Steven Woods.
Auckland’s Karl Morgan continued his dominance of the new 650 Pro-Twin class.
The Circus now has a few weeks off, regrouping at Manfeild on February 23/24.
Provisional results:
Round Three Castrol New Zealand Superbike Championships
Teretonga Raceway, Invercargill. 26/27 Jan 2008:
Superbikes
Race one:
Robbie Bugden (Australia) Suzuki, 1; Gareth Jones (Australia) Yamaha, 2; Andrew Stroud (Hamilton) Suzuki, 3; Craig Shirriffs (Fielding) Suzuki, 4; Damien Cudlin (Australia) Yamaha, 5.
Race two: Bugden, 1; Jones, 2; Shirriffs, 3; Cudlin, 4; Stroud, 5.
Points: Bugden 150, Jones 102, Stroud 98, Shirriffs 90, Cudlin 59.
600cc Sports Production
Race one: Dennis Charlett (Christchurch) Suzuki, 1; James Smith (Christchurch) Suzuki, 2; Matt Sadowski (USA) Yamaha, 3; Dave Sadowski (USA) Yamaha, 4; Nicholas Cole (Hamilton) Kawasaki, 5.
Race Two: Charlett, 1; Dave Sadowski, 2; Smith, 3; Jay Lawrence (Wellington) Kawasaki, 4; Jason Hulme (Wanganui) Yamaha, 5.
Points: Charlett 147.5, Smith 94.5, Lawrence 88.5, Matt Sadowski 68.5, Cole 61.
Formula Three
Race one: Terry Fitzgerald (New Plymouth) Suzuki, 1; Glen Williams (Palmerston North) Suzuki, 2; Steve Wood (Blenhiem) Suzuki, 3.
Race Two: Williams, 1; Fitzgerald, 2; Wood, 3.
Race three:Â Wood, 1; Williams, 2; Jason Nairn (New Plymouth) Suzuki, 3.
Points: Williams 210, Wood 145, Fitzgerald 128.
Pro-Twins:
Race one: Karl Morgan (Swanson) Suzuki, 1; Anthony Stephens (Invercargill) Suzuki, 2; Alan Zitnik (Alaska) Suzuki, 3.
Race two: Morgan, 1; Stephens, 2; Geoff Booth (Dannevirke) Suzuki, 3.
Race three: Morgan, 1; Stephens, 2; Booth, 3.
Points: Morgan 225, Booth 140, Stephens 137.
125GP
Race one: Nick Cain (Christchurch) Honda, 1; Tim McArthur (Dunedin) Honda, 2; Adam Chambers (Clive) Honda, 3.
Race two: McArthur, 1; Cain, 2; Kirk Pritchard (Christchurch) Honda, 3.
Race three: Cain, 1; McArthur, 2; Pritchard, 3.
Points: Cameron Jones 184, McArthur 169, Chambers 108.
