Motourage

The weather looks set to hold, and the stage is set. It is now or never for lead riders in four of the six classes being competed for in the 2010 Castrol Power1 Superbike road race championship which concludes at the new Hampton Downs circuit south of Auckland today Sunday 28th March. The meeting also doubles as the New Zealand TT titles.

Christchurch school boy Alastair Hoogenboezem has already won the 125GP championship for 2010, but is also showing he wants to defend his 125TT title which he won last year. The battle for second in the championship is not over with Auckland pair of Avalon Biddle and Jaden Hassan equal on points 99 behind Hoogenboezem , the fight will be on between these two, with Hassan already getting second at Hampton Downs in the first race on Saturday.

The other champions already decided are in the Sidecar Championship. Wanganui’s Steve Bron and Dennis Simonsen have wrapped up the title after dominating most of the year with several lap records along the way. Second is yet to be decided, with current second placed pairing of Dave Annan/Warick Demmocks and third placed Peter Goodwin/Dion Weedon 23 Points apart.

The battle for the other four championships will come down to the wire; there are two races for each class today. In the Formula 3 Class Manawatu riders are fighting it out. Foxton’s Jason Easton and Two time and current Formula 3 Champion Palmerston North’s Glen Williams only 11 points apart. This will be close as both have won races throughout the season, with Easton taking first blood at Hampton Downs in the first race on Saturday.

The 650 Pro twin class has been a battle between Dannevirke’s Geoff Booth and James Hoogenboezem of Christchurch. The pair have been within grasp of the title all season. Booth suffered a huge crash at Timaru, but bounced back at Manfeild and leads the series from Hoogenboezem by 35 points. However Daniel Kempthorne has thrown the cat among the pigeons and has performed outstandingly in the last two rounds, qualifying fastest at Manfeild and winning the first race at Hampton Downs on Saturday. He is chasing down third spot in the championship, which is currently being held by Kaiapoi’s Jason Cameron who was a winner at the first round in Christchurch on a Kawasaki, however during the season has switched to a Suzuki SV650.

The 600Sp class is as hard as it comes. The battle is on between Kawasaki rider Nick Cole and Suzuki’s James Smith. Smith has been runner up in the 600SP title chase for the past two years and wants the number 1 plate bad. Presently 2.5 points separate Cole from Smith. Both riders have been outstanding this year, Cole being the big improver. The other outstanding performance has come from Christchurch’s John Ross, he has shown to be right there when it matters, and currently sits in a fairly safe third spot in the Championship. Another rider to watch is young Wellington charger Glen Skachill. Nick Cole qualified on pole yesterday from Skachill, but it was a real battle, with Skachill leading the times until the 11th lap when Cole just managed to edge him out of the top spot.

All the excitement aside in the 600SP class, a Champion may not be crowned at Hampton Downs due to an alleged jumped start incident at the Manfeild round by Smith and Skachill , which saw Cole retake the points lead in the series after the Smith and Skachill where penalized 20 seconds. An appeal has been filed and is due to be heard on April 9th.

In the Superbike class seven times NZ Superbike Champion Andrew Stroud only needs to finish in the top ten in the first race to clinch his 8th Title. However settling for a place is not within his nature, and after qualifying second on the grid, Stroud will be out to win at Hampton Downs. After a mixed season three times New Zealand Champion Australian Robbie Bugden qualified fastest yesterday and is equally determined to take his Suzuki to two wins at Hampton Downs.

Third in the points series is Castrol Honda’s Craig Shirriffs, who has had two crashes at Hampton Downs over the last few days. Destroying one of his machines, Shirriffs showed his courage by returning to the track in the afternoon, to qualify on team mate Hayden Fitzgerald’s spare machine just to get a time. Before his crash yesterday, Shirriffs was the mixing it consistently with Stroud and Bugden. Shirriffs is only five points ahead of Bugden’s team mate James Smith(who is also riding in the 600SP class) in the championship , so will be out there fending him off.

The action should be hot. You can follow LIVE TIMING from Hampton Downs by going to our website. http://www.nzsbk.co.nz/ and follow the links.