Motourage

Josh Waters

Josh Waters and Ben Attard have been signed to spearhead Team Suzuki’s Australian Superbike Championship  (ASBK) challenge this year aboard the Phil Tainton Racing-prepared 2012 model Suzuki GSX-R1000.

Waters and Attard will make up the team’s two-rider factory squad in the Superbike ranks aboard the highly-anticipated and updated GSX-R1000. After finishing fifth in the ASBK series last year despite contesting a limited schedule due to international commitments, 2009 champion Waters will enter this year’s series as a clear title contender as he competes in the entire series once again.

“Last year was great with the overseas opportunities, but it was difficult without having the carrot of the championship hanging in front of me at the end of the year,” 24-year-old Waters explained. “This year we’ll try hard and hopefully keep the ball rolling from the final three rounds of 2011.

“I’m really looking forward to riding the new 2012 GSX-R1000; having a new bike to race will be great, so it’s an exciting time as we prepare for the year ahead. Training-wise, I’ve been doing a lot of work with my brothers and will be ready for round one next month.”

Attard showed great promise in taking out the Supersport class of the Australian Endurance Championship for Team Suzuki alongside Brodie Waters and Mitchell Carr in December. After finishing eighth in the ASBK series with multiple podiums last year, he’s now been selected to join Team Suzuki on a full time basis.

“I’m excited that this opportunity has finally come because I’ve been working so hard to get it,” Attard, 31, said. “To be in the top team in Australia and riding the best bike out there is exactly where I hoped to be. I’ve been training hard to get my fitness where it should be, so I just can’t wait to get racing. Read more…

Kiwi superbike riders Ryan Hampton and James Smith are ready to get back to top-level racing this weekend at the first round of the 2011 Suzuki Tri-Series at Hampton Downs Motorsport Park near Auckland, New Zealand.

Ryan Hampton

Hampton has been in action recently at the Greymouth Road Races and more recently at the Burt Munro Challenge where he won the Bluff Hill Climb and Road Race events. Commenting from Christchurch, NZ before making the trek north, Hampton said “I had great success down at the Burt Munro the other week, winning the New Zealand Road Hill Climb title, along with the new record time again. I won the Teretonga sprints and the Wyndham street races, so was great fun down there aside from the very average weather. I’m really looking forward to the Suzuki Tri-Series and getting a chance to mix it up with the national guys again. For 2012 my Castrol Honda is feeling great and our Bridgestone tires have shown some positive results. This year is going to be different for me; with the bike we have for the new season, things couldn’t be better, and I’m going to give it absolutely everything I’ve got.”

James Smith hasn’t raced much since last season, except a one off trip to Australia for one round of the ASBK Championship in Queensland and a club day at home. A tough year for James and wife Jenny, with their home damaged after the February earthquake. But the former three-time New Zealand 600 championship runner up is raring to go.

“I can’t wait to get the racing started,” said Smith. “I have only managed one club day so far so I’m really keen and excited to get back on the steel horse. I am coming in extremely determined after last year’s disappointing results, and it was real hard to stay motivated last year with what was happening here with the house and earthquake and all that. I’m very lucky I’ve got a supportive wife and the best sponsors who are still backing me.

The Suzuki Tri-Series starts this weekend at Hampton Downs. The series then moves to Manfeild on December 17 and finally Wanganui’s famous Cemetery Circuit on December 26.

Suzuki Australian Superbike Champion Josh Waters, multiple Suzuki Australian Superbike Champion Shawn Giles, multiple Suzuki New Zealand Superbike Champion Robbie Budgen and Suzuki Supersport Rider Troy Herfoss will be available at Springwood Suzuki to meet and sign autographs for fans.

Meet Robbie Budgen and other Suzuki champions at Springwood Suzuki in Underwood, Queensland on June 3

Venue: Springwood Suzuki

Address: 112 Kingston Road, Underwood QLD

Date: Thursday 3 June 2010

Time: 7:00pm to 8:00pm

You can also register to win a Suzuki Superbike two-up Ride with Shawn Giles on Saturday 5 June and general admission passes for Australian Superbike Championship Round 3, taking place in Queensland Raceway for the same weekend.

Waikato’s Andrew Stroud is the No.1 superbike racer in New Zealand once again. The 42-year-old father-of-seven convincingly won both the premier superbike races at the fifth and final round of this year’s Castrol Power 1 New Zealand Superbike Championships at the new Hampton Downs circuit on Sunday, giving him a record eighth national title, and his first since 2006. Stroud seemed untroubled in winning the day’s first 15-lap superbike race – leading in from start to finish — but it was a different story in the second leg, the 20-lapper that also counted as the national TT title race.

In the second outing, Stroud had to power his Brother Suzuki GSX-R1000 through the field after a bad start, eventually snatching the lead from defending champion Robbie Bugden (Suzuki) at about the midway point.
Brisbane rider Bugden had no answer for Stroud, although he kept the Kiwi hero honest and harried him to the end, finishing less than a second behind Stroud.

“I didn’t get a great start and got pushed around a bit at the beginning,” said Stroud. “But I didn’t panic and when I saw the gap widening, I just put my head down a bit.  I beat Australian Shawn Giles to take the New Zealand superbike title in 2006 but, for the past three years, it’s belonged to Robbie (Bugden). It’s good to have it back … to take it back for New Zealand.”
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