News Release

Palmer Wins Another TT Title

08 July 2008
Quentin Palmer has the No.1 boldly emblazoned on his Suzuki for a good reason. The Taumarunui man is simply the best.
 
And he proved that once again when racing at the New Zealand TT Championships at Kuratau, at the southern tip of a snow-blasted Lake Taupo at the weekend.
 
The four-wheeled action was dominated by the national ATV champion, with Palmer coming from behind to battle past Amberley's Ian Ffitch for the open class ATV title.
 
Braving the chilly conditions, Palmer (Suzuki LTR450 ) set about his job of dominating as he had at the same event the year earlier, winning the first of five open class battles but then being forced to settle for second behind Ffitch in the next outing.
That meant Ffitch had the psychological advantage as day one wrapped up, the pair equal on points but the South Islander leading on the count-back rule.
 
Next morning and it was time for the 27-year-old Palmer to wind the throttle to the stop and check out with him taking a hat-trick of wins on day two, eventually winning the title by a safe 17 points from Ffitch.
 
"I wouldn't say it was an easy win," said the modest Palmer. "I had to work for it”.
 
"I said to myself at the start of day two that I needed to win at least two out of three to beat Ffitch. I ended up winning all three so that was good”.
 
"It was a very fast track, especially down the main straight. It was about 95 km/h in the rough, so that's pretty impressive."
 
Palmer was thrilled to be able to hand another national title across the counter to his sponsors, the men at Taumarunui’s Bike Torque Suzuki dealership, the outlet just a few kilometres away from the scene of the weekend’s triumph.
 
His next big event is the second round of the Off-Road Franklin ATV Short-course Championships in Whakatane on July 27.
 
"I didn't race at round one so I have no real chance of winning the trophy but Suzuki sponsors the race so it would be nice to show up and wave the flag."