News Release
Suzuki Still The Team To Beat
25 August 2008
Everyone is gunning for Suzuki star Daryl Hurley.
And that suits the man from Hawera just fine. He believes his Suzuki team is still the one to beat.
The 32-year-old took his Suzuki RM-Z450 to win both the open class motocross title last season and the open class supercross crown earlier this year and now he's planning a strategy to repeat the feat this summer.
The international star has withdrawn from racing across the Tasman as he concentrates on putting all his energies into the race scene in New Zealand and that spells trouble for his rivals.
He again heads up the Team Suzuki race effort, the team has been streamlined this year with his team-mate from last year, Luke Burkhart, taking the option of joining Honda and battling against his former boss.
That should make for interesting dynamics, especially with Honda also gaining the services of national 250cc champion Mike Phillips, as he leaves Kawasaki to join Burkhart under the red Honda awning.
Yamaha and Kawasaki are also tipped to be building formidable teams, setting this season's four-round national motocross championship season to be a real dogfight.
But Hurley is relaxed about the forces lining up against him, especially with the knowledge that he'll be joined by a strong team-mate this season, with the return from Europe of GP rider Scott Columb.
Despite riding with many distractions from his personal life -- his wife giving birth to their first child and then his father dying just two weeks later -- Hurley still finished runner-up in Australia this season and he believes he's as strong in his riding now as he has ever been.
Both Hurley and Columb will ride the phenomenal new fuel-injected Suzuki RM-Z450, a bike identical to that raced by world MX1 champion Steve Ramon, with Hurley also opting to race the smaller RM-Z250 in the 250cc class.
"We have streamlined our operation and have only the best riders possible for each category," said Suzuki New Zealand sales manager Simon Meade. "And they have good support from our development riders as well, Michael Menchi and Matt Hunt."
Waikanae's Menchi will race the RM-Z250, while Auckland-based former Gisborne rider Hunt will race both the RM-Z250 and RM125 bikes as he tackles both the 250cc and 125cc divisions.
Teenager Menchi finished third in the 125cc class last season -- the top rookie -- and this year he steps up to the bigger 250cc machine.
"Both Menchi and Hunt have been working in New Zealand's off-season by racing the under-19 championships in Australia and they both had good success there," said Meade.
"The future of motocross in New Zealand depends on the development of our younger riders and that the balance that Suzuki aims to achieve.
It has been a golden period for Suzuki in the past 12 months with riders of the yellow brand winning nine national motorcycle titles in 2007-2008.
Suzuki riders won the supercross, motocross, cross-country, enduro and also five of the six road-racing categories this season.
