First Blood To Suzuki's Defending Champion

It is first blood to Suzuki's defending champion Sloan Frost after the weekend's opening round of four in this season's New Zealand Superbike Championships.

Just 19 points separate the top three riders in the superbike class after two days of racing at the Mike Pero Motorsport Park, on the outskirts of Christchurch, on Saturday and Sunday and there will be no time for any of the riders or the race fans to catch their breath with round two set for Invercargill in just a week's time.

Wellington's Frost and Whakatane's Tony Rees picked up the duelling from where they'd left off in the pre-nationals Suzuki Series when that wrapped up on Boxing Day, the two men now joined by Christchurch's Alastair Hoogenboezem, in making it a tight three-way scrap for top honours in the glamour class.

Glen Eden's Daniel Mettam, the national 600cc class champion last year, who has now stepped up to a 1000cc Suzuki superbike, and Manukau's Tony Summers rounded out the top five in the superbike class after a fierce two days of racing at the Canterbury circuit formerly known as Ruapuna.

Frost qualified on pole and took the bonus point that went with that achievement, but then had to settle for a close runner-up finish to Rees in the first of the weekend's three superbike class races, that 10-lap race staged on Saturday.

However, a pair of wins the following day propelled Frost to the top of the standings.

The racing was extremely close and it's possible a small blanket would have covered the leading three riders, especially as they battled for glory in the final superbike class race of the weekend, the 20-lap affair that is also recognised as the one-off GP title race.

Frost and Hoogenboezem each took turns to lead this most-important race, but it was Frost in front at the finish, although the eventual 1.8-second winning margin over runner-up Rees perhaps flattered him.

It was a similar story in the 600cc supersport class where Suzuki Series rivals Damon Rees and Shane Richardson also reignited their rivalry, Whakatane's Rees, the 21-year-old youngest son of Tony Rees, leaving Christchurch with a slender six-point advantage over Wainuiomata's Richardson, with Rangiora's Jake Lewis not too far behind in third place overall.

The riders now head to round two of the nationals at Teretonga, on the outskirts of Invercargill, next weekend (January 14-15).

Words and photo by Andy McGechan, BikesportNZ.com