Richardson Shows He'll Be a Force to Be Reckoned with

RICHARDSON SHOWS HE'LL BE A FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH

Wainuiomata's Shane Richardson (Kawasaki Ninja ZX6R), one of the success stories of the road-racing season so far. Photo by Andy McGechan, BikesportNZ.com

DECEMBER 27, 2016: There's simply no time to be resting on laurels.

The popular Suzuki Series pre-nationals road-racing competition wrapped up on the streets of Whanganui on Boxing Day and, while the various class winners should be allowed time to celebrate their respective wins, there is virtually no time for the riders to catch their collective breath before the real business of winning national titles gets underway.

The four-round New Zealand Superbike Championships get underway at Mike Pero Motorsport Park (formerly known as Ruapuna Raceway), on the outskirts of Christchurch, on January 7-8, with round two at Teretonga, on the outskirts of Invercargill, just one week later.

Much fan attention will no doubt focus on the glamour superbike class again this season, but it is the 600cc supersport class where fresh talent will emerge and from where the future of the sport will come.

Glen Eden's Daniel Mettam may be national 600cc supersport champion and Whakatane's Damon Rees may have wrapped up the 600cc title in the Suzuki Series, doing just enough around the streets of Whanganui's famous Cemetery Circuit on Boxing Day to get the job done, but neither rider can afford to rest on their laurels, with so much young talent rapidly rising to replace them.

Wainuiomata's Shane Richardson is one such rider who is waiting in the wings and ready to pounce.

Kawasaki rider Richardson won the day in this class at Whanganui on Boxing Day and he's determined to keep the momentum going when the national championship series kicks off next month.

Richardson qualified his Kawasaki Ninja ZX6R fastest at Whanganui and gained a valuable point as he took pole position. He then finished 1-2 in the races proper, to win the day, although Rees twice finished third, behind Richardson and Lower Hutt's Jay Lawrence, and this was sufficient for Rees to take the F2/600cc crown by four points from Richardson, with Wellington's Rogan Chandler claiming third for the series overall.

"It was a good day for me. This is the first time I don't have to fix the bike before going to the South Island for the first round of the nationals," laughed Richardson.

"I had no incidents at Whanganui this time around.

"I arrived at Whanganui 12 points behind Rees and, in the end, he only won the series from me by four points.

"If I had managed to win that last race at Whanganui (instead of finishing runner-up to Lawrence), then I would have been beaten by Rees for the series by just one point. If Rees had finished fourth in that race (instead of third), then I would have won the series. That's how tight it was."

This all hints at an extremely exciting national series coming up.

"I know Damon (Rees) will be a threat again, and so too will be Christchurch riders such as Cam Hudson, Jake Lewis and James Hoogenboezem. They will all be hard to beat.

"But it's always nice to start the nationals with confidence and I have that after winning the day at Whanganui."

Other class winners for the Suzuki Series were Wellington's Sloan Frost (Formula One/Superbikes); Pukerua Bay's Glen Skachill (F3/sport bikes); Tauranga's Duncan Hart (super motard); Tauranga's Colin MacGregor (Bears, non-Japanese bikes, seniors); Bulls' Ashton Hughes (Bears, non-Japanese bikes, juniors); Pukerua Bay's Glen Skachill (Post Classic, Pre-89, senior); Auckland's Scott Findlay (Post Classic, Pre-89, junior); UK's John Holden and Tauranga's Robbie Shorter (sidecars).

Credit: Words and photo by Andy McGechan, www.BikesportNZ.com

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