The drama continued at the New Zealand Superbike Championships yesterday.

A huge crash by superbike championship leader Robbie Bugden marred the day’s action at Teretonga Park yesterday, as round three of the nationals got underway just outside Invercargill.

The Australian walked away from the accident but his bike was a mess.

Fortunately he was able to borrow the race bike of fellow Suzuki man Ray Clee and return to the race track to qualify in an unaccustomed 9th place overall. Clee rode the same bike to qualify in 8th spot.

Top qualifiers yesterday were BMW riders Sloan Frost and John Ross, taking first and second spot on the grid for today’s main races with times of 58.595 and 58.815 respectively.

Hamilton’s Nick Cole (59.011) was third fastest on his Kawasaki ZX-10, while defending nine-time champion Andrew Stroud (Suzuki), also of Hamilton, clocked 59.053 to take fourth spot on the grid.

The qualifying could be an omen because Frost won at Teretonga last year, the racing that day reduced to one race for the superbike class because of torrential rain.

Meanwhile, Ross had earlier taken his Suzuki GSX-R600 go under one minute at Teretonga and take pole position from fellow Christchurch rider Dennis Charlett (Suzuki), with Wellington’s Glen Skachill third fastest on another Suzuki.

Rangiora’s Jake Lewis (Yamaha) took pole in the 600 Superstock Class with a 61.319, just ahead of Timaru’s Johnny Small (Suzuki) 61.734 and Christchurch’s Dan Ornsby (Yamaha) 62.112

Palmerston North’s Glen Williams (Suzuki) won the weekend’s first Superlite race ahead of Blenheim’s Neil Smith (Yamaha) and Geraldine’s Richard Newbery (Kawasaki).

The first Pro Twin 650 class race was won by Bryan Hill (Suzuki), the Ashburton man finishing ahead of Cameron Moir and Christchurch’s Robbie Stokes.

Malaysian youngster Hafiq Azmi (Honda) took another win in the 125GP class, beating Auckland’s Daniel Mettam and Australian Troy Guenther. The 250 Prolite race was awarded to Christchurch-based Tapanui rider Seth Devereux, ahead of Paraparaumu’s Sam Croft and Otaki’s Sarah Elliott.

Key qualifying times:

 

Superbikes:

Sloan Frost 58.595

John Ross 58.815

Nick Cole 59.011

Andrew Stroud 59.053

Craig Shirriffs 59.298

Hayden Fitzgerald 59.406

James Smith 59.418

Ray Clee 59.578

Robbie Bugden 59.734

Scott Moir 60.193

Ryan Hampton 60.412

Rhys Holmes 60.906

Dan Jansen 66.368

 

600 supersport:

John Ross 59.774

Dennis Charlett 60.163

Glen Skachill 60.175

Karl Morgan 60.298

Jeremy Holmes 60.486

Alastair Hoogenboezem 60.588

Joshua McGrath 60.626

James Hoogenboezem 60.904

Avalon Biddle 61.055

Kenneth Jones 61.279

Rhys Holmes 61.799

Tim McArthur 62.605

Marcus Beagley 63.497

Chris Gifkins 63.815

 

600 Superstock:

Jake Lewis 61.279

Johnny Small 61.734

Dan Ornsby 62.112

Stewart Smart 64.536

Mike Lee 64.997

Dan Lewis 65.369

© Andy McGechan, www.BikesportNZ.com