It’s hard to keep a good man down and they don’t come much better than Blenheim’s Neil Smith.

He took his modified Yamaha R6 to finish no lower than third in his Superlites class – a category formerly known as formula three – at the fifth and final round of the championships near Taupo just over a week ago and that was good enough for him to seal the runner-up spot overall for the 2012 season.

Palmerston North’s Glen Williams (Suzuki) won the title.

That 56-year-old father-of-two Smith should be so far up the rankings is quite remarkable, not least of all because he’s old enough to be the father, or even grandfather, of some of his rivals, but also because he only recently returned to the sport after an extended break from his heyday of the 1980s.

He gave up racing in 1986 after a career littered with many podium finishes, although he never cracked the big one and had to settle for being national runner-up on no less than four occasions.

His best moments were when he “won a couple of TT and GP crowns”.

He returned to the race track in 2000, although just racing in the South Island events and he never mounted a full-season campaign until this year.

“And I came second again,” he philosophically shrugged.

“I’m not frustrated at all by that, however. Look at all the talent in the class and second is still better than finishing tenth. There will always be someone better, no matter who you are.”

A mechanic by trade, Smith also helped turn another Yamaha R6 into an identical superlites class bike for his good friend, fellow Blenheim man Marty Woods.

Woods finished the championship in fourth position overall.

“We were always going to do the South Island rounds of the nationals and not really thinking much further than that. But we’d travelled together all season and just thought ‘why not?’ and so we made the trip north this year,” said Smith.

“We have had a lot of support this year from Motocare Yamaha in Blenheim, Nichols Freight and Simon at Darbi Accessories, but we were really a very low budget effort compared to some of our rivals.

“We even had to buy second-hand tyres off a 600cc class guy so we were able to finish the series.

“To make the bike eligible for Superlites class we have to close off one of the four engine cylinders (making it a 450cc bike), but I’m thinking I might turn the bike back to 600 superstock specifications and give that class a go next season.”

Smith must have some kind of record for finishing runner-up – finishing runner-up four times between 1981 and 1986, and now second again in 2012 – so who would bet against him stealing another top spot in the 600cc class in 2013?

© Words and photo by Andy McGechan, www.BikesportNZ.com