Suzuki riders extended their respective leads in the two glamour classes as the New Zealand Superbike Championships passed the halfway stage at Invercargill’s Teretonga race circuit on Sunday.

Australian defending champion Robbie Bugden (Triple R Suzuki GSX-R1000) convincingly won both races in the superbike class at Teretonga, the third round of five in the series.

This was enough for the Brisbane rider to stretch his advantage from 10 points to 24 clear of his nearest rival, Feilding’s Craig Shirriffs (Suzuki New Zealand GSX-R1000).

On current form, Bugden looks well set to continue on and wrap up his fifth New Zealand superbike title.

“It was actually a pretty tough day today,” said Bugden afterwards. “It was pretty tricky because the wind was up and I didn’t know how hard I could push things. As soon as the front wheel came up on the main straight, the wind would catch the bike and blow it a metre or so either way.

“I had to ride with something in reserve and Craig Shirriffs and Sloan Frost were pushing me pretty hard,” said Bugden.

Shirriffs and Frost finished the day equal on points, Shirriffs finishing third and second and Frost finishing second and third in the two outings.

Christchurch’s Dennis Charlett (Underground Brown Suzuki GSX-R1000) remains third in the championship standings and Hamilton’s Nick Cole (Red Devil Racing Kawasaki ZX10R) is still fourth overall, while Wellington’s Sloan Frost (BMW 1000RR) has improved up from eighth to fifth overall thanks to his impressive results on Sunday.

In the six superbike races run thus far, Bugden has won five of them, his only set-back coming when Shirriffs snatched away the win in the day’s second race at round two near Timaru the previous weekend.

Bugden has plenty of time to savour the euphoria of his dream run – the series now takes a short break before resuming at Hampton Downs, near Meremere, on March 16-17, and it finally wraps up at Taupo Motorsport Park on March 23-24.

“It couldn’t have gone much better for me so far, but none of these wins has been easy,” said a humble Bugden.

“I’m looking forward to racing at Hampton Downs. The bike is going well and hopefully we’ll just continue to go forward.”

Meanwhile, in the fiercely-fought 600cc Supersport class, Canterbury’s John Ross (Repsol Suzuki GSX-R600) also managed to stretch his advantage at the top of the standings.

Christchurch man Ross arrived in Southland at the weekend just five points in front of his nearest challengers for the title, Katikati’s Rhys Holmes (John Tuhoe Racing Yamaha R6) and Christchurch’s Jake Lewis (Bob McCleary Yamaha R6), but he ended the day sitting a whopping 30 points clear at the top, ahead of new No.2 rider Jaden Hassan (Homebuyers Reports Yamaha R6).

Hassan, battling through the pain barrier after breaking bone in his hand at the previous round, finished a remarkable third and second in the two 600 Supersport race at Teretonga.

The 31-year-old Ross scored back-to-back wins at Teretonga to place himself in a commanding position for the championship with just the two North Island rounds remaining.

One of the big movers in the class was home-town rider Jeremy Holmes, the Castrol Honda CRB600RR rider finishing second and third in the two races and moving from sixth equal to fifth in the championship standings, now just seven points off fourth-ranked rider Lewis.

“I’m pretty happy with my day,” said the 32-year-old Holmes Invercargill man, the manager at Southland Honda.

“I got a bad start in both races and that’s not good here at Teretonga, where half a second can be a lot of time and difficult to make up.

“I was right up with John Ross on the last lap, but he went in pretty deep into the last corner and stuffed his bike right up inside of me and that put him in a prime position as we lined up for the finish line.

“My championship was looking grim after I crashed in the second race at Timaru last weekend. In a short, 10-race series like this, you can’t afford to drop points like that.

“But now it’s looking up. I have been consistent and near the front each time and I just need to continue bagging good, solid points like this weekend.”

In the 125GP and 250cc Production classes, Australian teenagers Troy Guenther and Luke Burgess maintained their respective leads, while Balclutha’s Richard Newbery continues to dominate the Superlite championship on his Kawasaki. Wellington’s Hamish Murphy still heads the Pro Twins 650 series, although Lower Hutt’s Dean Bentley is catching up.

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

Main photo (above) by Andrew Bright, Championship Digital.

Results and standings after round three:

Superbikes –

Race one: Robbie Bugden (Australia) Suzuki 1; Sloan Frost (Wellington) BMW 2; Craig Shirriffs (Feilding) Suzuki 3; Nick Cole (Hamilton) Kawasaki 4; Dennis Charlett (Christchurch) Suzuki 5. Race two: Bugden 1; Shirriffs 2; Frost 3; Cole 4; Ryan Hampton (Christchurch) Honda 5.

Championship points: Bugden 145, Shirriffs 121, Charlett 82, Cole 75, Frost 68.

600cc Supersport –

Race one: John Ross (Christchurch) Suzuki 1; Jeremy Holmes (Invercargill) Honda 2; Jaden Hassan (Auckland) Yamaha 3; Alastair Hoogenboezem (Christchurch) Suzuki 4; Rhys Holmes (Katikati) Yamaha 5. Race two: Ross 1; Hassan 2; J Holmes 3; R Holmes 4; Jake Lewis (Christchurch) Yamaha 5.

Points: Ross 115, Hassan 85, R Holmes 84, Lewis 81, J Holmes 74.

Superlite –

Race one: Richard Newbery (Balclutha) Kawasaki 450, 1; Glen Agate (Oamaru) Kawasaki ZXR400, 2; Hayden Scorringe (Dunedin) Suzuki SV650, 3. Race two: Newbery 1; Agate 2; Gavin Veltmeyer (Auckland) Suzuki SV650, 3. Race three: Newbery 1; Veltmeyer 2; Agate 3.

Points: Newbery 212.5, Veltmeyer 127.5, Agate 126.

Pro Twins –

Race one: Dean Bentley (Lower Hutt) Suzuki SV650, 1; Hamish Murphy (Wellington Suzuki SV650, 2; Nick Southerwood (Auckland) Suzuki SV650, 3. Race two: Bentley 1; Southerwood 2; Anthony Stephens 3. Race three: Bentley 1; Southerwood 2; Murphy 3.

Points: Murphy 176, Bentley 163, Southerwood 148.

125 GP –

Race one: Troy Guenther (Australia) Honda 1; Matt Hoogenboezem (Christchurch) Honda 2; Scott Kinder (Geraldine) Honda 3. Race two: Guenther 1; Aaron Hassan (Auckland) Honda 2; Hoogenboezem 3. Race three: Guenther 1; Kinder 2; Scout Fletcher (Christchurch) Honda 3.

Points: Guenther 216, Fletcher and Kinder both 136.

250 Production –

Race one: Bailie Perriton (Ashburton) 1; Alex Bowers (Ngatea) 2; Chris Sutcliffe (Timaru) 3. All rode Kawasaki Ninjas. Race two: Luke Burgess (Australia) 1; Sam Davidson 2; Sutcliffe 3. Race three: Burgess 1; Davidson 2; Sutcliffe 3.

Points: Burgess 75, Sutcliffe and Grant Ramage (Timaru) both 120.