Retirement didn’t last very long for Canterbury’s Dennis Charlett and he has announced he will again spearhead the Suzuki assault on New Zealand’s motorcycle road-race titles in 2014-15.

The 45-year-old former national 125cc and 600cc champion finally became the New Zealand superbike (1000cc) champion earlier this year and he did it with relative ease – this despite the incredibly intense racing that ensued throughout the four-round series.

Charlett (Underground Brown Suzuki GSX-R1000) had built up enough of a points lead at the two South Island rounds of the series at the start of this year that, by the time the racing headed up for the two North Island rounds, he was already in a very strong position.

The Christchurch man then did all that he needed to do at the final round at Manfeild in March – finishing 7-8-6-2 in his four races that weekend – to seal the premier title ahead of Australian BMW rider Linden Magee, before promptly announcing his retirement.

But Charlett has now decided that “you can never say never” and he has announced he will be back again on a Suzuki GSX-R1000 bike when the new 2014-15 season kicks off, starting with the three-round Suzuki Series at Hampton Downs on December 6 and followed by the national championships.

“I’ve sold my title-winning bike to Wanganui’s Jayden Carrick and so I will be starting from scratch with setting up another bike, the one previously raced by (Australia’s five-time former New Zealand superbike champion) Robbie Bugden,” said Charlett, the general manager of a sheet metal fabrication workshop.

“I’m really looking forward to racing it. I’m lucky enough that, with all the work I’ve done, I already have some pretty good base settings and so I’ll be 90 percent ready to win right from the start.

“This will be my third season on a superbike after I finished third outright in 2013 then won the title this year. I also won the Suzuki Series in the class in 2012 and I’d like to win that again, as well as win the day on the streets of Wanganui on Boxing Day. That’s something I’d really like to tick off my ‘bucket list’.

“I believe I’m riding better now than at any time in my career, although I don’t know how many years I will keep this up.

“They say it’s harder to defend a title than win it in the first place, so I’ve just got to ‘man-up’ and go harder to defend my title. The support I’m getting from Suzuki, and my other sponsors too, is fantastic.

“I know I’ll be riding with a target on my back, but I’ve got the experience to deal with that.”

With Charlett again leading the way, the Suzuki front-line strike force looks more than capable of cracking and piercing an opposition line-up, particularly with such talented riders as Wellington’s national No.3 Sloan Frost, Auckland’s national No.4 Jaden Hassan and Christchurch’s John Ross also heading into battle on GSX-R1000 machines.

Ross won the national 600 supersport class title last season and is expected to again be a contender when he steps up to the bigger bike this time around.

Riders who will fill the void in the 600cc supersport class will be Hassan’s younger brother, Aaron Hassan and Ashburton’s Balie Perriton, who took a Kawasaki to comfortably win the 250cc Production class last season.

Young Aucklander Daniel Mettam, who rode a Honda last season, is on the verge of signing to also ride a Suzuki GSX-R600 in 2014-15 and with that he will become the fourth high-profile Suzuki signing in the class.

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

Find BikesportNZ.com on Facebook HERE