Canterbury’s Dennis Charlett has the No.1 on his Suzuki superbike for a reason – he’s the 2014 national champion – and he showed on Friday that he might be the man to beat again in 2015.

The 46-year-old Christchurch man, also a former national road-race champion in the 125cc and 600cc classes and the 2012 winner of the big annual Suzuki Series, was unbeatable in the Formula One/superbike class at the 25th annual Port Nelson Streets Races on Friday, January 2, a superb way for him to welcome in the New Year.

He finished the day comfortably ahead of last year’s winner, Christchurch rider Dan McKenzie (Honda), while Nelson’s Jonny Lewis (Aprilia) finished the day third. Lewis, a 33-year-old builder, also won the Bears (non-Japanese bikes) class and finished third in the Formula Two division.

It was Charlett’s fifth King of the Port title win, making him the first rider to win the main event five times.

He beat McKenzie in all three F1/superbike class races, before also heading McKenzie across the finish line in the eight-lap finale, the feature race that included all of the day’s top performers from the other bike classes as well.

“Any win is special but to do this in front of my family; my cousins and uncles and aunties are here and everything,” said Charlett (Underground Brown Suzuki GSX-R1000) afterwards.

“It’s absolutely awesome and it’s good to be back. Unfortunately I couldn’t come last year but it’s fantastic to be here, the atmosphere was great.”

“It’s a little bit slower than on a (purpose-built) circuit, but it’s still really fun, there’s a lot of challenges and it had a lot more character to it this year.

“It doesn’t matter what race it is you always feel a bit of pressure. I always get nervous but I still love it and I want to carry on doing it.”

In other results, Blenheim’s Andy Rudd won both the Formula 2 and Formula 3 classes; Motueka’s Josh Coppins won all five super moto races; Hira’s Neville Curran won the post classics class and Nelson’s Bruce Verdon won the classics section.

The premier class win was an important confidence-booster for Charlett because he begins his national superbike title defence at the first of four rounds in the 2015 New Zealand Superbike Championships at Ruapuna, on the outskirts of Christchurch, next weekend.

Charlett already knows he’ll have a difficult job retaining his national superbike crown with fellow Suzuki stars Jaden Hassan, of Westmere, in Auckland, Christchurch’s John Ross, Wellington’s Sloan Frost and Taupo’s Scott Moir among those riders very capable of beating him.

Charlett will also be respectful of former national superbike champion Tony Rees, the Whakatane rider who won the final round of the 2014 Suzuki Series at the Cemetery Circuit on Boxing Day, Taranaki’s perennial top-10 finisher Hayden Fitzgerald, and even superbike class newcomer Jayden Carrick, of Wanganui.

“I’m taking nothing for granted again this season,” said multi-champion Charlett.

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

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