The first phase of the 2023-24 motorcycle racing season wrapped up in Whanganui on Boxing Day and, while rider entry numbers were very good, there were a few notable absentees.
The racing on Whanganui’s Cemetery Circuit was the third and final round of the 2023 Suzuki International Series and now there is the small matter of deciding champions in the parallel-but-separate New Zealand Superbike Championships (NZSBK), with some riders perhaps skipping Whanganui on Tuesday to save themselves for the nationals.
Notable absentees at Whanganui included Invercargill’s Cormac Buchanan (pictured here), Christchurch pair Dale Finch and Alastair Hoogenboezem, Taupiri’s Billee Fuller, Auckland riders Dave Sharp, Haydn Fordyce, Blayes Heaven, Nathan Jane and Paul Jenkins, Paraparaumu’s Isaac Markham-Barrett and visiting Australians Ant West and Declan Van Rosmalen, among others.
The NZSBK series is again this season being run in conjunction with the Suzuki International Series, with the first two rounds recognised as rounds one and two of both competitions.
The Suzuki International Series first started in 2008 and has now just finished its 15th season. It now commands mega respect and ranks as among New Zealand’s premier road-race competitions.
For the benefit of those who may be fact-checking those statistics, the series finale was rained out in 2012 and the series was cancelled completely in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, with the Suzuki International Series phase of the 2023-24 season now wrapped up, it’s time for the riders to refocus on the nationals, which will resume in the South Island in exactly one week’s time (on January 6-7) and we can well imagine that riders such as defending national F2/Supersport 600 champion Buchanan and former superbike champion Hoogenboezem will be back in the fray.
The Boxing Day ‘street fight’ was never part of the NZSBK series and that six-round competition resumes in the New Year, with rounds three, four and five in the South Island – at Christchurch, Timaru and Invercargill respectively – with the series then travelling north again to wrap up with round six at Hampton Downs, near Huntly, in March.
Round five, at Invercargill’s Teretonga race circuit, is included in the annual 2024 Burt Munro festival week.
Interestingly, the most one-sided fight in this year’s Suzuki International Series was for Formula Two/Supersport 600 class honours, with Buchanan wrapping it all up after just two of the three rounds.
He did not even attend the Boxing Day finale at Whanganui, but then he didn’t need to either after he’d concocted a perfect sweep, winning all three of his races at Taupo’s round one and then doing the same thing at Manfeild’s round two. He’d also gained the ‘bonus’ points for qualifying fastest at both rounds.
With Buchanan out of the picture at Whanganui, it was left to Wainuiomata’s returning Kiwi international Shane Richardson and a former Suzuki International Series winner in the F2/600 class, Upper Hutt’s Rogan Chandler, to battle for 600cc class glory.
Richardson qualified fastest and then won both F2/600 races at Whanganui and also impressed with a fighting third overall in the all-capacities Robert Holden Memorial Race near the end of the day at Whanganui, with Chandler forced to accept third overall for the series.
With Buchanan sure to be lining up at Ruapuna, in Christchurch, next weekend, we can expect more fireworks.
Class winners in the 2023 Suzuki International Series:
Whakatane’s Mitch Rees (F1/Superbike class & Robert Holden Memorial feature race winner & TT title winner); Invercargill’s Cormac Buchanan (F2/Supersport 600 class); Wainuiomata’s Shane Richardson (F2/Supersport 600 class TT title winner); Taupo’s Karl Hooper (F3/Pro Twins); Morrinsville’s Nick Kampenhout (F3/Pro Twins TT title winner); Feilding’s John Oliver (Formula Sport, Senior); Whanganui’s Jeff Croot (Formula Sport, Junior); Hamilton’s Jesse Stroud (Supersport 300); Hamilton’s Joseph Stroud (GIXXER 150); Upper Hutt’s Keiran Mair (Supersport 150); Taupo’s Karl Hooper (Post Classics, Pre-89, Senior); Lower Hutt’s Dean Bentley (Post Classics, Pre-89, Junior); Invercargill’s Jon Rawcliffe (Post Classics, Pre-95, Senior); Christchurch’s Jordan Leslie (Post Classics, Pre-95, Junior); Whanganui’s Richie Dibben (Supermoto & TT title winner); Panmure’s Adam Unsworth and Whanganui’s Bryce Rose (F1 Sidecars); Whanganui’s Peter and Lucy Dowman (F2 Sidecars); Carterton’s Mark Smith and Isaac Taylor (Classic Sidecars, races run at Whanganui only).
© Words and photo by Andy McGechan, BikesportNZ
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DATES FOR 2023-24 NZ MOTORCYCLE ROAD-RACE SEASON:
Suzuki International Series (and first two rounds of the nationals):
- Round 1, Taupo, Dec 2nd and 3rd;
- Round 2, Manfeild, Feilding, Dec 9th and 10th;
- Whanganui’s Cemetery Circuit, Dec 26th (third and final round of Suzuki International Series, but not part of the nationals).
South Island:
- Round 3, Ruapuna, Christchurch (includes GP title races), Jan 6th and 7th;
- Round 4, Levels, Timaru, Jan 13th and 14th;
- Round 5, Burt Munro, Teretonga, Feb 9th, 10th and 11th.
North Island:
- Round 6, Hampton Downs, part of MotoFest (includes TT title races), Mar 2nd and 3rd.