AN ALMOST PERFECT WEEKEND

Three wins from four starts – it was an almost perfect weekend for Auckland’s Toby Summers.

The Yamaha ace raced two different bikes in two separate categories and won them both at the opening round of the annual Suzuki Series at Hampton Downs, near Meremere, on Saturday.

The Manukau plumber raced his 2011-model Yamaha YZ450F dirt bike to win both races in the Super Moto class and then backed that up by taking his 2011-model Yamaha R6 to finish first and then second in his two Formula Two (600cc) outings.

“My first Super Moto class race started in the wet and, as the track started to dry I suffered a puncture. I was lucky that I had managed to build a big gap on the other riders, so I could hold on and still win,” said the 40-year-old.

“In the second Super Moto race I got into a huge battle with British rider Malachi Mitchell-Thomas (TM450). I’m just a plumber who races for fun, but this guy races the world super moto championships and he’s paid to ride, so it was a great feeling to beat him to the chequered flag.”

The action was also eye-wateringly exciting in Summers’ F2 races as he battled throughout with Wanganui rider Jayden Carrick (Suzuki), Clive’s Adam Chambers (Honda), Auckland’s Daniel Mettam (Honda) and Yamaha riders Rhys Holmes, from Tauranga, and German visitor Thomas Kreutz.

“I qualified second in F2, behind Jayden (Carrick), in the dry, but it rained in the first race and I was lucky to get the lead and just power away with the win. I got thrown out of the saddle a couple of times and ran onto the grass but I managed to save it. It was nothing to do with skill … just good luck,” he said modestly.

“The second race was dry and all the riders were on slick tyres. I had a huge battle with Jayden and had to settle for second.”

Summers leads the Super Moto class by nine points from Mitchell-Thomas, with Yamaha rider Duncan Hart, of Tauranga, third overall, another five points further back.

In the F2 class, things are a little tighter at the top. Here Summers leads Carrick by just one point, with Chambers third, six points adrift of Carrick.

Supported by Summers Plumbers and R&R Powersports, Summers will be clocking up the kilometres in the coming weeks with round two of the Suzuki Tri Series set for Manfeild, on the outskirts of Feilding, this weekend, while the third and final round of the series is the legendary Boxing Day public street race on Wanganui’s famous Cemetery Circuit.

The four-round national championships follow immediately afterwards and, while many regard the Suzuki Series as a build-up for the national competition, it really is a very credible and prestigious series in its own right.

Other class winners on Saturday were Hamilton’s Nick Cole (Formula One); New Plymouth’s Hayden Fitzgerald (F3 sports bikes); Whangarei’s Duncan Coutts (Post Classics); Australia’s Craig Trinder (Bears, non-Japanese bikes) and Hamilton’s Aaron Lovell and Dennis Simonson (sidecars).