Ashburton’s Bailie Perriton has one hand already on the national 250cc production road-racing crown.

After another dominant performance at the third round of four in the New Zealand Superbike Championships at Taupo at the weekend – with another hat-trick of wins to his credit – the Kawasaki ace is in an enviable position.

The 16-year-old sensation is so far in front of his nearest rival that he can afford to sit and relax in his deck chair in the pits and not even head out onto the track for at least three of his remaining five races at the final round at Manfeild this coming weekend.

To make it even more likely that he will win, his closest challenger on the points table, Rangiora’s Jake Lewis, is currently racing overseas and is not expected to be at the ‘double header’ event in the Manawatu this weekend.

And the rider who is third in the standings after three rounds, Australian rider Luke Burgess, is not expected to be at Manfeild either.

Even with five races to be run in each class at Manfeild this weekend, mathematically-speaking, Perriton can’t really be caught.

He has set lap record times at all three rounds thus far, at Ruapuna, at Levels and now at Taupo, although, even with no real pressure on him, he has plans to do the same at Manfeild’s final round.

“I need to learn to push myself,” he said.

Perriton is currently studying in a trades course at Ashburton College – where he is learning the skills needed to be a builder, plumber, panel-beater, engineer and painter – but, with the way his motorcycle racing career is progressing, it seems his next few years will spent on race tracks around the country and overseas too, rather than up a ladder or under the bonnet of a car.

He recently made his first big trip overseas when he headed to Australia to compete at the first of six rounds in the FX Superbikes Championships at Wakefield Park, near Sydney, and he was in action in six races over the two days.

“That was my first time out of the country and only my third time ever on a plane,” he revealed.

Despite racing a stock standard Kawasaki Ninja 300 against the modified bikes of his rivals, he finished third in each of those Australian championship outings.

The next round is set for Mallala, north of Adelaide, in a couple of months’ time, although first he’ll concentrate on wrapping up the national 250cc production title on the outskirts of Feilding this weekend.

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

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