Like any serious sportsman, Auckland’s Royd Walker-Holt never likes finishing second, but the Kawasaki ace still had plenty of reason to smile as his 2015 New Zealand Superbike Championship campaign wrapped up at the weekend.

The defending champion in the Pro Twins class had to settle for overall runner-up this season, a development year for the 20-year-old fitter and turner as he came to grips with a different bike and a new team, not to mention some very fast opposition.

But Kawakawa Bay’s Walker-Holt is a fast learner and improved as the four-round season progressed, learning from the ‘old head’ Graeme Cole, the boss of the Red Devil Racing Team, as they got the Cycle Torque Kawasaki Ninja 650 up to speed in terms of power, suspension, rider technique and finding traction.

This was the first serious entry of a Ninja 650-twin in the New Zealand Pro Twin class, so it was a “learn as you go project” for Walker-Holt, Kawasaki and the Red-Devil Race Team.

It all came to fruition at the final round at Taupo at the weekend, with Walker-Holt and his Kawasaki Ninja roaring to a hat-trick of wins, breaking the lap record several times in the process.

The new Pro Twins lap record for Taupo is one minute 37.681 seconds.

Although Walker-Holt ultimately had to settle for second overall for the championship, finishing 38 points behind Whangamata’s Ben Rosendaal (Suzuki SV650), he ended his campaign with a smile a mile wide.

“We certainly had things figured out by the time we got to Taupo … unfortunately that was the final round, so we left it a bit late.

“I had a few problems at (the previous round at) Hampton Downs and, with suspension issues, I simply couldn’t keep the bike on the gas.

“But I learned a lot about riding the bike. There are still a few things to work on but we made some great progress.”

That is perhaps something of an understatement, because he could not have gone much better than he did at Taupo’s finale.

He broke the lap record six times over the two-day meeting and won all three Pro Twins races, despite the fact that Taupo is “not my favourite track”.

“I prefer Manfeild, but that wasn’t on the calendar this season.”

That sort of comment, and his unbeaten run at Taupo, must ring a few alarm bells for his rivals for next season.

At the tender age of 20, Walker-Holt has a lot of racing left in him and another season on the Kawasaki will surely bring him more outstanding success.

Walker-Holt is supported by Kawasaki New Zealand, Red Devil Racing, NZ Ceiling and Drywall Supplies, Cycle Torque, Just Fairings, Motul, Shorai, RST, Loccomotion, F1 Engineering, Pirelli, AGV and KSS suspension.

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

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