Perhaps the most eagerly-awaited road-race spectacle of the year, racing on the twisting streets of Whanganui’s famous Cemetery Circuit on Boxing Day, signifies the end of one bike series, before the riders move on with phases two and three for another.
Indeed, December 26 is fast approaching and that’s when the popular Suzuki International Series will wrap up, with class trophies given out for the series overall as well as, for the first time, the supermoto class being recognised with a national title being awarded.
Of course the racing action doesn’t really end there, because the season will continue on into the New Year too, with the resumption of the New Zealand Superbike Nationals.
Rounds three and four of that series are in the South Island in January and rounds five and six in the North Island in March.
Team Pirate – a.k.a. Pete ‘The Pirate’ Goodwin (Auckland) and swinger Louise Blythe (Whanganui) – successfully scoot through the infield hairpin during this sidecars race at Manfeild last weekend. Photo by Andy McGechan, BikesportNZ.com
The nation’s premier competitions joined forces this season to run in tandem, also incorporating the massive weekend-long MotoFest spectacle at Hampton Downs.
This has created a revamped and revitalised three-phase New Zealand Motorcycle Road-Race Nationals season for the extended 2022-23 season.
The people behind the two annual series, and MotoFest too, have all been working in conjunction to ensure an explosive and red hot resumption to high-calibre road bike racing after two years of being constrained by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The pandemic caused all sorts of disruptions to major sporting events world-wide and New Zealand was not immune to these, the annual New Zealand Superbike Championships series being cut short in 2020, similarly reduced in size to just three rounds in 2021 and unable to be raced at all in 2022.
Also because of the pandemic, the Suzuki International Series was also not run in December 2021 and MotoFest did not run as planned earlier this year.
Invercargill’s Cormac Buchanan celebrates winning the Supersport 300 class at Manfeild last weekend. He also finished the weekend sixth overall in the F2/Supersport 600 class at Manfeild. Photo by Andy McGechan, BikesportNZ.com
Although the street fighting at Whanganui the day after Christmas was never going to be a part of the nationals, it remains the jewel in the crown for the Suzuki International Series.
The Whanganui event is highly-regarded internationally and has been a must-do for some of the world’s most famous “street fighters” in the past, men such as British and Isle of Man legends Michael Dunlop, Guy Martin, Peter Hickman and Richard Cooper, among others.
The Cemetery Circuit event also includes the famous Robert Holden Memorial feature race, a trophy that is perhaps among the most coveted of prizes in the road-racing world and the national TT titles will also be decided at the Boxing Day event.
Anyway, just to whet your appetite for the street fighting on Boxing Day, we offer up a few photos here from round two of the Suzuki International Series/NZ Superbike Nationals at Manfeild Circuit Chris Amon last weekend.
DATES FOR 2022-23 NZ MOTORCYCLE ROAD-RACE SEASON:
Suzuki International Series:
- Round 1, Taupo, Dec 3rd and 4th (ABANDONED)
- Round 2, Manfeild, Dec 10th and 11th
- Whanganui’s Cemetery Circuit, Dec 26th (third and final round of Suzuki International Series)
South Island:
- Round 3, Ruapuna, Jan 7th and 8th
- Round 4, Teretonga, Jan 14th and 15th
North Island:
- Round 5, Hampton Downs, part of Moto Fest, Mar 4th and 5th
- Round 6, Taupo, Mar 11th and 12th
© Words and photos by Andy McGechan, BikesportNZ
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Bulls rider Ashton Hughes (No.92) leads Upper Hutt’s Rogan Chandler (No.15) and Tirau’s Dillon Telford (No.20) at the start of this F2/Supersport 600 race at Manfeild last weekend. Photo by Andy McGechan, BikesportNZ.com
Whanganui’s Roger Bland (No.822), Ashburton’s Andrew Rudd (No.999) and Lower Hutt’s Duncan McIntyre (No.174) are chased by the rest of the supermoto dirt bike field at Manfeild last weekend. Photo by Andy McGechan, BikesportNZ.com