Aucklander Cameron Leslie stepped up to be counted this year’s Suzuki International Series, which wrapped up on the streets of Whanganui’s famous Cemetery Circuit on Boxing Day.
Riding a KTM RC8C and racing for the high-profile D6M race team, Leslie certainly stamped his authority on the Formula Two (600cc) class this month, a runner-up finish in the first of two races on the day at Whanganui’s finale on Friday, coupled with an effortless seventh in race two, enough to seal the class title ahead of Bulls rider Ashton Hughes.
This series win nicely sets up the young man, who works as a bike shop service advisor at a dealership on the North Shore, ahead of the upcoming New Zealand Superbike Championships, set to kick off at Ruapuna, in Christchurch, on January 31, 2026.
Leslie knows he’ll have his work cut out battling with Canterbury’s defending New Zealand Supersport 600 champion Jake Lewis, especially with Lewis racing the national series opener on his home turf.
However, Leslie did already outperform Lewis when the two squared off at round one of the Suzuki International Series at Taupo at the start of December.
Leslie qualified his KTM fastest in the 600cc class at Taupo on December 6-7 – gaining a vital bonus point in the process – and then finished 1-2-2 in his three races, while Lewis finished 2-1-dnf.
Lewis did not contest the remainder of the Suzuki International Series.
Rangitikei’s Hughes placed 3-6-1 at Taupo, runner-up for the weekend, and then went on to finish runner-up overall to Leslie when the Suzuki International Series wound up last Friday.
It could be another close battle between these three riders at Ruapuna, not to mention that there may be several other very quick 600cc class riders on the starting grid at Ruapuna in just a few weeks’ time.
“I was surprised by my success in the 600cc class,” said Leslie.
“I had been racing the 300cc class right up until this year and now I’m in the 600cc class and pinching myself with the results I was getting on the bigger bike.
“I looked at the lap times I was getting at Taupo and realised we might have something here and I could actually fight for the title.”
That quickly became an understatement because he went on to dominate and win.
Class winners in the 2025 Suzuki International Series, which wrapped up in Whanganui on Boxing Day, are: Whakatane’s Mitch Rees (formula one); Auckland’s Cameron Leslie (formula two/supersport 600); Silverdale’s Tyler King (formula three); Silverdale’s Tyler King (supersport 300); Paraparaumu’s Richard Markham-Barrett (formula sport, senior, over-600cc); Whanganui’s Jeff Croot (formula sport, junior, up to 600cc); Auckland’s Paul Pavletich (Pre 89 post classics, senior, over-600cc); Auckland’s Scott Findlay and Hawera’s Martin Gray (Pre 89, post classics junior, under-600cc) first equal; Upper Hutt’s Keiran Mair (Pre 95, post classics senior, over-600cc); Te Awanga’s Eddie Kattenberg (Pre 95, post classics junior, under-600cc); Tokomaru’s Barry Smith/Whanganui’s Louise Blythe (F1 sidecars); Whanganui’s Tracey Bryan & Jo Franzen (F2 sidecars); Whanganui’s Richie Dibben (supermoto); Masterton’s Jadin Galway (pre 72 classic solos, Cemetery Circuit only); Carterton’s Mark Smith & Graham Wilkinson (pre 82 classic sidecars, Cemetery Circuit only).
DATES FOR 2025 SUZUKI INTERNATIONAL SERIES
- Round 1, Taupo, Dec 6-7;
- Round 2, Manfeild, Feilding, Dec 13-14;
- Round 3, Whanganui’s Cemetery Circuit, Dec 26.
© Words and photo by Andy McGechan, BikesportNZ
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