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SKACHILL AND BOOTH GO OUT
WITH A BANG
If the old saying is true that you’re only as good as your last race, then Conti riders Glen Skachill and Geoff Booth are very good indeed.
In a sport that relies so much on making good contact with the race surface, it could almost be said that Skachill and Booth have an unfair advantage, their ContiRaceAttack tyres offering them unrivalled “stickability”.
The two men certainly both came up trumps at the fifth and final round of the New Zealand Superbike Championships at the new Hampton Downs circuit, near Meremere, at the weekend.
The two Conti-sponsored men certainly had a firm grip on the race track, the pair winning the final race of the series in their respective classes and, with that, securing the New Zealand TT titles in their two categories and also signalling they will both be men to be reckoned with again next season.
Booth (Suzuki, Continental, Berik, HJC, Sidi, Spectro) was so strong in the 650 Pro Twins class that even when he suffered serious injury in a crash at round three of the series near Timaru in January, the 25-year-old still bounced back to win all three Pro Twins races at the round that followed, at Manfeild in February.
He enjoyed a significant 36-point lead in the championship as he arrived at the final round at Hampton Downs and wrapped up his first national title with another stunning display, finishing 3-1-1 at the weekend.
“I just decided to play it safe … get the points I needed in the first two races, to wrap up the national title, and then see what unfolded in the final (TT Championship) race after that,” said Booth.
He had earlier won the national GP title when he won that race at Christchurch in January, making it three national crowns in one season for the 25-year-old.
“The rules say we’re only allowed to use one set of tyres for the whole weekend, so I opted for medium compound ContiRaceAttack rubber. They lasted brilliantly for the entire weekend.”
It was a similarly thrilling weekend for the 20-year-old Skachill (Suzuki, Continental, Museum Hotel, Ozzy performance), who wrapped up his debut season in the 600cc Sports Production class in style by winning the all-important 600cc TT championship race at Hampton Downs.
“I can do nothing but apologise to my supporters and sponsors after crashing out of the first race on Sunday. I can blame nobody but myself for that … I just completely misjudged things and collided with James Smith (Christchurch). We both went down and neither of us could finish the race.
“The next race was perfect for me though and I led from the start and just ran away with the win. It was an up and down weekend for me with the lowest of lows and highest of highs.”
On his debut season, Skachill finished the season a remarkable fifth in the 600cc Sports Production class championship, just nine points off fourth place, and is now anticipating moving further up the rankings next season.
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