The Suzuki Series kicked off at Hampton Downs Raceway with the added gloss of International stars in F1, F2 and Sidecar classes. Horst Saiger picked up where he left off last year, leading the Superbikes, Roman Stamm is leading F2 and the Tim Reeves/Mark Wilkes Sidecar combo head into Manfeild’s second round leading as well.
The local racers are all working hard on optimising their knowledge of Manfeild and will be charging hard to try to stop the internationals dominating. With Sloan Frost, Andrew Stroud, Tony Rees and a bunch of the new bloods within striking distance, Horst is well aware that he needs to bring his A-game to keep them at bay. Roman is impressed with the pace of the Kiwis. Fresh from the European season, the Swiss rider reckons it’s wide open yet.
The speed of world champions, Reeves/ Wilkes is a fantastic learning experience for the NZ teams and they are helping with setup etc as well, which is extremely good of them and bodes well for the Kiwis when they race abroad.
After Manfeild, the final round is on Boxing Day at Wanganui’s famous Cemetery Circuit.
Sidecar Photo: Doug Cornes
James Hoogenboezem image by Craig Dawson
