ROUND 1, Teretonga, Invercargill, 6th and 7th of January.

Weather: Hot, Sunny, Windy.

Results:

Qualifying - 2nd: 1.00.351

Race 1 - 5th 1.00.242

Race 2 - 3rd 0.59.460


With Qualifying I made sure that I went out as soon as I could as rain was on its way and a usual occurance at Teretonga. Pulled out a few good laps and then the rain came in. I felt confident and new tyres made a huge difference.

Race one I was nervous as this was my first national meeting in the thousand class and I was on the front row. A bad start and first couple of laps meant that I had a bit of work on my hands to pull in a good result and achieve my weekends aim of top 5 overall and a sub-60. The Castrol Honda was on rails after dialing in the Ohlins suspension and the new generation Pirelli tyres seemed to have a lot of side grip. Towards the end of the 20 lap race Craig Sherriffs and myself both wanted 4th spot as it was both our first Superbike season. Sherriffs took 4th place.

The field was lined up on the start grid for race two and I had some work to do to achieve my goal. Cracker of a start being 4th into turn one. I had perfected my start technique, it wasnt long until I passed Stroud on the inside round turn one a few laps later and Charlton on the same lap at the very next corner running 2nd, WOW, what do I do now?! Chasing after Budgen, Stroud came passed and I followed him for a while untill he gapped me. From pit wall I had my sister showing a small gap behind me, my mum showing a medium gap and WESTIE (my mechanic) a large gap. There was no way I was looking behind me...instead I just put my head down and settled into my rhythm. Bringing the bike home in 3rd place and achieving my goals for the weekend. Hard work pays off.

Next Race Meeting:

Round 2 - SsangYong New Zealand Superbike Championship at Levels, Timaru on the 13th and 14th January

Current Points Table:



1 R Robbie Bugden 50
2 1 Andrew Stroud 40
3 C Scott Charlton 29
4 61 Hayden Fitzgerald 27
5 56 Craig Shirriffs 24
6 28 Robert Jackson 18
7 8 Jon Lowther 17
8 9 Brendon Marshall 16
9 32 Daniel Ornsby 15
10 226 Glen Williams 11
11 73 Anthony Bradford 9
12 S Chris Seaton 8
13 37 Shaun Harris 0
14 21 Carey Brier 0
15 23 Vaughn Paterson 0


SSANGYONG NEW ZEALAND SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP 2007 DATES:

Rnd1 Teretonga, Invercargill 6th-7th January 2007

Rnd2 Levels, Timaru 13th-14th January 2007

Rnd3 Ruapuna, Christchurch 20th-21st January 2007

Rnd4 Manfeild, Feilding 24th-25th Febuary 2007

Rnd5 Pukekohe, Auckland 10th-11th March 2007



BATTLE OF THE STREETS DATES:

Rnd2 Paeroa Sunday 18th Febuary 2007