The topsy-turvy world of motorcycle racing took another twist at Manfeild at the weekend and the form books were thrown out the window as the annual Suzuki Series roared past the halfway stage.
International visitor and defending champion Horst Saiger lost his advantage in the premier Formula One class and Suzuki hero Sloan Frost won the day at Manfeild, the second of three rounds.
The riders now head to the final round, on the streets of Wanganui on Boxing Day, with everything to fight for.
Frost (Fujitsu TSS Red Baron Suzuki GSX-R1000) qualified fastest on Sunday, albeit just 300ths of a second ahead of Liechtenstein rider Saiger (Red Devil Racing Kawasaki ZXR-10R), but that perhaps hinted at how the day would eventually finish.
Saiger suffered a terrible start in the first of two F1 races on Sunday, but impressively carved his way through the pack to take the lead and ride off to the win, with nearest rival Frost settling for second spot.
The next race was almost a carbon copy, Saiger again forced to battle through traffic before crossing the finish line ahead of Frost. But that wasn’t the end of it, with officials adjudging Saiger had jumped the start.
He was penalised 20 seconds and this relegated him to sixth, handing the second race win instead to Frost.
With Frost scoring 2-1 results and Saiger credited with 1-6, the day’s podium belonged to Frost, with Saiger, Whakatane’s Tony Rees (fourth and second) and Taupo’s Scott Moir (third and third) sharing overall runner-up for the event.
The most significant outcome of all of this is Frost and Saiger are now equal first in the series standings, with the title to be decided at the traditional Cemetery Circuit meeting on Boxing Day.
Rees (Honda CBR1000RR) is third in the series standings, 16.5 points adrift of Frost and Saiger, with Hamilton’s nine-time former national superbike champion Andrew Stroud (Suzuki GSX-R100) and Moir (Suzuki GSX-R100) filling out the top five.
“Lady luck seemed to be punishing me and now, all of a sudden, she’s smiling on me,” said the 34-year-old Frost afterwards.
“I had problems this weekend with the wheel-speed sensor on my after-market traction control device failing me. That meant I had to adapt my riding style and that was hard because I’ve been using traction control for a couple of years now. It meant I was quite a bit slower this weekend that I would otherwise have been.
“But then I got the win in race two when Horst (Saiger) was punished. I don’t like to win that way, but I’ll take it.
“It has certainly closed up the championship and it’s going to be all-on in Wanganui on December 26. I like racing at Wanganui. I crashed pretty hard there in 2013, so I’ve been bitten by the track already.
“It’s a place that has got to be respected. You can’t really push 100 per cent. But if I’m going to beat Horst then I’m going to need to push 100 per cent.”
Saiger was philosophical about his day.
“It wasn’t a bad day. I’m looking forward to Wanganui. It’s better for the competition (that the racing is close). There will be no silly games … I’ll just ride as hard as I can.”
Other class leaders after two rounds are: Wainuiomata’s Shane Richardson (F2 600 supers, Kawasaki ZX6R); Taumarunui’s Leigh Tidman (F3 sports bikes, Yamaha RS450); Te Awanga’s Eddie Kattenberg (post classics seniors, pre-89, Bimota YB8S); Hamilton’s Shayne Lawrey (post classics juniors, pre-89, Yamaha FZR600J); Feilding’s John Oliver (Bears, juniors, non-Japanese bikes, BMW S1000RR); Raglan’s Robert Whittall (Bears, seniors, Aprilia SXV550); Wanganui’s Richard Dibben (super moto, Honda CRF450); UK pair Tim Reeves and Mark Wilkes (sidecars, LCR Kawasaki ZXR-10R).
