Round four of the Castrol Power 1 Superbike Championship was again contested in brilliant sunshine over the weekend (14/15 Feb), this time in the Manawatu, at Manfeild Autocourse, just north of Palmerston North. The race was as good as you could see anywhere in the World. In the Superbike class, you could have thrown a blanket over the top four or five riders, right to the chequered flag. The battle was between Australians Robbie Bugden (Suzuki), Gareth Jones (Yamaha), Hamilton’s Andrew Stroud (Suzuki) and the Honda pairing of Feilding’s Craig Shirriffs and New Plymouth’s Hayden Fitzgerald. In race one the lead changed several times but coming out of the last turn the 41 year-old father of seven, Stroud took the win. Race two was just as exciting and also came down to the last turn, when Stroud tried to go around the outside of Bugden and Jones slipped under him to take second behind Bugden. The 600 Sports Production class turned again into the “Smith & Jones” show, with a tight battle between the young Australian and his Christchurch rival. Jones took his Bernard Racing Yamaha to two further victories over the hard charging Jones on his TripleR Suzuki. Formula Three saw local rider Glen Williams (Suzuki) from Palmerston North clinch the title for the second year, but we will need to await the results of some technical checks before it can be made official. Tauranga’s Sam Love clinched three more wins in the 650 Pro-Twins class ahead of Dannevirke’s Geoff booth both were on Suzukis. The Trans-Tasman battle in the sidecars recommenced with Wanganui’s Steve Bron taking two wins to Australian Stacey Sellars one, so it will be on to Pukekohe for the three wheel battle. The smallest class the 125cc Grand Prixs, had just as much excitement as the big boys, with 16 year-old Avalon Biddle taking a win and two seconds to add to her Grand prix win at the last round. Biddle had three great dices with West Melton’s Alastair Hoogenboezem and Dunedin’s Tim McArthur. The final round of the Championships will be at Pukekohe on March 7/8 Provisional Results Round Four Castrol Power1 Superbike Championships Manfeild Autocourse, Feilding. 14/15 February 2009. NZ Superbikes: Race One: 1,Andrew Stroud (Hamilton) Suzuki; 2, Robbie Bugden (Australia) Suzuki; 3, Gareth Jones (Australia) Yamaha; 4, Craig Shirriffs (Feilding) Honda; 5, Hayden Fitzgerald (New Plymouth) Honda. Race two: 1, Robbie Bugden (Australia) Suzuki; 2, Gareth Jones (Australia) Yamaha; 3, Andrew Stroud (Hamilton) Suzuki; 4, Craig Shirriffs (Feilding) Honda; 5, Hayden Fitzgerald (New Plymouth) Honda. 600 Sports Production: Race One: 1, Gareth Jones (Australia) Yamaha; 2, James Smith (Christchurch) Suzuki; 3, Sam Smith (Pukekohe) Yamaha,; 4, Dennis Charlett (Christchurch) Suzuki; 5, Nick Cole (Hamilton) Kawasaki. Race Two: 1, Gareth Jones (Australia) Yamaha; 2, James Smith (Christchurch) Suzuki; 3, Sam Smith (Pukekohe) Yamaha,; 4, Dennis Charlett (Christchurch) Suzuki; 5, Karl Morgan (Auckland) Suzuki. Formula Three: Race One: 1, Glen Williams (Palmerston North) Suzuki; 2, Glen Skachill (Dannevirke) Suzuki; 3, Terry Fitzgerald (New Plymouth) Suzuki. Race Two: 1, Williams; 2, Skachill; 3, Terry Fitzgerald Race Three: 1, Skachill; 2, Williams; 3, Terry Fitzgerald Pro-Twins: Race One: 1, Sam Love (Tauranga) Suzuki; 2, Geoff Booth (Dannevirke) Suzuki; 3, Jarrod Wintle (Palmerston North) Suzuki. Race Two: 1, Love; 2, Booth; 3, Wintle. Race Three: 1, Love; 2, Booth; 3, Wintle. 125cc Grand Prix: Race One: 1, Alastair Hoogenboezem (West Melton) Honda; 2, Avalon Biddle (Orewa) Honda; 3, Tim McArthur (Dunedin) Honda. Race Two: 1, Hoogenboezem; 2, Biddle; 3, McArthur. Race Three: 1, Biddle; 2, Hoogenboezem; 3, McArthur Sidecars: Race One: 1, Steve Bron/Dennis Simonsen (Wanganui) LCR Suzuki; 2, Adam Unsworth/Stu Dawes (Wanganui) Windle Honda; 3, Chris & Ritchie Lawrance (Auckland) Anderson Yamaha. Race two: 1, Bron/Simonsen; 2, Stacey Sellar/Louise Blythe (Australia) LCR Suzuki; 3, Lawrance Brothers. Race Three: 1, Sellar/Blythe; 2, Bron/Simonsen; 3, Lawrance Brothers. More, from another press release issued by Motorsport Network: Team Honda’s road race squad, Feilding’s Craig Shirriffs and New Plymouth’s Hayden Fitzgerald, were on the pace at round four of the Castrol Power 1 New Zealand Superbike Championships on the weekend, Feb 14/15, at Manfeild Autocourse, just north of Palmerston North. The team did not started the season that well, Fitzgerald experienced electrical problems and Shirriffs had a crash at round two in Timaru. However Shirriffs had still taken his “Team Honda- Red Black Beauty” to third in race one at the season’s opener in Invercargill, while Fitzgerald claimed third in the NZ Superbike Grand Prix at round three in Christchurch on his distinctive Red, Green and White, “Team Honda-Castrol” machine. When the Superbike championship recommenced at Manfeild, are a three week break, the pace was blistering, you could have thrown a blanket over the top five riders. Shirriffs and Fitzgerald had their Honda CBR1000RR8s in the leading bunch; Shirriffs fought his way through to second in race one, before being overtaken by the Bugden/Jones/Stroud juggernaut. He was lapping at the same lap times but was just unable to pull the leading group back. Fitzgerald was a further 19 seconds adrift from the pack. The racing was so intense there was only 2.739 seconds between first and fourth at the finish, after over 45 kilometers of racing. Race two started with the same ferocity, with the lead changing five times in fifteen laps. Finally Bugden (Suzuki), Jones (Yamaha) and Stroud (Suzuki) broke away and the rest of the field slowly spread out, with Shirriffs and Fitzgerald finishing 19 and 24 seconds behind the leader. “We are more than happy with the development of the new CBR1000RR’s and the results the team is getting.” said Team manager Paul Stewart after racing. “Our boys are amateurs after all, the likes of Robbie Bugden and Gareth Jones are professional road racers,” he added