The weather gods where not as kind at Round Two of the Castrol Power 1 New Zealand Superbike Championships in Timaru over the weekend. Although it dawned fine, by mid afternoon the cloud had rolled in and there were even spits of rain during the last Superbike race. The star of the day was 21 year-old Queenslander Gareth Jones on his brace of Yamahas. He took his Yamaha R6 two wins from two starts in the 600 Sports Production class, after two tremendous battles with Christchurch’s James Smith (Suzuki). Also right in the fight were, Smith’s teammate Dennis Charlett and Hamilton’s Nick Cole on his Kawasaki. In the first Superbike race, Jones came home third on his Yamaha R1, behind series leader fellow Australian Robbie Bugden and Hamilton’s Andrew Stroud both on Suzuki’s. But as the weather closed in at the start of the second race, Jones, Bugden, Stroud and New Plymouth’s Hayden Fitzgerald (Honda) settled into a tight freight train, with positions changing each lap. By the middle of the race Jones had made it to the front, but with different parts of the track having different weather conditions, things were very tricky. Jones held on to take his first New Zealand Superbike championship race win and the double for the round. “I needed that,” said Jones after the race, “The pressure has been on since the start of last season to take a win and now I have done it,” added Jones. Series leader Robbie Bugden was more than happy with his win and a second. “It is a long series and we are only at round two,” he commented after the second race. The minor classes continued to be dominated by the series leaders in each class. Palmerston North’s Glen Williams picked up two wins and a second in Formula Three, as did Dunedin’s Tim McArthur in the 125cc Grand Prix class. Tauranga’s Sam Love took three wins in the Pro-Twins, while in the sidecars reigning champion Wanganui’s Steve Bron came out on top, with two wins and a third, a head of Auckland’s Lawrance Brothers with two seconds and a win. The series now moves further north to Christchurch for round three and the Grand Prixs next weekend at Ruapuna. Provisional Results Round Two Castrol Power1 Superbike Championships Levels Raceway, Timaru: 17/18 January 2009. NZ Superbikes: Race One: 1, Robbie Bugden (Australia) Suzuki; 2, Andrew Stroud (Hamilton) Suzuki; 3, Gareth Jones (Australia) Yamaha; 4, Hayden Fitzgerald (New Plymouth) Honda; 5, Ray Clee (Auckland) Suzuki. Race Two: 1, Jones; 2, Bugden; 3, Stroud; 4, Fitzgerald; 5, Clee. Points: Bugden 95, Stroud 76, Jones 70, Fitzgerald 45, Frost 39. 600 Sports Production: Race One: 1, Gareth Jones (Australia) Yamaha; 2, James Smith (Christchurch) Suzuki; 3, Dennis Charlett (Christchurch) Suzuki; 4, Nick Cole (Hamilton) Kawasaki; 5, Sam Smith (Pukekohe) Yamaha. Race Two: 1, Jones; 2, Smith; 3, Charlett; 4, Cole; 5, Jay Lawrence (Wellington) Yamaha. Points: Jones 100, James Smith 80, Cole 58, Charlett 43, Lawrence 41. Formula Three: Race One: 1, Glen Williams (Palmerston North) Suzuki; 2, Jason Easton (Foxton) Tigcraft Aprilia; 3, Terry Fitzgerald (New Plymouth) Suzuki. Race Two: 1, Williams; 2, Easton; 3, Fitzgerald. Race Three: 1, Easton; 2, Williams; 3, Fitzgerald Points: Williams 140, Stevens 79, deBoer 75 Pro-Twins: Race One: 1, Sam Love (Tauranga) Suzuki; 2, Geoff Booth (Dannevirke) Suzuki; 2, Patrick Jones (Christchurch) Suzuki. Race Two: 1, Love; 2, Booth; 3, Neil Smith (Blenhiem) Suzuki. Race Three: 1, Love; 2, Booth; 3, Jones. Points: Love 150, Booth 116, Jones 85. 125cc Grand Prix: Race One: 1, Kenneth Jones (Hamilton) Yamaha; 2, Tim McArthur (Dunedin) Honda; 3, Jaden Hassan (Auckland) Yamaha. Race Two: 1, McArthur; 2, Cameron Jones; 3, Avalon Biddle (Orewa) Honda. Race Three: 1, McArthur; 2, Alastair Hoogenboezem (Christchurch) Honda; 3, Kenneth Jones. Points: Mc Arthur 145, Kenneth Jones 94, Hassen 88. Sidecars: Race One: 1, Steve Bron/Dennis Simonsen (Wanganui) LCR Suzuki; 2, Chris & Ritchie Lawrance (Auckland) Anderson Yamaha; 3, Stacey Sellar/ Louise Blythe (Australia) LCR Suzuki. Race Two: 1, Bron/Simonsen; 2, Lawrance Brothers; 3, Sellar/ Blythe. Race Three: 1, Lawrance Brothers; 2, Sellar/Blythe; 3, Bron/Simonsen Points: Bron/Simonsen 66, Lawrance Brothers 65, Sellar/Blythe 52. More, from a press release issued by Motorsport Network: Mixed Weekend for Red Riders Team Honda Racing’s road race squad had more than the changing weather conditions to contend with at round two of the Castrol Power 1 New Zealand Superbike championships at Level Raceway, just outside Timaru at the weekend. New Plymouth’s Hayden Fitzgerald was all smiles on Saturday having overcome his electrical gremlin from last weekend and proceeded to qualify his Team Honda Racing-Castrol CBR1000RR8 in fourth position, just 0.129 seconds ahead of teammate Feilding’s Craig Shirriffs on his Team Honda Racing-Red Black Beauty. The competition was so tight that the top five riders were just 0.739 seconds apart. Race day dawned fine and the first Superbike race was run in near perfect conditions. Like last weekend, there was a tight battle at the front of the field and both Fitzgerald and Shirriffs were tagged on the rear of that group. Then Shirriffs “Red Black Beauty” began cutting out, so he retired the machine, leaving Fitzgerald to bring his “Castrol” CBR1000RR home fourth. As the time for the second race approached the weather deteriorated and rain threatened. Shirriffs confident he had solved his electrical problem, lined up on the grid, but just as the lights were about to go out his machine stalled and had to be push started by marshals, forcing him to start from pit lane. Shirriffs was immediately on the pace passing several riders along the back straight, unfortunately several corners later, he over cooked the approach and lost the front end. “Rider error,” Shirriffs said later, “I was head down, going for it and just over did it” he added. Fitzgerald however, had his best race of his season so far. Running as part of the four bike freight train, with Australians Robbie Bugden (Suzuki) and Gareth Jones (Yamaha), along with Kiwi veteran Andrew Stroud, Fitzgerald took his CBR1000RR to as high a second during the weather effected race. At times parts of the track were dry, while other parts had rain spots, making thing extremely tricky. Finally Jones and Bugden broke away, leaving Fitzgerald battling with Stroud for third. Age and experience won out in the end, with Stroud forcing his way passed, so in the conditions Fitzgerald settled for fourth. “That was great fun, but the conditions out there were pretty tricky,” Fitzgerald said after the race as the rain finally set in. The squad now moves on to round three at Ruapuna Park, Christchurch next weekend.