CEMETERY CIRCUIT ’08 Road Racing Season Begins The 2008/2009 road racing season began yesterday with round one of the new ProMoto Tri-Series at Manfeild, just outside Palmerston North. The day dawned clear but cloudy and everyone hope the rain would stay away, but that wasn’t to be with rain falling half way through the meeting. The meeting which was a first for the Wanganui organisation at Manfeild for quite some years ran smoothly, with only one delay for an oil spill and another after the meeting was declared WET to allow riders to change their tyres. In the F1 Supers, 600 Supers and F3 Superlites a single rider dominated the first race. Hamilton’s Andrew Stroud (Suzuki) was a clear winner in F1 Supers; young Australian Gareth Jones (Yamaha) led the 600 Supers, while New Plymouth’s Terry Fitzgerald won the F3 Superlites. F1 Sidecars were a lot closer, with a battle developing between Australian import Stacey Sellar, on Organiser Leighton Minnell’s LCR and Wanganui’s Steve Bron (LCR and Adam Unsworth on his Windle. Then the weather changed and the rain swept in and became the leveling fact. A number of riders sat out the second round of races choosing to preserve their machinery for Boxing Day and beyond. FI Supers saw a battle develop between Stroud, Feilding’s Craig Shirriffs on his New Honda CBR1000R8 and young Australian Gareth Jones (Yamaha), who had mistook the waved White last lap flag for the chequed in race one and retired before the finish. The three battle hard for the duration of race two with the lead changing hands several times. It came down to the last lap with Stroud’s experience showing through to take the win. “It was a great race,” said Shirriffs in the pits afterwards, “I still had a little left and I am sure Stroudy did too.” he added. The 600 Supers race two was very similar with a wheel to wheel dice between Hamilton’s Jared Love (Suzuki) and Jones also going down to the wire with Love coming through to take the win. Fitzgerald again dominated the second F3 Superlites race as did Sellar with the F1 Sidecars after his main rival Bron stalled at the start. The circus now moves on the Wanganui and Cemetery Circuit ’08 on Boxing Day December 26th. Provisional Results Round One 2008/2009 ProMoto Tri-Series Manfeild 20 December 2008 F1 Supers: Race One: 1, Andrew Stroud (Hamilton) Suzuki; 2, Craig Shirriffs (Feilding) Honda; 3, Hayden Fitzgerald (New Plymouth) Honda; 4, Rhys Holmes (Kati Kati) Yamaha); 5, Peter Tanner (Palmerston North) Aprilia. Race Two: 1, Stroud; 2, Shirriffs; 3, Jones; 4, Glen Skachill (Wellington) Honda; 5, Fitzgerald. Points: Stroud 50, Shirriffs 44, Fitzgerald 36. 600 Supers: Race One: 1, Gareth Jones (Australia) Yamaha; 2, Jared Love (Hamilton) Suzuki; 3, Jay Lawrence (Wellington) Yamaha; 4, Scott Moir (Taupo); 5, Jamie Galway (Masterton) Yamaha. Race Two: 1, Love; 2, Jones; 3, Jamie Rajek (Taupo) Honda; 4, Galway; 5, Moir. Points: Jones 47, Love 47, Galway 34, Rajek 34, Moir 34. F3 Superlites: Race One: 1, Terry Fitzgerald (New Plymouth) Suzuki; Sam Love (Tauranga) Suzuki; 3, Dillon Telford (Otaki) Prototype 650. Race Two: 1, Fitzgerald; 2, Love; 3, Neil Chappell (Bulls) Kawasaki. Points: Fitzgerald 50, Love 44, Telford 36. F1 Sidecars: Race One: 1, Stacey Sellar/ Louise Blythe (Australia/Wanganui) LCR; 2, Steve Bron/Dennis Simonsen (Wanganui/Masterton) LCR: Adam Unsworth/ Stu Dawes (Wanganui/Wanganui) Windle. Race two: 1, Sellar; 2, Chris and Ritchie Lawrance (Auckland/Auckland) Anderson Yamaha; 3, Bron. Points: Sellar 50; Bron 42; Lawrance 40. Post Classics: Race One: 1, Sean Donnelly (Paraparaumu) Kawasaki; 2, Ernie Cudby (Upper Hutt) Yamaha; 3, Stephen Mossman (Wellington) Yamaha. Race Two: 1, Neil Chappell (Bulls) Kawasaki; 2, Mossman; 3, Cudby. Points: Chappell 43, Donnelly 43, Mossman 42, Cudby 42. Super Motard S1: Race One; 1, Bruce Telford (Otaki) Aprilia; 2, Casey Bullock (Aprilia; 3, Chris Sales (Feilding) Honda. Race Two: 1, Telford; 2, Bullock; 3, Brandon Reade (Rotorua) KTM. Points: Telford 50, Bullock 44, Sales 20. Super Motard S2 Race One: 1, Scott Moir (Taupo) KTM; 2, Mitch Rowe (New Plymouth) Yamaha; 3, John Oliver (Hawera) Honda. Race Two: 1, Moir; 2, Oliver; 3, Duncan Hart (Tauranga) Yamaha. Points: Moir 50, Oliver 44, Hart 40. Classic Sidecars: Race One: 1, Andy Scrivener/ Steve Bryan (Taupo) BMW; Robert Hood/Ed Curlett (Wanganui) Commando; 3, Tracey Anderson/ Kellie Minnell (Wanganui) Triumph. Race Two: 1, Hood; 2, Scrivener; 3, Anderson. Points: Scrivener 47, Hood 47, Anderson 40