Australian Shawn Giles won the penultimate round of the New Zealand Superbike Championship at Timaru Raceway at the weekend and closed to within striking distance of the series victory. The three-time Aussie Superbike Champion is now just 10 points behind fellow GSX-R1000-mounted Andrew Stroud with one round remaining next weekend at Ruapuna. In the opening race, Giles rocketed off the line and delivered nine laps of impeccable riding that left his competitors trailing all the way to the chequered flag. And in the second, he pulled away from his pursuers and set a new lap record of 1:05.251m around the 2.4km circuit, smashing the previous record by 1.5 seconds. Towards the end of the second race, a slight error at high speed allowed fellow Suzuki riders Ray Clee and Australian Scott Charlton to close in on the back of Giles. Charlton pushed Giles wide at the third-last corner allowing Clee to follow through which relegated Giles to third as Stroud retired with electrical problems. In the final race, Giles passed Stroud and Clee in the opening laps and took off into the distance to win the race with a 3.5-second margin, demoralising his opponents and clinching the overall victory. He said: “The Suzuki was handling so well this weekend and I got some really good starts. Combine that with Andrew Stroud’s DNF in race two and we’re back within striking distance for the series lead. “Apparently the track at Ruapuna is quite similar to here at Timaru, so hopefully we can get a good set up again and have real shot at the title next week.” With a perfect record across the season’s opening four rounds, Suzuki scored yet another event one-two-three with the GSX-R1000 filling the top four spots in the New Zealand Superbike Championship standings. New Zealand Superbike Points (after 4 rounds): 1. Andrew Stroud (Suzuki) 217, 2. Shawn Giles (Suzuki) 207, 3. Scott Charlton (Suzuki) 173, 4. Ray Clee (Suzuki) 171, 5. Jared Love 113, 6. Dean Fulton 106, 7. Chris Haldane 94, 8. Jon Lowther 82, 9. Brendon Marshall, 71, 10. Jason McEwen 62.