COOPER WINS NEW ZEALAND SUZUKI INTERNATIONAL TRI-SERIES

Richard Cooper: GSX-R1000 -1st
Richie Dibben: RM-Z450 – 1st

British Superstock Champion Richard Cooper raced to victory at the third and final round of the Suzuki International Tri-Series in New Zealand aboard his GSX-R1000.

The British rider was in the hunt from the start of the series that wound-up on Boxing Day (December 26th) at Whanganui’s famous Cemetery Circuit, wrapping-up the Formula One (Superbike) class overall and also winning the stand-alone Robert Holden Memorial feature race.

The 36-year-old from Nottingham borrowed a Suzuki GSX-R1000 from the Sloan Frost Racing Team for this first-time visit to New Zealand and quickly came to grips with the unfamiliar circuits – round one at Taupo on December 7-8th, round two at Manfeild a week later and then the challenging curb-lined twists and turns of the closed-off public streets.

The Robert Holden race win came at the end of a thrilling bar-to-bar battle with Whakatane’s Damon Rees.

Cooper demonstrated right from the opening round of the Suzuki International Series in Taupo that he was a fast learner, taking almost no time at all to learn the previously-untried Kiwi race tracks, although he was forced to settle for runner-up during the Taupo weekend, ending that event nine points behind Bay of Plenty rider Rees.

Cooper came on strong at round two at Manfeild a week later, wiping out the deficit and taking a one-point series lead over Rees as they headed to the Boxing Day finale.

Although Cooper had his hands full battling Rees’ elder brother Mitch – Rees winning both F1 races on the day – Cooper knew that it was really only Damon Rees that he needed to keep at bay for series victory.

Cooper responded to Mitch Rees’ back-to-back F1 class wins at Whanganui by twice finishing runner-up, while Damon Rees finished third both times, and this was enough for Cooper to win the series outright, ending up five points clear of Damon, with Mitch claiming third overall for the series, a distant 29 points further back.

Damon Rees led early in the 10-lap Robert Holden Memorial feature race, with Cooper and Mitch Rees for close company. It stayed like this for the next eight laps until the leaders started lapping other riders and that’s when Cooper pounced, zipping past Damon Rees and into the lead, which he held until the end.

Taupo’s defending Suzuki Series champion Scott Moir (Suzuki GSX-R1000) and Glen Eden’s National Superbike Champion Daniel Mettam (Suzuki GSX-R1000) rounded out the top five in the Robert Holden race.

Said Cooper: “I came with no expectations. Obviously I arrived wanting to fight for the championship. I didn’t think it would be possible to win because I felt Damon had more experience than me here at Whanganui. But I also knew he’d come off the 600cc bike he rode last year and was on a 1000cc bike this time around. That’s obviously a very different animal to ride.

“Perhaps it took him until race three today (the Robert Holden feature race) to figure it all out and then he was as fast as me, but, by that stage it was too late. To come here and win this series for Sloan Frost Suzuki and TSS Red Baron is amazing, but then to top-it-all-off by winning the Robert Holden race too is pretty special.”

Cooper added he’d love to return and race again in the Suzuki International Series next year, saying: “it would be a shame not to come back!”

Auckland’s Toby Summers won the 600cc Formula Two class at Whanganui’s finale, finishing the day ahead of Hastings rider Adam Chambers and Whanganui’s Richie Dibben, although Upper Hutt’s Rogan Chandler had done enough at the earlier two rounds to clinch the series win for this class.

Dibben was sadly forced to settle for fourth overall for the series in this class, no reflection at all of his potential: Always a dominant figure in the Supermoto (lightly-modified dirt bikes) class, where he raced a Suzuki RM-Z450 MX machine, Dibben was again a runaway winner in the Suzuki International Series this year.

But, in only his second season of racing a Suzuki GSX-R600 bike in the Formula Two class, the 30-year-old stunned when he qualified his bike fastest at Taupo and then won one of the two F2 races there.

Unfortunately he crashed out while leading the next race.

At Manfeild he was again a revelation, running with the leaders until he again crashed, this time through no fault of his own, but it was another painful no-points result for the Whanganui hero. He bounced back to win the final race at Manfeild and this gave him a sniff of a chance of ending the series on the podium.

While his 3-2 score-card in the F2 class at Whanganui was not quite enough to achieve this, Dibben will now head to the South Island in a confident mood as he readies himself for the start of the New Zealand Superbike Championships, set to kick off at Christchurch on January 11-12th.

Said Dibben: “I knew I had the pace to win the Supermoto class, especially with Duncan (Hart) out. It was a good confidence-booster for me on the 600 bike. I got lap times down to the 49s in that last race, so pretty stoked with that and I’m feeling strong heading to the nationals. If I can finish all the races it would help! Having two non-finishes in the Suzuki International series didn’t help.”

More, from another press release issued by Team Suzuki Press Office:

STROUD WINS 2019 NEW ZEALAND GIXXER CUP SERIES

Reigning New Zealand GIXXER Cup Champion Jesse Stroud retained his crown at the final round of the series at the Cemetery Circuit in Whanganui on December 26th.

The 17-year-old son of nine-time New Zealand Superbike Champion Andrew Stroud clinched the championship at the third and final round of the Suzuki International Tri Series, after the 2019 New Zealand GIXXER Cup was incorporated into the popular series and run under new rules this year.

Now celebrating its third season, the GIXXER Cup series has well and truly established itself as the premier competition for road-racing novices. First created by Suzuki New Zealand in December 2017 with the aim of providing a starting place and a pathway towards ‘growing future champions,’ the class was slotted into the Suzuki International Series programme and it proved to be a runaway success.

Many of the young riders who had their first taste of motorcycle road-racing with the inaugural contest are now out on the track and racing in some of the bigger bike classes – Formula Two and Formula Three – and next the Superbike ranks in the future.

This year’s three-round Suzuki International Series wrapped up on the public streets of Whanganui, the traditional Cemetery Circuit event on Boxing Day and, while some of the GIXXER Cup riders were deemed too young to compete on a street circuit, there were still 19 riders who lined up to race their Suzuki GSX150F bikes at the post-Christmas event.

This season the series enjoyed even greater attention from riders and fans alike, thanks to the easing of the age restriction and from the competition welcoming some of New Zealand’s greatest current and former champions – including Suzuki’s record nine-time former National Superbike Champion Andrew Stroud – to also line up and race on the nimble GSX150F bikes. But, surprisingly, it was some of the youngest exponents who shone the most.

Hamilton’s Jesse Stroud, his teenage son, was once again the leading rider, ending the competition a solid 29 points clear of his nearest threat, Whanganui’s Caleb Gilmore, with fellow Whanganui youth Cameron Goldfinch rounding out the series podium.

Said Stroud, who notched up four wins out of seven races in the series: “I am really happy with how I went. I have lots more confidence this year. It was great to have my dad racing with me. Dad beat me in one of the races too!”

Suzuki New Zealand’s Simon Meade, the General Manager of Motorcycle, ATV and Marine Marketing, said the GIXXER Cup competition has been ‘absolutely fantastic.’

“We have achieved what we set out to do, which was basically to get younger riders to come through and to find the talent. The cream always rises to the top. They don’t get the opportunity to access this sport unless we give these young ones the opportunity like this.

“Opening up the age limit meant we have seen safer racing and better racing, because there are race lines that the older, more-established riders are taking that the younger ones can see and follow. They have cottoned-on really quickly and their race craft has improved. There is less crashing and much better riding too.”