CAPTION: Taranaki's Hayden Fitzgerald, who proudly displays the Castrol colours on his Honda superbike. Photo by Andy McGechan, BikesportNZ.com
SEPTEMBER 1, 2009: This year's New Zealand Superbike Championships will again be a slick and well-oiled affair, thanks to further involvement from Castrol New Zealand.
Castrol has come on board as naming rights sponsor for the series again this season, the five-round championships to be known as the Castrol Power 1 New Zealand Superbike Championships.
The series is set to kick off at Christchurch's Ruapuna circuit on January 16-17, with rounds to follow at Teretonga, near Invercargill, on January 23-24; Levels Raceway, near Timaru, on January 30-31; Manfeild Raceway, in Feilding, on February 27-28 and, finally, at the new Hampton Downs circuit, near Meremere, on March 27-28.
"Motorcycling New Zealand is delighted the Castrol Power 1 sponsorship will continue, as it gives us the ability to maintain our momentum in road racing," said Motorcycling New Zealand president Jim Tuckerman, Auckland.
This year's series is again expected to be hot with a feast of top riders expected to line up.
Interest from international riders has already been confirmed with 600cc sports production champion Gareth Jones (Yamaha), of Australia, indicating he will be returning to race in New Zealand again this summer.
The young Australian can probably again expect hot competition from the Kiwi contingent, including Hamilton's Andrew Stroud (Suzuki), Feilding's Craig Shirriffs (Honda), Hamilton's Sloan Frost (Suzuki), New Plymouth's Hayden Fitzgerald (Honda), Christchurch Suzuki pair James Smith and Dennis Charlett, Hamilton's Nick Cole (Kawasaki), Pukekohe's Sam Smith (Yamaha) and Wellington pair Jay Lawrence (Yamaha) and Glen Skachill (Suzuki), to name just a few.
In addition, it is highly likely that a small squad of European 125GP riders may arrive to race in New Zealand this season.
Words and photo by Andy McGechan, www.BikesportNZ.com