Round One of the Suzuki–Auckland Motorcycle Club Series took to the track at Hampton Downs on Sunday, 15th September, on a dry early spring Waikato day.
A special bonus on the entry was having Avalon Lewis out riding the Ken Dobson Yamaha R7. Track time was the objective in preparation for a wildcard entry at the Italian round of the WorldWCR, to be held the following weekend.
Club Series action kicked off in Senior, and it was no-contest
Rogan Chandler was aboard the M1 Motorsport BMW S1000RR and comfortably circulated in the 1:05s to keep the field at bay. Marcus Read-Bloomfield (Yamaha R1) was another to step up to the 1-litre bikes, who had his hands full with William Crosby (GSX-R1000).
Tahana Parker (ZX6R) was best of the Supersport 600 field, and it was encouraging to see a range of both regular and new faces in Formula Auckland (1:09) and Clubman Senior; particularly those elevating themselves out of the Track Day environment to try road racing.
Intermediate had just about everything
The ProTwin 650 class is well subscribed this season, and Chris Defiori has thrown a cat amongst the pigeons to take the early lead on an MT-07. Greg Percival has another MT-07, and with Billee Fuller on the R7, and a flood of SV650s in very capable hands, there is a lot to come here.
The diversity extended to Superlite and Super Twin also
Tyler King (GVR645) leads Superlite but Jesse Stroud was an interesting addition on the Suzuki 800, with last season’s champ Nick Kampenhout back on the Vitpilen. Luke Ryder heads Super Twin on the TR20 Aprilia.
Junior picked up where it left off last season
The trio of D6M KTM 390s and the Yamaha R3 of Haydn Fordyce were into their work from the outset, with Fordyce holding the upper hand after four hard-fought races in Supersport 300.
Fergus Maynes invests a lot of energy in young rider development and is running four bikes this AMCC Club season. And it’s working – there were smiles all around when Elijah Daiken and Jacob Rutherford topped the ProLite 250 points at the end of the day on their FMR Hyosung 250s. Great stuff.
Sidecar Legends
Meanwhile, sidecars were the domain of Chris Lawrance / Richie Lawrance and Phillip Law / Angus Ravenwood, who kept everyone entertained in all three races for the chairs. And it was great to have Tracey Bryan / Kendal Dunlop back also on their 600 LCR rig, and third overall.
So there was plenty to see at a very successful Round One of the Suzuki – Auckland Motorcycle Club Series, and we look forward to the lucky giveaway draw for the brand new Suzuki GSX-250 on 17 November.
If you didn’t make it to round one then make sure to get to Hampton Downs on 13th October to witness round 2 of this excellent series.
2024-2025 Suzuki – Auckland Motorcycle Club Series Points:
(After ROUND ONE)
Senior: FORMULA AUCKLAND
100 Rogan Chandler
69 William Crosby
62 Marcus Read-Bloomfield
Senior: FORMULA AUCKLAND B (1:09s)
90 Patrick Ansted
82 Ian Reed
72 Abbin Abraham
Senior: SUPERSPORT 600
100 Tahana Parker
80 Paul Jenkins
48 Alex Langdon
Senior: CLUBMAN
100 Paul O’Doherty
76 Taylor Mason
45 Akira Miyauchi
Intermediate: SUPERLITE
100 Tyler King
76 Jesse Stroud
65 Nick Kampenhout
Intermediate: PRO TWIN 650
100 Chris Defiori
68 Scott Findlay
60 Vaughan Maine
Intermediate: Super Twin
100 Luke Ryder
80 Brendon Vesty
Intermediate: Post Classic
100 Scott Fenton
80 Chris Nobbs
64 Cody Sanders
Junior: SUPERSPORT 300
100 Haydn Fordyce
80 Cameron Leslie
61 Hamish Simpson
Junior: SUPERSPORT 150
75 Seb Mitchell
45 Jayden Parker
Junior: 250 PRO LITE
100 Elijah Daken
65 Jacob Rutherford
60 Esmond Williams
SIDECARS
70 Chris Lawrance / Richie Lawrance
65 Phillip Law / Angus Ravenwood
48 Tracey Bryan / Kendal Dunlop
The 2024-2025 Suzuki – Auckland Motorcycle Club Series is organised and promoted by the Auckland Motorcycle Club – who acknowledge all their valuable partners and sponsors:
Suzuki NZ, Shirriffs Media, CTAS – TXT & Web, MX Timing, Brett Roberts Mechanical, Darkart Motorsport, Eurobike / Domino Grips, Forbes & Davies, M&M Engineering, Motomail, Motul, Mr Motorcycles, MTF – Wairau Valley, Carl Cox Motorsport Cup
Calendar – 2024-2025 Suzuki – Auckland Motorcycle Club Series
Rd 1 15th September 2024 National Circuit
Rd 2 13th October 2024 National Circuit
Rd 3 3rd November 2024 Club Circuit – JUNIOR & CCMC classes only
Rd 4 17th November 2024 National Circuit
Picture Credit: Philip Kavermann
