Could This Be The Summer Of Summers?

Could This Be The Summer Of Summers?

by Andy McGechan, www.BikesportNZ.com
December 27, 2013

Auckland plumber Tony Summers was fully tapped-out on Boxing Day.

The 40-year-old Yamaha ace convincingly won both Formula Two (600cc) class races at the famous Cemetery Circuit motorcycle race meeting on Thursday, the traditional day-after-Christmas event on the public streets of Wanganui, a stand-alone event but also the third and final round of the annual Suzuki Series.

His brace of wins in the tightly-fought class was easily enough for him to secure the F2 Suzuki Series crown, the first time the Manukau man had won a major trophy in the 600cc class but coming in just his second season of contesting the class.

“I’ve won the Suzuki Series in the Super Moto class in the past, but this is a bigger deal and it’s a first for me,” said Summers.

Summers won four out of six F2 races in the Suzuki Series, only beaten across the line once by Wanganui’s Jayden Carrick (in race two at the Hampton Downs series opener a fortnight ago) and once by visiting German Yamaha ace Thomas Kreutz (in race two at Manfeild a week ago).

Summers also raced a Yamaha YZ450F throughout the series and had also been a contender to win the Super Moto class again this season, until a crash at Manfeild’s second round ruined his chances of outright victory.

Summers did, however, manage to turn the heat on the eventual winner of the Super Moto class, Wanganui rider Richard Dibben, twice finishing a close runner-up to Dibben at Wanganui on Boxing Day.

“Winning the 600cc class is a big one. It’s a great way to set me up for the nationals when I will race the 600cc supersport class.”

The four-round New Zealand Superbike Championships kick off in Christchurch in a week’s time, on January 5, and perhaps it could really be a summer of Summers.

“I’m not getting too excited about things just yet,” he said. “I don’t know any of the South Island tracks. I have never even set eyes on the tarmac down there yet, so it’s going to be a bit of a learning experience for me.

“It will be tough to win races in the 600cc Supersport class at the nationals but my confidence is good right now. This Suzuki Series was all about me getting comfortable on the Yamaha R6 and that’s certainly starting to happen.”

Other class winners in the 2013 Suzuki Series were Hamilton’s Nick Cole (Formula One); New Plymouth’s Hayden Fitzgerald (F3 superlites); Whangarei’s Duncan Coutts (Pre-89 Post Classics); Wanganui’s Dwayne Bishop (Bears, non-Japanese bikes); Auckland’s Adam Unsworth and Stu Dawe (F1 sidecars).

ENDS

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