Pavletich Keeps on Keeping on

Pavletich Keeps on Keeping on

Auckland's Paul Pavletich doesn't know when to stop, and why should he?

The 56-year-old multi-time former national road-racing champion from Ararimu, near the Bombay Hills, continues to pile up the titles, long after many a lesser man would have gracefully eased their way into retirement.

This time Pavletich has won another Auckland Motorcycle Club championship, in the Pro Twins series, and he did it by dominating the day at the fourth round of five at Hampton Downs on Saturday, giving him the title with a round to spare.

Auckland's Paul Pavletich, still winning motorcycle titles. Photo by Anari Dyson, JDAS Photography.

Pavletich is a former CEO of Motorcycling New Zealand, the sport's governing body, and he has won every class that he has entered over his long and illustrious racing career, a career he rekindled in 2010 after an 11-year hiatus.

"I've won in every class, except for the 250cc class, because I am just too tall and heavy for those bikes," he laughed.

The Pro Twins is a series open to any twin-cylinder racing machine and Pavletich raced a KTM 1290R Super Duke.

These machines are known in the industry as the “BEAST”, due to their incredible power-to-weight ratio.

The KTM bike is an Austrian machine and produces over 160 hp at the rear wheel and weighs a mere 160kg.

Pavletich’s machine is tuned by his race team of over 35 years, including his brother, Mark Pavletich, and good friend Craig Griffin.

Pavletich dominated the series with 10 wins from 11 starts, his bike shod with Metzeler tyres, although strong challenges did come from rivals Brendan Holland, riding an Aprilia bike, and Malcolm Bell, riding a Ducati Millie 1000.
Holland is a three-time former Pro Twin series winner.

At the latest round of racing at the weekend, internationally-recognised Kiwi rider Steven Briggs made an appearance on a KTM990, part of his preparation to race in the United States.

Pavletich has now won 14 Auckland Motorcycle Club championships on motorcycles and has also won four car series titles.

He credits his long run of successes on his team and on faultless machine preparation.

"Motorsport is all about the details and preparations," said Pavletich.

"For me, the riding has always been the easy part. You have to do the hard yards even before you turn up."

Pavletich said he would love to win one more bike and car series and then sponsor a fast up-and-coming rider in the future.

The fifth and final round of the Auckland Motorcycle Club's series is set for Hampton Downs on April 26.

Paul Pavletich’s career highlights:

Bikes. –

2 x former NZ Road Race Champion

Wynns International series F2 winner

14 x Auckland Motorcycle Club Champion

Castrol Six-hour multi-class winner

NZTT title winner

Cars. –

4 times Auckland Car Club Champion

1 x 1600cc production class

1 x 1600cc modified class

2 x 2000cc modified class

ENDS

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