Motor Sport
There’s no stopping Altherm Yamaha’s Southland superstar Cormac Buchanan, with the 17-year-old defending his Supersport 600 title with a round to spare, on his home track at Teretonga Park yesterday.
The fifth and penultimate round of the New Zealand Superbike Championship (NZSBK) was held in conjunction with the Burt Munro Challenge, making Invercargill the mecca for all things motorcycling over the weekend.
Despite his young age, Altherm Yamaha Racing Development Team (YRDT) rider Buchanan is now a six-time New Zealand Superbike Championship title holder and by all accounts is well on his way to future glory.
Yamaha Motor New Zealand Motorsport Manager Josh Copins feels privileged that the brand can play a part in his inspiring journey.
“It was a great weekend for Cormac wrapping up another championship, with a round to go. It shows his dominance in the class. As we expected at the beginning of the season, he is at another level courtesy of his international experience. He keeps gaining and putting himself in the right position to achieve his goals,” Coppins says.
“The professionalism of the YRDT contributes to putting together a great package and working well as a team. It is inevitable Cormac is going to do some great things. We will follow his progress as he heads back to Europe at the end of the New Zealand season.”
Buchanan’s honours’ board includes: 2020 NZSBK Supersport 150 Champion; 2021 NZSBK Supersport 150 Champion; 2021 NZSBK Supersport 300 Champion; 2023 NZSBK Supersport 300 Champion; 2023 NZSBK Supersport 600 Champion; and now 2024 NZSBK Supersport 600 Champion.
He has also won the NZTT and NZGP titles in each class over the past four years as well.
Buchanan is committed to setting goals but he has even surprised himself with his success.
“Entering the championship on a 150cc in 2020, I didn’t expect this. The fact I really wanted to win a NZSBK title at home has been a goal and this was the first time the dates have aligned to make it possible,” he says.
While Buchanan knew it was mathematically achievable to become the back-to-back Supersport 600 champion going into the weekend, the first race on Saturday meant he had to work extra hard to make it a reality.
“Saturday was quite difficult but I knew the plan was to take the points because we had a big championship lead to defend. Third place was quite good but unfortunately a human error cost us a result and caused us to get disqualified with a transponder issue.”
Fired up on Sunday, Buchanan headed onto the track and did what he does best – win.
“I knew what I had to do, which was to go out and win if I wanted the title to be finished at home and that’s what we did. We raced two really good races. I led from the start and managed to gap away every lap. That was the perfect way to finish off the title chase,” he says.
Buchanan describes being able to back up his 2023 Supersport 600 championship win in 2024, as a team effort.
“I have so much gratitude for the whole crew, especially Josh Coppins and Steve Lloyd, for the amount of work they’ve put in behind the scenes. Robert Taylor from KSS deserves a special mention as well. This is his 17th national title and now to have achieved five of those titles with Robert is pretty special. Thanks also to Tony Burtenshaw, dad and mum – they’ve all helped out so much.”
Altherm Yamaha Racing Team’s Alastair Hoogenboezem had a solid set of fourth places in all three Superbike races.
With Mitch Rees and Australian visitor Ant West taking their performances to a new limit out front, Hoogenboezem found positives in fixing the problems that have plagued his Yamaha YZF-R1 recently.
“Big thanks to the Addicted to Track guys for helping with getting that sorted. That’s a good thing leading into the last round at Hampton Downs at the beginning of March,” he says.
A highlight for Hoogenboezem at the end of weekend after the NZSBK racing wrapped up, was switching to the speedway flat track, where he enjoyed battling it out with his team mate.
“It was cool to race him and really fun. Congrats to Cormac for wrapping up another championship,” Hoogenboozem says.
He ended up fourth, with Buchanan sliding home third in his flat track debut.
“My motorbike career started at Ōreti Park Speedway on the junior track, so to be back there for the first time in four years for my first skid on the main track was unreal. I had a blast with Alastair and the flat track crew. It was a fun way to finish an epic day,” Buchanan says.
“I was honoured Dave Cole from Yamaha Motor NZ trusted me with riding the late Sam Smith’s YZ450. It was such a cool experience,” he adds.
While the pressure is off Buchanan for the final round, Hoogenboezem is looking forward to Hampton Downs where he has traditionally performed well in the Superbike class in the past.
“Hopefully we can finish the year with a positive result and build towards next season,” he wraps up.
NZSBK Championship Round Five Results:
Superbike
1st Mitch Rees – 71
2nd Ant West – 65
3rd Tony Rees – 48
4th Alastair Hoogenboezem (YZF-R1) – 39
Supersport 600
1st Rogan Chandler – 65
2nd Cormac Buchanan (YZF-R6) – 51
3rd Luca Durning – 43
NZSBK Championship Standings (R1, R2, R3, R4 & R5):
Superbike
1st Mitch Rees – 307
2nd Ant West – 280
3rd Tony Rees – 230
4th Alastair Hoogenboezem (YZF-R1) – 202
Supersport 600 (Provisional)
1st Cormac Buchanan (YZF-R6) – 330
2nd Rogan Chandler – 245
3rd Luca Durning – 205