Yamaha Team Riders Notch Up Podiums, Set Lap Records in Timaru

Southern track success continued for the two-tier Yamaha Motor New Zealand team, as four out of the five riders finished the New Zealand Superbike Championship’s second round on the podium.

Invercargill’s Cormac Buchanan once again demonstrated he is a future star in the making – dominating the Supersport 150 class on his YZF-R15 – in the same convincing style in which he won round one.

He claimed the victory in each of his three races – notching up a new lap record in race one and then bettering it in race three.

“It was an awesome weekend. To be the only rider in the whole NZSBK to earn perfect points so far after two rounds is unreal and I couldn’t have dreamed of a better start to our first national campaign,” the Rogers Motorcycles-backed youngster says.

“My focus now is to stay as consistent as I have been, while still developing my riding. I also want to perform strongly to not only represent the Yamaha brand but showcase this new Supersport 150 class to other young riders and help grow it,” he adds.

Invercargill’s Cormac Buchanan – who is supported by the Yamaha Racing Development Team and Rogers Motorcycles in Invercargill – once again had the Yamaha team’s top result, winning the Supersport 150 class on his YZF-R15 and breaking the lap record twice at Levels International Raceway over the weekend. photo:: ASP – Aaron Staples Photography.

In the flagship Superbike class. Yamaha Racing Team’s (YRT) Alastair Hoogenboezem, of Christchurch, placed third place overall, while teammate Rangiora’s Jake Lewis finished slightly further back in the field.

Rogan Chandler (22) stormed through his three Supersport 600 class races to finish second overall for the weekend, while Timaru’s Harry Parker repeated his 2019 honour, with victory in the Allan Ramage Memorial Trophy. He notched up 2-1-2 results in the separate series of three, three-lap sprint races.

Hometown hero Harry Parker, of Timaru, finished third overall in the Supersport 300cc class and was honoured to win the Allan Ramage Memorial Trophy for the second consecutive year.photo: ASP – Aaron Staples Photography.

The NZSBK series resumes with round three at Hampton Downs on March 7-8 and then continues at Manfeild on March 28-29, before finishing at Taupo on April 4-5.

NZSBK ROUND TWO OVERALL RESULTS:

Superbike (Provisional):

1st Damon Rees (75)
2nd Lachlan Epis (61)
3rd Alastair Hoogenboezem (42)
4th Scott Moir (34)
5th Sloan Frost (34)

Supersport 600:

1st Richie Dibben (70)
2nd Rogan Chandler (49)
3rd Dale Finch (46)
4th Ashton Hughes (45)
5th Toby Summers (32)

Supersport 300 (Provisional):

1st Nathanael Diprose (70)
2nd Jacob Stroud (65)
3rd Harry Parker (48)
4th Jason Hearn (35)
5th Hamish Fox (28)

Supersport 150:

1st Cormac Buchanan (76) 2nd Jacob Pierce (56)
3rd Liam Hunn (52)
4th Oliver Cotton (39)
5th Jacob Skinner (32)
6th Olivia Goddard (31)

2020 NZSBK RACE SCHEDULE:

Round One – Ruapuna – 11th & 12th January 2020 Round Two – Levels – 18th & 19th January 2020
Round Three – Hampton Downs – 7th & 8th March 2020 Round Four – Manfield – 28th & 29th March
Round Five – Taupo – 4th & 5th April 2020