Australian Robbie Bugden stayed cool in the scorching conditions to retain his Kiwi superbike crown at the fifth and final round of this season’s New Zealand Superbike Championships at Taupo on Sunday.

Defending champion Bugden, from Brisbane, took his Triple R Suzuki GSX-R1000 to Taupo at the weekend with a solid lead in the championship standings.

This was despite suffering a shocker – where he finished an unaccustomed 10th in race one and the crashed out of race two – at the previous round at a rain-drenched Hampton Downs seven days earlier.

But, with a 21-point advantage over Feilding’s Craig Shirriffs (Oxygen Air Suzuki GSX-R1000) – and with a 28-point gap back to third-ranked rider Dennis Charlett (Underground Brown Suzuki GSX-R1000) – it meant the title was his to lose and an outright win for Shirriffs really only a remote possibility.

But nothing is guaranteed in this most unforgiving of sports and Shirriffs gave himself a sniff of a chance of taking the title for the first time when he won the day’s first of two superbike races at Taupo, finishing just ahead of Bugden and Hamilton’s Nick Cole (Red Devil Racing Kawasaki ZX10R).

The revised points standings showed Bugden with a 16-point lead over Shirriffs with just one race to go, meaning that, even if Shirriffs won the final outing, sixth place or better would be enough for Bugden to wrap it up.

So Bugden remained calm and raced his way to fifth in race two.

Meanwhile, Shirriffs slewed off the track when he was running in second spot in that final race and, while Shirriffs did recover his bike and carry on, he managed only sixth at the chequered flag, the race won by Wellington’s Sloan Frost (BMW S1000RR), with Cole taking runner-up spot.

Bugden therefore took the premier Kiwi crown for a fifth time, finishing 17 points clear of Shirriffs.

Making it a Suzuki 1-2-3 by finishing the series third overall, 15 points behind Shirriffs, was last year’s 600cc supersport class champion, Christchurch’s Charlett.

The 44-year-old grandfather won the pre-season Suzuki Tri Series and he said he was also satisfied to earn a podium spot in the nationals. Charlett also won the New Zealand TT title this season when he won the second race at Hampton Downs the previous weekend.

Bugden was New Zealand superbike class champion three times consecutively between 2007 and 2009, and while his back-to-back race wins at the final round last season earned him his fourth New Zealand superbike title – with an eventual winning margin of 37.5 points over Hamilton’s Andrew Stroud (Suzuki) – he was quick to comment at the time “this was the toughest championship yet”.

And it was a tough battle for the likeable Australian this time around as well.

“I was pushing hard at the start of that second race, hoping to create a break on the field, but everyone simply came with me,” said the 32-year-old Bugden.

“When I saw that Craig (Shirriffs) had crashed, I backed it off a bit. I’d done the maths and knew what I had to do to win the title today.

“It was a season of two halves for me,” Bugden explained.

“I was fast from the start at round one and built a solid points gap. But then I came to the North Island (for rounds four and five) and I struggled. But I managed to get the job done in the end.”

Another Suzuki star, Christchurch’s John Ross stepped forward to claim the 600cc supersport title left vacant by Charlett.

Ross was impressive throughout the series and although the 31-year-old landscaper was overshadowed at Taupo’s final round, finishing the day just third overall, it was enough for him to clinch his first national road-racing title ahead of Auckland’s Jaden Hassan (Homebuyers Reports Yamaha R6) and Rangiora’s Jake Lewis (Stadium Finance Yamaha R6).

Final positions in this class, from second spot down, remain in doubt with the outcome of a protest yet to be heard.

Meanwhile, Wellington’s Hamish Murphy (Suzuki SV650) won the Pro Twins class; Balclutha’s Richard Newbery (Kawasaki ZXR450) won the Superlites class; Australian visitor Luke Burgess (Kawasaki Ninja 250) destroyed the 250 Production class, with an incredible record of winning 14 races from 15 starts, and fellow Australian Troy Guenther (Honda RS125) finished top of the 125GP class. Masterton’s Spike Taylor teamed with Wanganui’s Astrid Hartnell to win the sidecars class title this season.

© Words and photos by Andy McGechan, www.BikesportNZ.com

Leading results from the New Zealand Superbike championships, round five (final), Taupo:

Superbikes –

Race one: Craig Shirriffs (Feilding) Suzuki 1; Robbie Bugden (Australia) Suzuki 2; Nick Cole (Hamilton) Kawasaki 3; Sloan Frost (Wellington) BMW 4; Dennis Charlett (Christchurch) Suzuki 5.

Race two: Frost 1; Cole 2; Charlett 3; Hayden Fitzgerald (New Plymouth) Suzuki 4; Bugden 5.

Final championship points: Bugden 182, Shirriffs 165, Charlett 150, Frost 139, Cole 136.

600cc Supersport –

Race one: Jaden Hassan (Auckland) Yamaha 1; John Ross (Christchurch) Suzuki 2; Jake Lewis (Christchurch) Yamaha 3; Adam Chambers (Clive) Honda 4; Seth Devereux (Christchurch) Kawasaki 5. Race two: Hassan 1; Lewis 2; Ross 3; Toby Summers (Auckland) Yamaha 4; Alastair Hoogenboezem 5.

Points: To be confirmed after protest hearing.

Superlites –

Race one: Jason Easton (Foxton) Tigcraft-Aprilia 550, 1; Richard Newbery (Balclutha) Kawasaki 450, 2; Gavin Veltmeyer (New Windsor) Suzuki SV650, 3. Race two: Easton 1; Neil Chappell (Feilding) Kawasaki ZXER650R, 2; Newbery 3. Race three: Easton 1; Newbery 2; Veltmeyer 3.

Points: Newbery 309, Veltmeyer 234, Glenn Agate (Oamaru, Kawsaki ZXr00) 168.5.

Pro Twins –

Race one: Dean Bentley (Lower Hutt) Suzuki SV650, 1; Nathan Diprose (Huia) Suzuki SV650, 2; Hamish Murphy (Wellington) Suzuki SV650, 3. Race two: Bentley 1; Nick Southerwood (Kumeu) Suzuki SV650, 2; Murphy 3. Race three: Diprose 1; Murphy 2; Zane Brookes, Suzuki SV650, 3.

Points: Murphy 270, Diprose and Bentley both 251.

125 GP –

Race one: Troy Guenther (Australia) Honda 1; Tyler Lincoln (Havelock North) Honda 2; Aaron Hassan (Auckland) Honda 3. Race two: Guenther 1; Hassan 2; Matt Hoogenboezem (Christchurch) Honda 3. Race three: Guenther 1; Hassan 2; Scout Fletcher (Christchurch) Honda 3.

Points: Guenther 340.5, Fletcher 215.5, Hassan 205.5.

250 Production –

Race one: Luke Burgess (Australia) Kawasaki 1; Royd Walker-Holt (Auckland) Kawasaki 2; Bailie Perriton (Ashburton) Kawasaki 3. Race two: Burgess 1; Perriton 2; Sam Davison (Christchurch) Kawasaki 3. Race three: Burgess 1; Walker-Holt 2; Sarah Elliot (Otaki) Kawasaki 3.

Points: Burgess 350, Perriton 183, Richard Willets (Timaru, Kawasaki) 164.

Sidecars –

Race one: Aaron Lovell-Dennis Simonsen (Hamilton LCR 1000, 1; Chris Lawrance-Richie Lawrance (Auckland Yamaha 1000, 2; Barry Smith (Te Puke)-Robbie Shorter (Welcome Bay) SSR Carbon 100 0, 3. Race two: Lovell-Simonsen 1; Smith-Shorter 2; Lawrance-Lawrance 3. Race three: Smith-Shorter 1; Spike Taylor (Masterton)-Astrid Hartnell (Wanganui) LCR 100, 2; Grant Waters (Timaru)-Matt Gibbes (Christchurch) Windle 1000, 3.

Points: Taylor-Hartnell 225.5, Walker-Gibbs 179, Lovell-Simonsen 122.5.