The more things change, the more things will probably stay the same.

Suzuki riders won both the main categories – the Superbikes and 600cc supersport classes – at the 2013 New Zealand Superbike Championships and, looking at the riders lining up to compete on Suzuki motorcycles next season, it could be another golden run for the Whanganui-based company.

In fact, it was a Suzuki 1-2-3 finish at the top of the premier Superbike class last season, with Australian Robbie Bugden taking the title for a fifth time, and Feilding’s Craig Shirriffs and Christchurch’s Dennis Charlett taking the other two spots on the series podium.

Brisbane’s Bugden won’t be returning to New Zealand this summer and one of his traditional rivals, nine-time former New Zealand superbike champion Andrew Stroud, of Hamilton, recently announced his retirement, but there are plenty of other Suzuki riders expected to fill that void.

Shirriffs and Charlett are the men most pundits expect will climb up the rankings, although the No.4 man in the superbike class last season, Wellington’s Sloan ‘Choppa’ Frost, has also now joined the Suzuki camp and he is certainly one rider who could challenge Shirriffs and Charlett for superbike class dominance.

Frost is a rising star of the sport – coming from a motocross background, the 31-year-old married father-of-two, “with No.3 on the way”, has been steadily chipping away at the sport’s road-racing hierarchy over the past few seasons.

He raced a BMW last season but now returns to the Suzuki brand and says he is “really excited about the upcoming battles”.

Frost is thrilled to be on the same machinery as the men who hogged the superbike podium last season.

“Andrew Stroud was my idol and now I’m going to be on the same bike as him. It is a great bike and now I just really need to get some bike time with the Suzuki GSX-R1000 to get warmed up for the nationals.

“I hope momentum is on my side when the nationals do finally roll around (in Christchurch in January). I scored my best points at the final three rounds of the 2013 season. I was runner-up on the day at round three, runner-up again at round four and then I won the day at round five. If I can pick up where I left off last season, and momentum favours me, then the 2014 superbike crown is well within my grasp.”

But Frost knows his work will be cut out to match riders the calibre of Shirriffs and Charlett, not to mention fellow Suzuki superbike hot-shots Hayden Fitzgerald, last year’s No.6 in the class, from New Plymouth, along with Auckland legend Ray Clee and superbike rookie Jaden Hassan and Kawasaki ace Nick Cole, of Hamilton.

Auckland teenager Hassan took a Yamaha R6 to finish runner-up in the hotly-contested 600cc supersport class last season, but he will now campaign a Suzuki GSX-R1000 in the superbike class.

Christchurch’s John Ross will return with his Suzuki GSX-R600 to try to defend his 600cc supersport crown and he will face stiff opposition from fellow Suzuki stars Dave Manuell, of Auckland, and Kiwi international Avalon Biddle, from Orewa, along with Yamaha ace Jake Lewis, of Rangiora, who returns from a season racing in Europe.

Meanwhile, Palmerston North’s multi-time national champion Glen Williams is also expected to return to the race track with his Suzuki this season.

“Suzuki is extremely privileged to have such an amazing line up of talented riders and we expect this year’s racing to be the most exciting for some time, with no less than six GSX-R1000 superbikes and their riders looking for the number one plate,” said Suzuki New Zealand’s general manager of motorcycle and ATV marketing, Simon Meade.

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

Australian Robbie Bugden crashes, just ahead of superbikes rival Craig Shirriffs, during last season’s New Zealand Superbike Championships. It was not enough to stop Bugden claiming his fifth Kiwi crown.