32 year old Victorian Tristan Culvenor represents the Shell sponsored Brown Gouge Nova Honda Team in this years Australian Superstock Championship.

Tristan first learnt how to ride a bike in the Central Victorian town of Sandon, near Castlemaine. Here a young lad had plenty of dirt roads to explore and slide around on. Tristan’s mounts were an old RD250 and 1976 Honda CB400 with bald tyres, not the ideal dirt mounts but they did teach him how to slide a road bike around on a slippery surface.

He first went racing in 1998 in some club races before other commitments turned his focus elsewhere in 1999 after suffering some bad injuries during a club race.

The Cranbourne resident returned to racing in 2002 where he finished fifth overall in the inaugural Australian Superstock Championship. This result was particularly pleasing as Tristan had only competed in three of the five rounds.

While he did not make it to all the rounds last year he did make his mark by winning various ‘best presented’ awards in Australian Superstock, the Hartwell Club Championship and the Shark Super Series. A testament to the professional turnout he presents with at the track.

Obviously this fact, along with his great race results, was what led to Tristan being offered a ride this year with the Shell backed Brown Gouge Nova Honda squad.

Tristan is currently running third in the 2003 Shell Advance Superstock Series with three rounds of the five round series down.

During the working week Tristan swaps his leathers for slightly more formal attire as he does the rounds of Victoria’s motorcycle dealerships in his position as Victorian sales representative for Wayne Gardner Enterprises, distributors of various aftermarket motorcycle accessories including EBC brake discs and pads.

His hopes for the future are to become a top ‘A’ grade road racer and to graduate through the ranks to compete in the Shell Advance Australian Superbike Championship.

NB: The superstock class he currently rides in is a competition for up and coming road racers run in conjunction with rounds of the Shell Advance Australian Superbike Championship. The class was first introduced to the Australian Championship circuit in 2002 to give newer riders the chance to compete in Australia’s premier road race series. Riders compete on standard 600cc machinery on a control tyre to try and ensure the most even playing field possible which should help the cream of riders to rise to the top no matter how big or small their race budget is.