NZ Cemetery Circuit plays host to large Boxing Day field An amazing day was had by all at the 57th running of the annual Suzuki Cemetery Circuit on Boxing Day. The largest crowd seen in years turned out to watch some great racing from top fields. The racing as always delivered its share of thrills and spills, creating several race stoppages. However the organisation handled the problems efficiently and racing continued. “Today has been a roaring success, the food people and the T-Shirt people are saying they have never sold so much. The place was chocka,” said organiser Leighton Minnell Feilding’s Craig Shirriffs took his New Honda “Red Black Beauty” to a win in the ‘Robert Holden Memorial’ feature race for a second year in a row, just a head of Aussie Young Gun Gareth Jones, who had been forced to ride his Yamaha 600 after an earlier accident had damaged his R1. The earlier F1 Supers had been a tight contest between Shirriffs (Honda), Jones (Yamaha) and Hamilton’s Andrew Stroud (Suzuki), with Jones narrowly taking race one. Unfortunately during a battle with Shirriffs for first, in race two, Jones cashed in the esses, after forcing Shirriffs to over-run “SUZUKI” corner, allowing Stroud into the lead. Shirriffs charged back through the field to finish just 0.122 secs behind Stroud. Jones took out both the 600 Supers races ahead of Hamilton’s Jared Love (Suzuki). Australian Stacey Sellar ably assisted by his new passenger Wanganui’s Louise Blythe took Minnell’s Suzuki LCR to three convincing wins in the sidecar races, leaving Wanganui’s Steve Bron (LCR) and Adam Unsworth (Windle) to battle over the minor placings. Ex-Pat New Zealander Darryl Atkins returned from the USA to show the New Zealand Super Motard riders how it was done, taking three clear wins from three starts. New Plymouth’s Terry Fitzgerald dominated both the F3 Superlites and Post Classics, while Palmerston North’s Peter Tanner took out the BEARS. Provisional Results Cemetery Circuit ‘08 Wanganui, 26 December 2008 Robert Holden Memorial: 1, Craig Shirriffs (Feilding) Honda; 2, Gareth Jones (Australia) Yamaha; 3, Andrew Stroud (Hamilton) Suzuki; 4, Jared Love (Hamilton) Suzuki; 5, Hayden Fitzgerald (New Plymouth) Honda. F1 Supers: Race One: 1, Gareth Jones (Australia) Yamaha: 2, Craig Shirriffs (Feilding) Honda; 3, Andrew Stroud (Hamilton) Suzuki; 4, Jared Love (Hamilton) Suzuki; 5, Ray Clee (Auckland) Suzuki. Race Two: 1, Stroud; 2, Shirriffs; 3, Hayden Fitzgerald (New Plymouth) Honda; 4, Love; 5, Clee. 600 Supers: Race One: 1, Gareth Jones (Australia) Yamaha; 2, Jared Love (Hamilton) Suzuki; 3, Paul Dobbs (Taukau) Triumph; 4, Craig Frethey (Wellington) Honda; 5, Paul Brown (Te Kauwhata) Kawasaki. Race Two: 1, Jones; 2, Nick Cole (Hamilton) Kawasaki; 3, Love; 4, Glen Williams (Palmerston North) Suzuki; 5, Sam Smith (Pukekohe) Yamaha. F3 Superlites: Race One: 1, Terry Fitzgerald (New Plymouth) Suzuki; 2, Jason Easton (Foxton) Tigcraft Aprilia; 3 Jason Nairn (New Plymouth) Suzuki. Race Two: 1, Fitzgerald; 2, Love; 3, Neil Chappell (Bulls) Kawasaki. F1 Sidecars: Race One: 1, Stacey Sellar/ Louise Blythe (Australia/Wanganui) LCR; 2, Steve Bron/Dennis Simonsen (Wanganui/Masterton) LCR: Adam Unsworth/ Stu Dawes (Wanganui/Wanganui) Windle. Race two: 1,Sellar; 2, Bron; 3, Unsworth. Sidecar Feature: 1, Sellar; 2, Unsworth; 3, Chris & Ritchie Lawrance (Auckland) Anderson. Super Motards: Race One; 1, Darryl Atkins (USA) Aprilia; 2, Toby Summers (Auckland) Yamaha; 3 Jono Hamlin (Wanganui) Husqvana. Race Two: 1, Atkins; 2, Summers; 3, Scott Moir (Taupo) KTM. Super Motard Feature; 1, Atkins; 2, Summers; 3, Casey Bullock (Taupo) KTM. BEARS: Race One / Part one: 1, Peter Tanner (Palmerston North) Aprilia; 2, Shaun Harris (New Plymouth) Triumph; 3, Nigel Healey (Kimbolton) Aprilia. Race One / Part two: 1, Harris; 2, Healey; 3, Terry Fitzgerald (New Plymouth) Ducati. Race two: 1, Tanner; 2, Healey; 3, Paul Dobbs (Tuakau) Triumph. Post Classics: Race One: 1, Terry Fitzgerald (New Plymouth) Ducati; 2, Chris Sales (Feilding) Honda; 3, Sean Donnelly (Paraparaumu) Kawasaki; Race Two: 1, Fitzgerald; 2, Sales; 3, Donnelly. Classic Sidecars: Race One: 1,Neville Mickleson (Hamilton) Matchless ; 2, Andy Scrivener (Taupo) BMW; 3, Peter Anderson (Auckland) Norton Windle Race Two: 1, Scrivener; 2, Anderson; 3, Mickleson.
