The 2016 New Zealand Superbike Championship series was given a massive shake-up at the second of four rounds near Invercargill.
Wellington's Sloan Frost (MC2 Racing Fujitsu TSS Red Baron Suzuki GSX-R1000) had finished the day unbeaten in the glamour superbike class at round one in Christchurch a week ago, but he was forced to scramble to protect his position when two of his rivals stepped up to dominate the day at Teretonga Park Raceway on Saturday and Sunday.
He was given a wake-up call when Taupo's Scott Moir (Penny Homes Suzuki GSX-R1000) and Hamilton's Andrew Stroud (Pirelli Suzuki GSX-R1000) both rose to the challenge and signalled their own title bids.
However, even though Moir was the top superbike class rider for the weekend - his 1-2-2 score-line giving him a slight edge over Stroud (2-1-4) - Frost salvaged his weekend and still managed to extend his overall championship lead.
Frost finished 3-3-1 making it a Suzuki clean sweep for the weekend and, with a bonus point for being fastest qualifier in the class, he now enjoys a 31-point advantage over the new no2 ranked rider in the series 48-year-old, father-of-10 Stroud.
Christchurch's John Ross (Hollands Collision Centre Suzuki GSX-R1000) was always in winning contention but his 4-4-3 results saw him slip from second to third in the standings.
Meanwhile, the big mover in the class was Moir, who experienced a difficult weekend at Ruapuna in round one, but celebrated a dream run at Teretonga elevating himself from a distant eighth overall to fourth in the standings.
"This is not the first time I've won a round at the nationals ... I did it too at Taupo in 2014, but this is right up there with that," Moir, 31, said.
"After I won the first race of the weekend on Saturday, it gave me a lot of confidence. In the second race (the following day), I just put my head down and didn't look back.
"But I made a mistake on the last lap and left a gap for Andrew (Stroud) to slip past. I learned a lesson from that and vowed not to leave the door open again.
"I led most of race three, but Sloan (Frost) found a way past. I managed to hang on to him, but, in the end, I just settled for good points and it was enough for me to win the day.