Motorsport: Asphalt addiction hard to beat

Eddie Kattenberg fine-tuning before the Wanganui Cemetery Circuit Races. Photo / Warren Buckland

Hawke's Bay's Eddie Kattenberg compares his passion for motorcycle racing with a bad drug.

"I just can't stay away from it," Kattenberg explains while carrying out some tweaks on his 1000cc Bimota in the countdown to Boxing Day's Wanganui Cemetery Circuit Races.

Some pundits may find this hard to understand as "The Kat" (his nickname when in his prime during the late '80s and early '90s) broke just about every bone in his body before hanging up his helmet for the first time in 1992.

"I got the urge again in 2010 when I got a bike off my brother-in-law," he recalls.

By 2012, it was almost as if Kattenberg, a national TT champion in 1987 and a points scorer in the 1988, 1989 and 1991 World Superbike Championships, had never been away. He won the national Tri-Series in the Post Classic Pre-89 class and continued this form last year when he won the New Zealand Grand Prix in his class at Ruapuna and the national TT title in Taupo.

Kattenberg, 52, is again dominating his 30-strong class in the Tri-Series, which is raced over three consecutive weekends, this summer. At the Hampton Downs-hosted first round on December 6, he won both of his races after qualifying on pole.

At Saturday's Manfeild-hosted second round, Kattenberg qualified second by .2 of a second behind Austrian Horst Saiger but still won both of his races. Saiger, who is leading the F1/Superbikes class, broke down in both of his Post Classic Pre-89 class races.

Te Awanga's Kattenberg set a new Manfeild lap record of 1m 12.0s for his class in his first race.

"I love Manfeild ... it's my home away from home.

"I've done everything there and it was where I got my first points in the World Superbike Championship in the same year American Fred Merkel won the championship there," Kattenberg says.

With a comfortable points lead, Kattenberg, a mechanic with Bike Worx in Napier, can afford to ride conservatively in Wanganui.

"I'll definitely be riding for points. I had a huge crash there two years ago and collected a back injury which changed my opinion of the circuit ... every day I'm reminded of it.

"Compared with race tracks, the Wanganui street race circuit with corner after corner is a full-on in your face event," he explains.

Father of three, Kattenberg points out there will be numerous international visitors in Wanganui, including several from the Northern Hemisphere.

"It's unusual to have a street circuit race like that these days. After more than 60 years, the Wanganui event has legendary status and for the riders from Europe it's a good excuse to get away from the snow and do some racing."

Kattenberg expects to be tackling the Tri-Series for another two to three years at least. And after that, there will be no second retirement as he is also competing on the national Old Classic Bike circuit racing a Norton Manx for Taradale's John Marsh.

At Labour Weekend, he won the 500cc factory class at the Hampton Downs-hosted Barry Sheene Trans Tasman event.

"It's more relaxed and the bikes are a little bit slower. It's not like fighting something like this," he says tapping his Bimota.

"It might look easy from the outside but it isn't. It's so new and very different from the Yamaha I raced last year and the year before ... it's a steep learning curve and there's always lots of development work," he adds.

Unless there's a repeat of that 2012 crash, expect Kattenberg to return from Wanganui next week with another Tri-Series title.