"Dad wanted me to race go karts to start with, but then I tried a Suzuki GSX150F demo bike and it was good fun, so I decided to get into it.
"I've only raced the bike on a track a short while, but I'm getting better each time I go out. I'm learning things. I learned you can do a bit of damage to the bike when you crash it.
"I had a big crash (at Manfeild), but crashing is not so scary. I didn't hurt myself. I had only ridden at Manfeild once before, on the GIXXER test day.
"I'm already looking ahead to racing maybe a bigger bike next season. I used to race BMX bikes, but this is totally different of course. I'm loving it," Boyd said.
Riders were launching themselves handlebar-to-handlebar into every corner at Manfeild on Sunday and late braking or slip streaming appeared the only way to engineer a pass, which made for edge-of-the seat excitement.
Taupiri's Zak Fuller now shares the lead in the GIXXER Cup, level on points with Hamilton's Jesse Stroud – the son of Suzuki's nine-time national superbike champion Andrew Stroud – with the 'West Coast Warrior', Greymouth's Clark Fountain, moving up from fourth to third overall.
Fountain produced back-to-back wins at Manfeild, while Fuller and Stroud swapped between second and third both times, but there was not much between the leading 10 riders in this class.
Luca Durning, 14, is also in his debut season and said it was watching MotoGP on television that was his main inspiration.
"I wanted to be the next MotoGP star. I'd played football, cricket and squash, but this is better. I rode dirt bikes pretty much since I could walk, but this is so different. I'm learning about counter-steering, leaning in the corners.
"I only weigh 45kg and 183kg is the minimum weight for rider plus bike in this competition (otherwise weights are applied to the bike to make it a level contest). With me on the bike, it's 183.5kg, so that's pretty much perfect."
Durning is 14th overall.
The final round of the Suzuki Series is the traditional public street race on Whanganui's Cemetery Circuit on Boxing Day.
The GIXXER Cup competition continues after the Suzuki Series winds up, with races incorporated into the five-round 2019 New Zealand Superbike Championships, which opens sin Christchurch on January 5-6, making it an eight-round series for the 2018-19 GIXXER Cup.
Meanwhile, in the glamour Formula One superbike class, visiting British rider Peter Hickman set tongues wagging with his unbeaten performance at Manfeild.
Hickman won both of the day's races and looked comfortable doing it, rocketing from 11th overall after the Taupō opener to third, just eight points behind defending Suzuki Series champion Scotty Moir, of Taupō.
Suzuki rider Moir qualified fastest in this class and finished the day overall runner-up, his second and fourth place finishes in the two F1 races enough to give him a one-point edge over Wainuiomata's Shane Richardson, although Richardson still leads the series in this class.
Other class leaders after Sunday's second round of three in the series are Whakatāne's Damon Rees (F2 600cc); Palmerston North's Jacob Stroud (F3); Paraparaumu's Peter Bogusz (Post Classics, Pre-89, Senior); Auckland's Scott Findlay (Post Classics, Pre-89, Junior); Ngaruawahia's Steve Bridge (Bears, non-Japanese bikes, Seniors); Te Awamutu's Gary Morgan (Bears, non-Japanese bikes, Juniors); Tauranga's Duncan Hart (Super Motard class); England's John Holden and Tauranga's Robbie Shorter (F1 Sidecars); Tauranga's Barry Smith and Tracey Bryan (F2 Sidecars).
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