Speedway: Tarbon Walker eyes the Gixxer Cup

Tarbon Walker, front, racing against Jesse Stroud in December. Walker has extended his points lead in the Suzuki Gixxer Cup after victory in Christchurch at the weekend.

Whanganui rider Tarbon Walker is loving racing the man and not his bank account as the 19-year-old made it back-to-back round victories for the inaugural Suzuki Gixxer Cup in Christchurch on Sunday.

The development racing series for 14-21 year olds on identical GSX-150F machines was started as an innovation for the 2017 Suzuki Series, but then extended into a six-round event by being included in the 2018 New Zealand Superbike Championships, which got underway at Mike Pero Motorsport Park at the weekend.

Walker was leading the overall series on 101 points after his success on his home patch at the Cemetery Circuit on Boxing Day, and backed up with a 'triple podium' in Christchurch.

In a smaller field of 15 riders, as not every North Island-based Gixxer entrant could make the trip, Walker won the pole on Saturday.

A fuel issue with his bike contributed to coming third in the first race that afternoon, but Walker recovered to win both the Sunday races.

"That last one [on Sunday] makes me the Grand Prix holder for 2018. There was a separate cup and trophy for that. And I've taken out the round," he said.

"I've got a good points lead at the moment. If we're counting my dropped round, I'm eight points up."

Competitors in the cup series can drop their worst result or a non-appearance from their final tally, which helps some younger racers as the Cemetery Circuit had an increased age restriction to 16 due to requiring a road licence.

Walker had an eventual start to Gixxer Cup when he fell in the first race in Taupo, but battled back against the leading contender in Hamilton's Jesse Stroud – the 15-year-old son of nine-time national superbike champ Andrew.

However, Stroud was removed from the picture at the next round in Manfeild as when racing his KTM 390 in another division, he also had a fall like Walker's, but was injured when a following rider crashed into him.

Walker has moved to the top of the Cup standings with two rounds remaining in a division that has included fellow talented Whanganui riders Hunter Stoneman-Boyle, Ollie Dennison and Cameron Goldfinch.

A unique competition, the Gixxer bikes are 154.9cc motorcycles with a top speed of about 140km/h, with competition rules stating they must be maintained to an identical standard.

Therefore, everyone races on equal terms and the deciding factors are rider skills and tactics, which is exactly what Walker likes.

"I've been racing for about a year or two now, and I've found the classes I was running in, it was 'how deep your pockets are'," he said.

"Here, there's a cap. You can't go out and do the research and development."

Walker will stay in the South Island with the second round of the New Zealand champs, and the fifth for Gixxer Cup, at Timaru's Levels International Raceway this weekend.

While the Christchurch track is a Walker favourite, he was not raced in Timaru before.

"But 90 per cent of the field hasn't either, so that's good," he said.

The following round will be at Hampton Downs Motorsport Park, near Meremere, on March 3-4.