Hometown hopes ride high

Former hometown lads Adam Unsworth and swinger Stu Dawe are on song to defend their F1 sidecar title through the streets of Wanganui on Boxing Day. Photo/File

Two Wanganui racing teams head to the final round of the Suzuki Series on their hometown Cemetery Circuit on Boxing Day as top dogs in their respective classes.

Defending Supermoto champion Richard Dibben won both races in round two at Manfeild at the weekend on a borrowed bike and gain a five-point buffer on Silicone Engineering teammate Malachi Mitchell-Thomas, while Auckland-based Adam Unsworth and swinger Stu Dawe return to their old hometown seven points clear in the Formula 1 sidecars series.

Dibben struggled with handling problems on his Honda CRF450 in round one at Hampton Downs, yet still managed to keep within striking distance on the points table heading into Manfeild.

With fellow Wanganui racer Glen Haden busy with other commitments, he loaned his almost identical CRF450 to Dibben and that generosity paid handsome dividends for the defending champ. In fact, not only did he gain maximum points from Manfeild, Dibben also broke the track record in the supermoto class.

Chasing hard in round two was visiting British rider Mitchell-Thomas who is basing himself at the Dibben household in Wanganui.

Dibben had met and worked as mechanic for Mitchell-Thomas during an eight-month stint in England securing sponsorship from the English-based Silicone Engineering racing team for the Suzuki Series.

"Not a bad weekend," a modest Dibben said. "Glen asked if I wanted to ride his bike at Manfeild after I had handling problems with mine at Hampton and it seemed to work very well. Mal is loving the Kiwi lifestyle and racing fantastically."

Dibben said he loved his home track and was looking forward to Boxing Day. "It's always a great atmosphere with the crowd right there literally. Mal hasn't ridden in street circuits before, but I'm sure he will adapt."

Meanwhile, the Boss Engineering-sponsored Unsworth/Dawe combination will also be defending their F1 sidecar title claimed in 2011 when they hit the streets of Wanganui.

"They didn't include sidecars in the Tri Series last year and we only raced the Cemetery Circuit on Boxing Day. We did win, but our title is from 2011 when all three venues were included," Unsworth said yesterday.

Now Auckland-based Unsworth and Dawe went through the 2011 series unbeaten, but they were surprised to find themselves series leaders going into the final round.

"It was unfortunate other teams had breakdowns at Manfeild, but it has left us in a position we didn't really think we'd be in heading into the final round. We are fortunate enough to have a slight buffer, so we will be aiming to finish well enough to keep the title rather than going out hard to win every race at Wanganui."

Unsworth and Dawe were relegated to fourth in the first race at Manfeild after being found guilty of passing under a yellow flag.

"We dived in and passed Barry and Robbie to take the lead, but I didn't see the flag until I was well into breaking for the corner and we were committed. The ironic thing is they still beat us home, but rules are rules I guess," Unsworth said.

Meanwhile, with so few points between the top three in the F1 Superbikes series, British TV superstar Guy Martin might play a leading role in deciding who wins the Suzuki Series. Martin, 31, will be racing a Suzuki New Zealand-supplied Suzuki GSXR1000.

Martin is a British closed-road specialist including a leading rider at the Isle of Man. If he can master the Cemetery Circuit and run with the leaders in the F1 category on Boxing Day he might take points from riders who have ridden all three rounds.

Supermoto series points after round 2: Richard Dibben, 87; Malachi Mitchell-Thomas, 84; Casey Bullock, 74; Toby Summers, 73; Aden Brown, 61; Ben Dowman, 56.

F1 Sidecars series points after round 2: Adam Unsworth/Stu Dawe, 87; Chris Lawrance/Richard Lawrance, 80; Barry Smith/Robbie Shorter, 63; Spike Taylor/Astrid Hartnell 58; Peter Goodwin/Darren Prentis, 57; Corey Winter/Tim Shepherd (Collins & Sons RMR600), 53. BEARS series points after round 2: Craig Trinder, 91; Dwayne Bishop (Wanganui), 71; Gavin McKay, 60; John Oliver, 56; Roger Crowley (Wanganui), 53; Linden Magee, 52.