The Barry Sheene Classic at Hampton Downs was also his for the taking, while he dominated the Burt Munro Challenge raced at Teretonga in Invercargill and through the streets of Wyndham with three wins and a second in the four-race series.
The Cams Southern Classic Festival at Levels in Timaru was another Tate claimed through the season.
But perhaps the most prestigious of all was the NZMCRR Classic Festival at Pukekohe where Tate was unbeaten to take the Coleman Cup and the Joe Craig Trophy.
Yesterday Tate modestly conceded it was "probably" his best season.
"The Burt Munro is always special and I've won it before, but I guess the NZMCRR Festival and the Championship Series are special too," Tate said.
He has no clear-cut preference between street racing and track competition, although he has never missed a Paeroa street meeting and he has competed each year on his home Cemetery Circuit since he began racing.
"I like it all, really. Earlier on I did the odd Formula 2 and 3, but most of my time has been on the Nortons and they're pretty tough machines. The Dominator has had a couple of rebuilds, but the Manx is still pretty much original with only one rebuild."
Tate has strong support from wife Vicky who rarely misses a race meeting and appears fairly ambivalent about the dangers motorcycling pose.
"He's had a few injuries, including a punctured lung, but I don't think he'll be giving it up any time soon. We both just love the racing," she said.
Tate said while Wanganui traditionally had a strong classic bike following it was beginning to grow and he was often surrounded by mates on the northern and southern circuits.
Many of these unsung heroes go about their business paying out of their own back pockets and working tirelessly in River City sheds fine-tuning their machines to fire on race day and continuing to put Wanganui on the map with their successes.
