Kawasaki Ace Sets the Track Alight

Kawasaki Ace Sets the Track Alight

DECEMBER 8, 2014: He may be a long way from home, a first-time visitor to New Zealand and on a loaned bike, but Liechtenstein superbike ace Horst Saiger has wasted no time at all in rewarding his Kiwi hosts with thrills, excitement, some winning results and possibly a few laughs too.

Saiger took the Red Devil Racing Kawasaki New Zealand ZX10-R to two wins from two starts at the opening round of the Suzuki Tri Series at Hampton Downs on Sunday and even posted a new outright lap record for motorcycles in the process.

He was riding the same 2011-model Kawasaki that Hamilton’s Nick Cole had raced to victory in the same three-round series last season and, despite the two riders having little in common in terms of bike preferences, Saiger required virtually no adjustments to be done to the motorcycle before he made his debut Kiwi appearance against the elite from Australasia.

“The bike was good to go straight away. It felt very similar to the Kawasaki I raced in Europe this season,” said the easy-going 43-year-old German superbike champion.

Young Auckland rider Jaden Hassan qualified on pole for the Formula One-Superbike class, but Saiger quickly pushed that into the shade when he set a blistering new track record of one minute 03.213 seconds in the day’s first of two F1 races.

“I got a good start and won the first race (finishing 14 seconds ahead of Taupo’s Scott Moir after Hassan had crashed out while battling with Saiger for the lead).

“But I lost some speed going through turn one in race two. I had a big ‘moment’ and was really lucky not to crash. So, after that, I switched on the bike’s traction control and caught up to (race leader) Jaden Hassan.

Saiger took the lead from Hassan when the 20-year-old Kiwi rising star made a small mistake and he never looked back from there, winning the second race ahead of Hassan by just a fraction over four seconds.

“The bike was not too different from what I race at home,” said Saiger. “The engine is very good. The only thing I needed to change was the bike’s seat because I was sliding off the back when I accelerated. I built up a little ramp at the rear to hold me in place.

“It is an old bike, a 2011 model, so perhaps if I crash it I won’t have to pay too much,” he laughed.

Saiger and his Red Devil Racing Kawasaki New Zealand crew will travel to Manfeild, on the outskirts of Feilding, this week to prepare for round two this coming Sunday.

“I have never seen Manfeild before either, so I want to get in as many laps as I can before the racing happens.”

Saiger is eight points clear of Moir in the series standings, with Whakatane’s Tony Rees in third position, just four points further back.

The third and final round of the series is set for the public streets of Wanganui, the famous Cemetery Circuit, on Boxing Day.

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