Shirriffs King Of The Streets

Team Honda Racing NZ
Motorsport Network Ltd
Press Release
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Shirriffs King Of The Streets

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Team Honda battling with Gareth Jones (Yamaha) Shirriffs leads Fitzgerald third - Photo: Andrew Bright

As predicted one and all were looking skywards as race day dawned in the small Hauraki Plain's town of Paeroa on Sunday (22 Feb).

It had rained on and off all day Saturday and again at around 7.30am on the race morning. Many were speculating that it was going to be the first wet "Battle of the Streets" in Paeroa.

The officials deemed it too slippery to race at the proposed start time and everyone waited with baited breath.

After a two hour delay and with the official vehicles driving around to dry the track, racing began.

Feilding's Craig Shirriffs was on fire, taking his "Team Honda - Red Black Beauty" Honda CBR1000RR to two wins and a second.

Shirriffs led the first Formula Paeroa race from the drop of the green flag and held that lead until two laps from home when Yamaha's young Australian Gareth Jones slipped passed. Shirriffs chased hard and was right on Jones' back wheel as the approached they hairpin for the last time. Unfortunately they also encountered a back marker and Jones held on to take the win by just 0.018 of a second.

Shirriffs' teammate New Plymouth's Hayden Fitzgerald was hard on their heals in third on his Team Honda-Castrol CBR1000RR, finishing just 3.663 seconds adrift.

The Honda pairing then formed up for the "King of the Streets" race. Shirriffs again led from the start, with Jones and Fitzgerald chasing hard. Unfortunately Jones got out of shape coming of the stock bank forcing Fitzgerald to go wide and eventually he had to lay his Castrol Honda CBR1000RR down. Jones recovered to chase Shirriffs who had developed a comfortable lead

"It is great to win a Superbike race at Paeroa on a real Superbike" said Shirriffs after the race

"Craig is riding like a machine at the moment and after my little mishap, I just couldn't catch him," commented Jones in the pits.

The second Formula Paeroa was set to be a show down between the young Australian and the two Honda boys.

Shirriffs once more got a lightning start and led from start to finish, followed closely by Jones and initially Fitzgerald. Unfortunately Fitzgerald's front end tucked in on him under braking and he again fell. Fortunately this time, he was able to remount and finished a gusty twelfth.

"I'm absolutely stoked," said the man of few words Shirriffs after the race.

Team Honda Racing are now looking forward to the final round of the Castrol power 1 Superbike Championships in a fortnight (March 7/8) at Pukekohe.

Prepared by Motorsport Network Ltd

ENDS

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