The Star: January 05, 2017

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22 Thursday January 5 2017 follow us on facebook.com/riseupchristchurch The Star Sport Superbike riders vie for national titles • By Robert Cochrane SEVERAL Canterbury riders should be well-prepared for a shot at a national superbike and road race title in Ruapuna this weekend. The Southern Nationals at Mike Pero Motorsport Park on January 7-8 will be the first meeting of the four-event New Zealand Motorcycle Road Race Series for 2017. Some of the Canterbury riders prepared for the meet by travelling north in December to race in the three-event Suzuki Series. The series finale was held in Wanganui on Boxing Day at the Cemetery Circuit. Canterbury superbike rider Dan Ornsby raced in all three Suzuki Series events in Taupo, Manfeild and Wanganui, while Alastair Hoogenboezem raced in two on a Honda CBR1000. Peter Buss raced in the BEARS meeting on a Ducati and in the Post Classic on a ‘Black Adder’ XR1000 Harley Davidson, while Sam Davison and Merv Oxford raced in formula three. Davison started racing a Suzuki RG150 Streetstock in 2010 and progressed to 125GP bikes six months later. He won the New Zealand 125 NEED FOR SPEED: Canterbury superbike rider Dan Ornsby and his crew fit a wheel to a Yamaha R1 1000 superbike at the Manfeild Chris Amon Circuit. PHOTO: ROBERT COCHRANE Championship and Grand Prix and then raced in Australia in the Ninja 300 Cup and took four race wins at Eastern Creek, New South Wales, plus pole positions in Queensland, but an injury put him out of contention. His Boxing Day race in Wanganui on the Kawasaki ER6 650 was his fifth meeting back in preparation for this weekend’s nationals. Another rider who enjoyed the great conditions in Wanganui was Oxford on a Suzuki SV650. Oxford was a club racer in the United Kingdom but took up the sport in New Zealand in 2006 on a Triumph 675 and did a lot of BEARS and street racing, winning a couple of club championships. He took five years off to help a few youngsters, including Seth Devereux and Bailie Perriton to name a few, who both went on to win New Zealand titles. At the New Zealand Tourist Trophy meeting in Auckland last March, Perriton needed to win all four pole positions and the last four races to narrowly take the title from Dennis Charlett, and he pulled it off much to the delight of both the crowd and his fellow riders. Charlett is back racing in Pro-Twins this year, and is determined to win a New Zealand championship after only getting the GP title last year, although he also took all three lightweight trophies in 2016. So who is going to star at the Christchurch meeting? Tony Rees (Honda), winner of the F1 Suzuki Series, will face a strong challenge from New Zealand champion Sloan Frost (Suzuki) and Daniel Mettam (Suzuki). On his home track, Hoogenboezem (Honda) will be in the mix as well. The Supersport Class will be a real battle of the brands but I’m picking Jake Lewis (Triumph), with the sidecars, 125GP and 250 production wide open. However, the lightweight production could see 250 champion Lewis Dray, of Ashburton, surprise some. The New Zealand Grand Prix for each class will be raced on Sunday. Eighty years ago, the first New Zealand Motorcycle Grand Prix was held at Cust, and then in 1938 Burt Munro took second place on his 500cc Velocette. During lunch each day, Mike Pero will lead the ‘Legends Parade’ of former stars and historic machines. Following him on TZ 350s will be John Boote, Paul McLaughlin and Jock Woodley. A scooter demonstration race will also run on the tri oval circuit. •For more racing information, visit www. nzsuperbikes.nz or go to Eventfinda for tickets to the Southern Nationals meeting. CATCH THE BLACKCAPS V BANGLADESH LIVE T20 SERIES COMMENTARY FROM 3PM TOMORROW ON RADIO SPORT RADIOSPORT.CO.NZ AUCKLAND 1332AM HAWKES BAY 1125AM KAPITI 1377AM MANAWATU 1089AM MASTERTON 91.9FM NORTHLAND 729AM ROTORUA 1350AM TARANAKI 774AM TAUPO 107.7FM TAURANGA 1521AM WAIKATO 792AM WANGANUI 1062AM WELLINGTON 1503AM
The Star follow us on facebook.com/riseupchristchurch Thursday January 5 2017 23 Driven Value Cars www.valuecarswarehouse.co.nz 32 Moorhouse Ave | 03 366 7768 The biggest range of vehicles in one location Technology boost for popular Mazda3 • By Ross Kiddie WHEN IT became clear the global financial crisis had ended, most car manufacturers launched full speed into research and development, regaining some of the ground they lost when funds for future projects seemed uncertain. Mazda is now reaping the rewards of that investment, it has a lot of new product rolling off the production lines and the vehicles have a significant array of specification, much of it in the all-important area for safety. Regular readers will be aware of my recent evaluations for CX-9, MX-5 and Mazda6. My last drive in a series of models which rolled out fresh late last year for model year 2017 was the Mazda3, it was an upgrade model which is loaded with clever new features. I’ve stopped short of calling the latest Mazda3 a facelift; quite simply, there aren’t a lot of cosmetic upgrades, it is fresh up front but it features mostly the technology which has been spread across the entire Mazda line-up. Of note, there is a vehicle dynamics package which has a list of acronyms that read like a bowl of alphabet soup. G-Vectoring control (GVC), MAZDA3 SP25 LTD: High safety ingredient. autonomous emergency braking (AEB) and lane-keep assist system (LAS) are just some of the key ingredients, the latter I found particularly useful. Obviously my driving style must tend to favour keeping well left on the highway and, to that end, LAS was constantly reminding me of the need to clear the painted line on the left through a gentle nudge on the steering wheel. It isn’t forceful, just a reminder that the road edge is close. That technology is gear that works with the driver to enhance safety, the active elements which keep the car out of trouble in the first instance. There’s a new camera system in the car which recognises objects of importance such as traffic sign recognition (TSR) and, of course, the AEB will ultimately operate the brakes should a collision appear imminent. These features were recently demonstrated to motoring journalists by Mazda New Zealand in a controlled sealed surface environment so they could be understood effectively, they are certainly features you can relax with, knowing that as a driver you are constantly being looked after. Elsewhere, the Mazda3 is still the remarkable sedan and hatchback which Kiwis have purchased in large numbers. The test car was the rangetopping Limited hatchback and, • Price – Mazda3 SP25 Ltd, $47,495 • Dimensions – Length, 4580mm; width, 1795mm; height, 1450mm • Configuration – Fourcylinder, front-wheeldrive, 2488cc, 138kW, 250Nm, six-speed automatic. • Performance – 0-100km/h, 8.9sec • Fuel usage – 6l/100km as you would guess, it gets a high level of specification for comfort and convenience as well, everything from satellite navigation and head-up display to leather trim and electric sunroof. These items are just a few of many too numerous to mention. Under the bonnet sits a 2.5- litre, four-cylinder naturally aspirated engine which produces a feisty 138kW and 250Nm. It is a SkyActive engine, another gem from Mazda which is the result of development aimed at reducing emissions and fuel usage. Mazda rates the twin-camshaft, 16-valve unit with a six-litre per 100km (47mpg) combined cycle average. There are sport mode gearshift protocols available at the flick of a switch, but in reality unless you really want to work the car hard I found the sport setting unnecessary. However, I did use that system to glean a 8.9sec standstill to 100km/h acceleration time. But the SkyActive range of engines is designed to work low in the rev band, utilising the healthy torque figure to keep engine revolutions down and gaining the fuel economy advantage. If you are after lively performance, the Mazda3 does have personality, it is responsive underfoot and certainly has handling prowess. One of the other key aspects for me is the reality of a fully independent suspension. I particularly like it when manufacturers go the whole hog and build quality suspension systems, and if you take into account the spring and damper rates are a good comprise between what you need for comfort and containing body roll control in a corner, the Mazda3 benefits in all these areas. It was good to be reacquainted with the Mazda3, it’s most certainly a case of a good car made better. I just can’t wait to see other surprises this highprofile and high quality car maker produces in the near future. RESEARCH. SEARCH. PURCHASE. ALL IN ONE PLACE THE NEW PLACE TO BUY & SELL CARS NEWS / REVIEWS / LISTINGS
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The Star: January 05, 2017

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