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BOXING DAY 2006 A HUGE SUCCESS! The organisers of the annual motorcycle street race meeting on the streets of Wanganui, a provincial city of 44,000 people situated on the west coast of New Zealand’s North Island are delighted with the success of the 2006 “Boxing Day Races” at Wanganui’s Cemetery Circuit. For the first time in New Zealand a Dirt Super Motard section was added to a street race venue, and the spectators loved it. A record crowd of 11,000 people had the opportunity to see New Zealand’s best Motard competitors take on two times Australian S1 Motard Champion Josh McFarlane on his first trip to compete in New Zealand. The Team SXV Aprilia Racing works team bought over two SXV Supemoto V-twins, one 450 and the new 550 for Josh to race. The team consisted of Josh, team manager, Jim Caruso, team technician, Dave Ward plus suspension technician, Steven Mudford. As Jim said after practice, “We are all settled in, the track is fine, bikes are running well and Josh is happy. We are running the 450 in the Bears Class to give Josh some track time, with our main focus to do well with the 550 for the Super Motard Races. We are hoping conditions will allow us to go very fast this weekend. Both bikes are running very well.’” Josh was most enthusiastic about being in Wanganui. “Ever since I was a little boy my Dad always said to me, ‘you have to race the Cemetery Circuit once in your lifetime to know what it is like’. I haven’t been this excited about an event in a long time and I will be encouraging all the Australian guys I know to come over and race here. This street circuit is very fast, much faster than our street event back home, it would help me on the 450 in the Bears class against the thousands if it had a few more tighter turns, but for the Motard races the 550 is really going well. I didn’t think it would be this good, I am so impressed with how the city gets behind the event, and how dedicated the riders are, I can’t wait to get into the racing and put on a good show for the crowd.” And what a great show Josh delivered, he was very warmly received by the huge crowd. The pre-event publicity in the local papers meant the crowd knew he was in town and as he turned off the Taupo Quay asphalt and hit the dirt in front, you could here the cheer go up – “it’s Josh”. And in the Wanganui Chronicle next day the Sports Editor used the term, ‘Clearly the quickest on the track’ to describe his performance on the day. Josh took a close second overall and first in the S1 class in the first race after remounting from a slow speed fall and then backed it up with an easy overall win in the second. The final race saw Josh get a great start setting a new Motard lap record as he pulled away from the field. Unfortunately on the last lap of the race, Josh retired when the drive sprocket spun on his rear wheel as a result of hub failure leaving the disappointed Gold Coast resident with no drive. As Josh said later, “I would love to come back next year, this has been such a great experience. The meeting is World Class, up there with the World Championship meetings I have ridden.” Motorcycle races on the Wanganui streets are called the ‘Çemetery Circuit’, as part of the circuit is bordered by historic cemeteries. The event has been running since 1951 and is the longest running continuous motorsport event in New Zealand. Team SXV Aprilia Racing enjoys the support of: Results:
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