MOIR DOMINATES SUZUKI
SERIES ROUND ONE
E
by Andy McGechan
ven after a massive crash
and lining up with a borrowed
bike at the race re-start,
Bay of Plenty’s Scotty Moir
is one man who can never be
counted out. This was proved with
his courageous performance at the
opening round of the 2017 Suzuki
Tri-Series on December 10.
FORMULA 1
The 33-year-old Moir, the bike parts manager at
Taupo’s Pro Moto motorcycle shop, arrived at his
local Bruce McLaren Motorsports Park with little
inkling that he could so comprehensively rule the
premier Formula One class, but that’s exactly
what he did – taking pole position, after qualifying
fastest among the elite of New Zealand’s Superbike
stars, and then winning both F1 races the following
day, emerging as the man to beat in the popular
three-round pre-nationals competition this year.
He took a start-to-finish win in the first of two
eight-lap F1 races at Taupo, leaving father and son
Honda pair Tony and Mitchell Rees to scrap among
themselves for the runner-up position, with 50-year-
old defending Suzuki Series champion Tony Rees
eventually claiming the No.2 spot, finishing 2.1
seconds behind Moir, while Mitchell Rees settled
for third and Wellington’s Sloan Frost (Suzuki) and
Christchurch’s Alastair Hoogenboezem (BMW)
rounded out the top five. This sent a loud a warning
signal to Moir’s rivals that he and his new Suzuki
GSX-R1000A will be a potent force this summer.
The second F1 race later that afternoon was a
fractured affair, with a massive first-turn pile-up
Mitchell Rees