A few photos of a ride to the 2012 Suzuki Tri-Series championship event at Hampton Downs, all taken at the hairpin showing some of the great riders who dominate racing in this country. 
The great Andrew Stroud – Suzuki GSX 1000. Andrew had a big tussle with Sloan Frost. Andrew is a true Kiwi legend who still races competitively at the tender age of 45. He has won 9 New Zealand Superbike national championships and is known internationally for his success on the Britten V1000, including winning Daytona in 1994 and the European Pro-Twins at Assen.
Sloan gets the most extreme body position of all the riders and was very quick on his BMW S1000RR – unfortunately too quick on Turn 1 of the second race as he was defending his lead from Andrew Stroud and had a huge off. 
Craig Shiriffs from Feilding is an amazing rider who is always in or near the lead. Here he battles with Dennis Charlett from Christchurch who was the eventual winner of the 2012 Suzuki Tri-Series. Both are riding Suzuki GSXR 1000’s. 
Tony Rees from Whakatane who had raced for many years on a Yamaha has moved to a Honda CBR1000, had close racing with John Ross of Christchurch on his Suzuki GSXR 1000RR.
John Houben rode a well presented Suzuki GSXR 1000 
As much as we enjoyed the racing, Andre, Justin and I were keen to finish off the weekend with a lap of our own favourite – the Coromandel Loop. Andre was trying out his recently purchased Honda CBR1100XX Blackbird. He needed something more suitable for the tender parts of his wife’s seating and sold his Yamaha XJR1200. The Blackbird is an amazing sports tourer, with a leaning towards sports, a very capable bike and quite similar in power and handling to my BMW K1200s 
Justin was riding his Ducati MHR which he has taken on longer trips before but not with us. What a gem, and Justin makes that bike go faster than you would expect from a 30 year old bike. A great weekend. 
Here we stopped in the Opitonui Valley on the eastern side near Whangapoua, looking towards Castle Rock on the skyline and near to the fabulous mountain crossing towards Coromandel Township. Paradise!!! 
Again, a late posting, but I hope you enjoy.
Max
Tailpipes and Headlamps 
Ahh the memories!. Awesome post Max. Makes me wish summer was here already.
Summer is only a new tyre, WOF and Registration away. California dreaming on such a winter’s day.
You say a late posting Max but not as late as mine. Andrew Stroud had a bit of support from Mike Trimby at IRTA in the mid-nineties and I had Andrew lined up to ride my Ducati at Daytona in 1995. As it happened the new 916 ordered for Neil Hodgson by another member of our team didn’t arrive from the factory in time and Neil was given the ride on my Corsa 956. It was Neil’s first ride on a big bike after two or three seasons in 125GP. He came 5th in the twins race and 12th in the full Daytona 200. No doubt the more experienced Andrew would have produced better results on my ex-David Jeffries Ducati but such is life. Neil went on to do the 1995 season in 500GP on a Roc Yamaha and I was lucky enough to be part it.
Good to see that Andrew is still riding as fast and smooth as ever 🙂
Don
Don, what memories you must have from those glory days of racing. The international scene seems to be somewhat sanitised and I enjoy the more down-to-earth approach of the BSB Championship, much closer to our scene here albeit with a lot more competition.
Max