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From - Ray Whitham:
Tune into `Motor Sport Half Hour`
At first thought, Wanganui-based Team Bernard Racing may appear to carry all the guns as they head to the streets of Paeroa for this weekends Battle of the Streets decider.
Team owner Brian Bernard dominated the premiere class in the first round of the two-round series at Wanganui on Boxing Day, while team mate Craig Shirriffs beat all opposition in the 600cc class and set the fastest lap as well. Both will be looking to build on the points lead they established at the Cemetery Circuit, although in a wry twist, their main opposition may well come from fellow team-mate Dennis Charlett.
All three are street smart. Shirriffs in particular was a star of the Paeroa meeting last year while Charlett surprised everyone with a stunning race winning performance in his first appearance at the circuit four years ago. Charlett has entered both the 600cc class (Formula Streets) and the Superbike class (Formula Paeroa). All will ride Suzuki\'s.
Previous winners at Paeroa, Chris Haldane (Ducati) and Jason McEwen (Suzuki) won\'t make things easy for Bernard in Formula Paeroa, while Jared Love (Suzuki) and Terry Fitzgerald (Suzuki) will join Shirriffs as pacesetters in the hotly contested Formula Streets. Love was a winner at the Pukekohe championship meeting in December, while Fitzgerald is the national Formula Three champion, and an acknowledged expert on the streets.
One rider who will be very much in the mix at Paeroa is Wellington\'s Johann Bruns, a master of the damp and tricky conditions and a surprise yet fitting winner of the revamped Robert Holden Memorial feature race at Wanganui. Bruns, a motorcycle mechanic at the Wellington Motorcycle Centre, for many years the New Zealand base of the late Robert Holden, likes Paeroa and is looking forward to Sunday. \"I know I am going to have to ride as hard as I have ever ridden\" he said when discussing his chances of again taking out the feature race.
Craig Flood (Honda) and Stephen Briggs (KTM) look set to provide the thrills in the crowd-pleasing Super Motard races while former Bultaco works rider and world number two Ginger Molloy and Shane Lodge, contininng their form from the recent International Classic Festival at Pukekohe, should dominate the classic events.
Sidecar fans won\'t be disappointed. As well as the the two \"Battle of the Streets\" points scoring races the day\'s racing will conclude with a Sidecar Handicap, a traditional race at Wanganui but new to the Paeroa programme. The Wellsford pair of Craig McGregor/Ed Railey, winners at Pukekohe and Wanganui will be seriously challenged by the new national champion pairing of Spike Taylor//Dennis Simonsen (Masterton) and champions in waiting PhillipLaw/Gus Ravenwood (Gisborne) who will be hoping to put a disastrous national championship campaign behind them.
The traditional third Sunday in February showdown in the bustling Hauraki Plains township reverts to the original circuit this year after a shorter version was tried last year. The seventeen race programme starts at 11/30am after early-morning practice.
Ray Whitham
