03/02/2026
NZ sidecar champs 30th, 31st January 2026.
last weekend we headed up to KihiKihi for our NZ Sidecar champs at McDonald’s Kihikihi Speedway.
It had been a while since we last raced here, in fact it was the last time they had the NZ champs in 2004, unfortunately that didn’t end well but I learnt how to fly, just didn’t quite get the landing right!!
On Friday we had qualifying which consisted of 3 heats on point with the top 12 bikes going to the finals and the rest to do two recharges to find the top 16 bikes.
We were stoked to be 10th
On Saturday we woke up to another scorcher of a day, we must have been serious as we fitted our first new tyre for the season!
Finals day consisted of five races where we raced everyone, and the top three points scores went into the one race “A” final. The next four points scores went to the “B” final where the winner would join the A final.
Race 1:we had a hot lap before the race then on lap 2 a couple of bikes had a tangle up so a restart was needed. We were now down to two bikes, so a guaranteed 2nd place.
On lap two the bike was running extremely hot and went off song a bit and was burning the s**t out of my legs, so we just cruised to the finish. Unfortunately, my flash new leathers have now a nice burn hole in the leg!!
Race 2: gated awesome and went into second but had two bikes breathing down our necks for four laps but somehow managed to hold them off to finish 2nd by .003 of a second!! That was close.
Race 3: this was an all-palmy bike race and what a stuff up by myself, 1st time ever I stalled it on the start line as I didn’t hold it on the limiter as normal as we were getting a bit too much wheelspin out the gate. We managed to fire it up and finished the race but half a lap down!
Race 4: another brilliant start and we slipped into 1st and held this until the last corner where sunstrike was a real bitch for everyone, and we missed our line and drifted a bit wide letting the flying 33b take the win by only .080 of a second! Another very close race.
Race 5: gated awesome but not as good as rest of the hotshots and we finished in forth. Still smiling and happy with that.
Happy as to finish 9th overall on the little ol 900. A big thanks to Aidan for hanging on the back doing a brilliant job as normal and just being you.
That A final was nail biting stuff, with the teams giving it everything they had til the checker, absolutely awesome racing. Congratulations to 34v now 1nz, 3nz (78i) now 2nz and 4k now 3nz all you guys are the benchmark of our sport and totally deserved your podium finishes.
Massive thanks must go to McDonald’s Kihikihi speedway for putting on awesome event and keeping the track in good nick in very hot conditions. Full credit to everyone involved.
Also big thanks to Dave and Mindy, Amber and my big sister Sandra for all your help in the pits, totally appreciated.
Lastly thanks to Brad , Ella and the boys for letting us crash at your place, always good to hang out with the boys and take them for rides on the bikes. This is what speedway is about.
Also massive thanks to our loyal sponsors who help us out in this crazy sport
AFC motorcycle
Lucas oils
DMR metal recycling
Brownell Earthmoving
GJH Fibreglass
A1 Sandblasting