Racing doesn't get any more clinical than this.
Hamilton's Nick Cole (Kawasaki) put on a scintillating display of riding to totally dominate the fiery 600cc Sports Production class at the opening round of the New Zealand Superbike Championships in Christchurch on Sunday.
The 23-year-old ran away with both 600cc racers at the Ruapuna Park circuit, establishing a healthy points lead at the start of the five-round series and also winning the New Zealand GP title, that honour attached to his race-two victory.
"I won both races by quite a large margin. I'm rapt, of course, and taking the GP title for this class was great too," said Cole.
"I was actually expecting the other riders to put up more of a fight," he laughed.
Cole set the fastest time of his 2010-model Kawasaki ZX6R and then pushed on from there as he quickly shot into the lead in both races and left his nearest challenger, Christchurch rider James Smith, gasping to keep up.
Cole won the first race by 8.37 seconds and was even more devastating in the next race, winning by a massive 12.9 seconds. This gives Cole a 10-point advantage over Smith as the riders head to Invercargill's Teretonga circuit for round two this coming weekend.
"I backed off and cruised on the last lap. Even in the cold and wet conditions, I still came within half a second of taking the lap record."
Kawasaki Motorcycle Distributors (NZ) CEO Mike Wilkins was thrilled with the performance.
"We've really put a lot of effort into Nick and look at the result," he said.
"The bike is very quick and the rider's fantastic too. It's a winning combination."
Credit: Words and photo by Andy McGechan
