Invercargill motorcycle racer John Crawford has a big season ahead and it all begins at Taupo over the weekend of 8/9 December. Crawford is set to contest two major series this summer, the Suzuki Tri-Series and the Supersport 600 Class of the New Zealand Superbike Championship.
Thirty-five year old Crawford has achieved much in a career that started when he was just 8 years of age. He has been a top performer in the South Island Junior MX Championships, winner of the Super Motard Class in the 2013 Burt Munro Challenge at Teretonga Park and he finished second in the 2014 Nelson Port Street Races. In more recent times Crawford has ridden a Suzuki GSX-R600 Supersport owned by Tony Rooney and successes have included the National Hillclimb title at the 2018 Burt Munro Challenge Bluff Hillclimb, third place in the 2016 Burt Munro Challenge 600cc class and third overall in the Paul Nixon Memorial 40 minute Endurance Race.
Crawford did the full Superbike Championship last year after previously only tackling individual rounds of the series. His first full campaign last year realised a tenth place in the championship with the Suzuki in completely stock configuration. However modifications this year will give Crawford an extra 20 horsepower. “It puts us on a par with the other riders gear and gives us an equal playing field. We compete on a shoestring compared to some of the other teams.”
The Suzuki Series will see Crawford compete at the Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park at Taupo over the weekend of 8/9 December followed by a round at Manfeild in Feilding a week later. The final round is at the tortuous Wanganui Cemetery Circuit on Boxing Day.
The Superbike Series then starts at Mike Pero Motorsport Park at Ruapuna in Christchurch over the weekend of 5/6 January followed by Timaru a week later. There are rounds at Hampton Downs in North Waikato and Manfeild in March with the finale at Taupo on the weekend of 6/7 April.
In between his national racing commitments Crawford will attempt to retain his National Hillclimb Title at the Burt Munro Challenge Bluff Hillclimb on 7 February and will also contest the Teretonga and Street Circuit events of the challenge.
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