Walking around the pits, it would be very easy indeed to go straight past Wellington’s Rogan Chandler.
There’s nothing brash or flamboyant about the 19-year-old apprentice builder from Upper Hutt.
In fact, he’s often described simply as “a quiet achiever”.
But none of those characteristics are evident when he’s out on the race track and he simply destroyed his opposition at the third round of four in this season’s New Zealand Superbike Championships at Bruce McLaren Motorsports Park near Taupo at the weekend.
Chandler only took delivery of his new Yamaha YZF R3 two days before the Taupo event, but, even with only limited time to get suspension and handling set to his desired preferences, he was quickly on the pace on the 300cc machine.
And, while he may have been up against the 390cc bikes of many of his rivals in the Lightweight Production class, Chandler was able to run away with a stunning hat-trick of wins at Taupo.
“We had to start from scratch getting the bike set up for me, but, thankfully, I had Dave Cole and Robert Taylor helping out. Those guys really know their stuff,” said Chandler.
Bombay’s Cole is a three-time former New Zealand road-race champion and also a multi-time Australian champion, while Taranaki man Taylor runs Kiwi Suspension Services (KSS).
“To match the 390cc bike I just had to keep up good corner speed. I know the track here (at Taupo) really well and the lines I used when racing the 125GP class here worked really well for me.”
Chandler actually had his first taste of riding a Yamaha R3 when a friend loaned his R3 to him at the opening round of the nationals in Christchurch in early January.
“I didn’t get much time to set it up but it was fun to ride,” said Chandler, who managed to finish with an 8-3-8 scorecard that weekend.
He skipped round two of the series at Invercargill a week later because he underwent “surgery on a leaking appendix”, but everything certainly lined up for him at Taupo on Saturday and Sunday.
With a “dip toes into the water” experience at round one, a non-start at round two and then an impressive clean sweep of wins at round three, Chandler finds himself fourth overall in the championship standings and just five points behind third-ranked rider Brendan Booth, of Christchurch.
Last season, Chandler took every pole position and won every race as he easily clinched the national 125GP title, including winning the New Zealand TT and New Zealand GP trophies in the process, and then he jumped up to race a 675cc Triumph during the pre-nationals Suzuki Series in December, finishing third overall on debut in that class.
With the awesome form he’s exhibiting in the Lightweights class, it won’t be long before Chandler’s outgrown that category and he is already hinting he’d like to be out on a Yamaha R6 in the 600cc supersport class at next year’s nationals.
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