text: It is likely to be another scorcher when the 2024 edition of the Suzuki International Series blasts off early next month.
  There are just over three weeks to go now before the flag drops for the start of the popular three-round series and competition organiser Allan 'Flea' Willacy is this week running from pillar to post as he puts the final preparations in place for the start of the most popular motorcycle road-race series in the Southern Hemisphere.
  Started in 2008, this year’s 16th annual Suzuki International Series – it skipped a year in 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic – as usual includes the world-renowned Cemetery Circuit public street race event in Whanganui on Boxing Day.
  It all kicks off the busiest time of the year for New Zealand's premier motorcycle road-racers and the international elite who make the trip Downunder.
  The opening round of the series at the Taupo International Motorsport Park on the weekend of December 7-8 will again be highly anticipated, with the excitement continuing at round two at Manfeild, on the outskirts of Feilding, just a week later, on December 14-15.
  It wraps up, as always, with the spectacular finale on the world-famous Cemetery Circuit on Boxing Day.
  Willacy said he's delighted to report that a record number of entries have been received this year, with world-renowned Isle of Man race winners listed among those who have signed up to race, as well as other top-class riders expected from Europe and Australia.
  “There are more than 200 riders entered for our final round on the streets of Whanganui on Boxing Day,” said Willacy.
  British riders Davey Todd and Peter Hickman, both of whom delighted when they previously raced this series, will return again in 2024, with first-time visitor to New Zealand Wolfgang Schuster, from Germany, also adding to the international flavour this time around.
  The 29-year-old Todd, from North Yorkshire, near Middlesborough, formerly raced motocross, enduro and super moto before switching to tarmac in 2015 and racing the North West 200 and Ulster Grand Prix (street races in Northern Ireland).
  He became one of the fastest Isle of Man TT newcomers of 2018.
  This year, Todd won the Senior TT and Superstock classes at the Isle of Man TT and the North West 200 superbike race, as well as winning the British Superbike Championships Superstock 1000 title.
  In addition to impressing in the superbike class on his debut showing in the Suzuki International Series last season, Todd also raced a borrowed Suzuki RM-Z450 in the Supermoto class (narrowly losing out to Whanganui’s international star Richie Dibben).
  Todd said on that occasion that he “thoroughly enjoyed” his first visit to New Zealand and was determined that his Suzuki International Series debut this year would not be his last. He is true to his word and surely wants to “settle a little unfinished business Downunder”.
  The 37-year-old Hickman, from Lincolnshire, started TT racing at the Isle of Man in 2014. He won twice in 2018, three times in 2019, followed by four more wins in 2022 and 2023.
  Hickman has 14 TT victories in total, which puts him sixth on the all-time winners list. He currently holds the all-time lap record at the Isle of Man TT Mountain Course, set in 2023 during the Superstock class races.
  Hickman shared Suzuki International Series honours in the premier superbike class with Taupo’s Scott Moir during his debut appearance in New Zealand in 2018, before going on to win the stand-alone Robert Holden Memorial Feature Race at Whanganui’s finale that season.
  The Suzuki International Series has become such an iconic competition in this part of the world, with the traditional post-Christmas “street fight” perhaps the jewel in the crown for motorcycle road-racing in New Zealand.
  It will again be celebrated as the Southern Hemisphere’s premier “round the houses” race meeting, sponsored of course by Suzuki New Zealand, but now with additional high-profile financial support from Oceania’s leading freight and logistics provider Mondiale VGL.
  Organiser Willacy said he was thrilled to be able “to work with so many great people” to make this series happen again in 2024.
  “We can’t thank Suzuki New Zealand enough for the help and financial support they offer to our sport in New Zealand. We have a fantastic series and many young racing careers have been nurtured and have bloomed from this.
  “Suzuki also provide us with a pace car to use on the purpose-built race circuits and around the Whanganui street circuit too and, such is their generosity, this has been available for us to also use all year round as we vigorously promote the series.”
  Suzuki New Zealand has supported this series since the inaugural running in 2008 – when Suzuki legend Andrew Stroud won the title – ensuring the series has enjoyed overwhelming popularity over the years.
  As an added feature this time around, the series will also include a class for the racing of adventure bikes, essentially large-capacity off-road bikes engineered also for riding or racing on tarmac, while solo classics will also be included in the programme for the first time in many years.
  Meanwhile, Suzuki International Series spectators can save money by purchasing "early bird tickets" through Ticketek on-line and they will also go in the draw to win an upgrade to a Suzuki VIP Pass for the Cemetery Circuit race day.
  For more than half a century the barriers have been put up for this world-renowned motorcycle "street fight", with FIM-approved spectator safety fencing laid out along the gutters of Whanganui's public streets.
  For more details, interested parties should follow the link on the www.cemeterycircuit.co.nz web site.
  It is also interesting to note that it is sponsorship from Suzuki New Zealand that has also allowed a Kiwi audience to enjoy watching MotoGP racing live and on-demand this season on TV Three Now.
  DATES FOR 2024 SUZUKI INTERNATIONAL SERIES:
  • Round 1, Taupo, Dec 7 and 8;
  • Round 2, Manfeild, Feilding, Dec 14 and 15t
  • Round 3, Whanganui's Cemetery Circuit, Dec 26.
  -By Andy McGechan, www.BikesportNZ.com