Brother Suzuki’s Andrew Stroud captured his eighth national title on Sunday, wrapping up the Castrol Power 1 New Zealand Superbike Championships at the new Hampton Downs circuit.

Stroud lead the day’s first 15-lap Superbike race from start to finish to wrap up the title, however it was the 20-lap second outing that created fireworks – doubling as the national TT title race.

In the second outing Stroud had to power his Brother Suzuki GSX-R1000 through the field after a bad start, eventually snatching the lead from defending champion Robbie Bugden (Suzuki) at about the midway point.

Australia’s three-time champion Budgen had no answer for Stroud, although he kept the Kiwi hero honest and harried him to the end, finishing less than a second behind Stroud.

“I didn’t get a great start and got pushed around a bit at the beginning,” said Stroud. “But I didn’t panic and when I saw the gap widening, I just put my head down a bit.

“I beat Australian Shawn Giles to take the New Zealand superbike title in 2006 but, for the past three years, it’s belonged to Robbie (Bugden). It’s good to have it back – to take it back for New Zealand.”

Kawasaki’s Nick Cole wrapped up the 600 Sports Production title, finishing 1-2 in Sunday’s pair of races and finished the series ahead of James Smith (Suzuki).

“It’s my first national title and I reckon it won’t be my last,” beamed Cole.

Alastair Hoogenboezem had already sewn up the national 125GP title at the previous round, but that didn’t seem to slow him down at the final round. Hoogeboezem took his Honda to a hat-trick of wins over the weekend, stretching his advantage to 116 points over Orewa girl Avalon Biddle (Honda) in the final standings.

FINAL CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS:

Superbikes:
1. Andrew Stroud (Suzuki) 228 points
2. Robbie Bugden (Suzuki) 175
3. Craig Shirriffs (Honda) 139

600 Sports Production:
1. Nick Cole (Kawasaki) 187.5 points
2. James Smith (Suzuki) 147
3. John Ross (Yamaha) 140

125GP:
1. Alastair Hoogenboezem (Honda) 341 points
2. Avalon Biddle (Honda) 225
3. Jaden Hassan (Yamaha) 212