1 Mar 2010

Taranaki's Midge Smart can probably only wonder what might have been.

The 23-year-old has been extremely busy in recent months, working as manager of the Railway Hotel in Inglewood, and his absence from the starting grid at the New Zealand Superbike Championships has been noted by friends, rivals and fans alike.

But that situation was rectified at Manfeild, near Palmerston North, on Sunday when he turned up in new colours and with fire in his eyes.

By late afternoon Sunday he was the talk of the pits after his winning debut ride on the Yamaha R6.

Smart finished 1-2 in his two outings in the fiercely-contested 600cc sports production class, posing the question that it might have been his year to win the title if only he'd also raced the earlier three rounds in the South Island. 

"My budget has just been too tight for me to race a full series," he said. "And I've been pretty busy with work too.

"I've raced one of these Yamahas before, in the R6 Cup in the United Kingdom, but this was my first big race on an R6 in New Zealand. It's a 2007-model bike but very fast.

"I was more on the pace than I was expecting to be, that's for sure. I haven't done much riding in the past year and a half but when Auckland's Glen Hessell came to me with an offer to ride his bike, I couldn't resist. Yamaha came to the party too and they've been great.

"Now I'm able to go racing again. There's only one round to go (in the five-round series) but I still think it's possible for me to finish inside the top 10."