A casual approach became a winning one for Waikato’s Sloan “Choppa” Frost in Taupo on Sunday.The Waikato man took his Ambient Air Suzuki GSX-R1000 superbike out for “a little extra practice” at the Taupo’s Centennial Park race track and ended up surprising everyone, including himself, by winning the inaugural BADD (Bikers Against Drunk Drivers) three-hour endurance race.
“I wasn’t even going to do the race,” said Frost. “I was just going to use the event for a little extra practice ahead of Monday’s third and final round of the Suzuki International Tri Series.
“I pulled into the pits after a few laps to refuel and had nobody come to service me. I went out and did another lap then came back in and they were ready for me. They said I was actually running second in the race (behind the Suzuki team of Wellington’s Glen Skachill and Auckland’s Sam Smith) and said I should keep going.”
At that stage, Andrew Stroud’s Suzuki team was in third place and the Honda team of Hayden Fitzgerald (New Plymouth) and Jeremy Holmes (Invercargill) were in fourth spot.
“My crew then shot down to the service station to get some fuel for me for the next stop and that was it … I was officially in the race,” smiled the 28-year-old air conditioning installer.
“When I next gassed up I was a lap down on the lead bike but on the last lap I caught Fitzgerald and snatched the lead. I won the race, simple as that.
“I had only used one set of Pirelli tyres for the whole race too ... and they still looked like new at the end.
“Me and Hayden (Fitzgerald) were the only riders to complete 112 laps in the three hours.”
So, even though he was riding solo, Frost lapped down to third place.
“I used the mode sensor on the Suzuki and set it to ‘B’, to limit the power and save on fuel and tyres. It worked a treat,” said Frost.
Source: Suzuki NZ