Nick Cole was unbeatable on the Wanganui circuit in 2013. Photo/Andy McGechan
Nick Cole was unbeatable on the Wanganui circuit in 2013. Photo/Andy McGechan
Kawasaki rider will use NZ races to warm up, writes Andy McGechan
He's been on compassionate leave, but Nick Cole is ready to collect his weapon, head back to the trenches and begin fighting again this weekend.
The 28-year-old Hamilton fitter and turner has been notably absent from superbike racing for nearly a year.
The Kawasaki rider had been on top of the New Zealand scene at the start of 2014, having completed a successful Suzuki Tri-Series campaign, culminating with him scoring a hat-trick of wins at the Cemetery Circuit around Wanganui streets on Boxing Day 2013. His streak of wins that day gave him the main prize for the series, the Formula One crown.
He previously tasted national championship success when he won the 600cc sports production title in 2010 and, since his switch soon afterwards to the bigger 1000cc ZX10-R Kawasaki superbike, he had consistently figured among the top five in this premier class.
Cole had been primed and ready to tackle the 2014 superbike nationals and, as the series progressed through the early months of the year, he proved one of the men to beat, putting himself just a few points behind the series leader and in a good position to win the crown at the fourth and final double-header round at Manfeild in March.
By then Cole was in hospital with a broken jaw. He had been hit across the back of the head with a bar stool in Taupo the preceding weekend. It meant the dream of superbike glory had evaporated.
Understandably, the father-of-three was in no mood to race motorcycles for quite a while.
But the time off has been good for Cole and now he's ready to head back to the racetrack.
While he was consigned to the spectators' ranks, his 2012-model Red Devil Racing Kawasaki ZX10-R was still burning rubber. Austrian visitor Horst Saiger took Cole's bike to win the 2014 Suzuki Tri-Series in emphatic fashion.
Nick Cole was unbeatable on the Wanganui circuit in 2013. Photo/Andy McGechan
"Horst's performance on my bike before Christmas gave me all the inspiration I needed," said Cole.
"My wife Rachel, Kawasaki NZ and all my sponsors have been very supportive and keen to see me come back.
"I've been racing BMX, motocross and then road-racing at national level since I was 6 years old and I think I'd possibly just lost the desire. Having a break from the sport has been good because I feel refreshed."
Although he will join the NZ Superbike Championships halfway through and with no chance of winning a title -- his first race back being the third round of four at Hampton Downs this weekend -- Cole has his focus on an international event next month.
He will use his races at Hampton Downs, and at the final round of the nationals at Taupo a week later, to sharpen himself for the Barry Sheene Festival of Speed meeting at Eastern Creek, near Sydney, in Australia on March 21-22.
"I've been sitting at home watching the nationals on live streaming and that has been hard to do. I want to be a part of it again.
"When I walked away from the sport, it was because my heart wasn't in it any more and you really have to be 100 per cent committed to race a superbike or you're going to get hurt.
"I feel rejuvenated now and I'm ready to go hard again."
