CCMS Season Wrap

Final Points tally

It is quite sobering sitting here in my study writing the wrap up of the 15th season of Cup racing. The years seem to flash by like a Supercharged Ninja 400. My hair was a different colour when I kicked this off and the Ninja of the day was a 250, followed by the 300, the 400 as we race now which has evolved into the Ninja 500! The Cup has been a part of my world for 23% of my life now, so a few summers and weekends spent at the race tracks.

The Cup’s inaugural year was the same time in history that Osama Bin Laden was deleted by US Navy Seals and the 9/11 Memorial was opened in New York. 3 significant events in 2011.

In these 15 seasons there have been challenges, not the least the Covid years. However we have overcome all these challenges and even ran the Cup successfully through those Covid times. The partnership with The Team at the Auckland Motorcycle Club has been a major factor in its success. There have been various committee members in those years and different presidents but all have fully backed what I have wanted to bring to our sport at the grass roots level. We have also survived the demise of the Hyosung brand when we stopped importing the bikes in 2018. The introduction of the fantastic Kawasaki Ninja 400 for the 2019/20 season was to ensure the Cup had a future of reliable, affordable bikes that were readily available. We couldn’t be happier with that choice and the partnership with Kawasaki NZ that came along with that.

Sponsorship is never easy to attract in our sport. Its very hard for business to measure the return from it and as the New Zealand market is so small the importers and distributors of motorcycle products must balance what they can spend on sponsorship with their sales turnover. During our 180 months of Cup Competition we have been extremely fortunate to have some of the great New Zealand Motorcycle related business and brands back us. Some of them for the entire life of the Cup. Their loyalty to the Cup has been humbling and most welcome as it has evolved. The Spirit and essence of the Cup has never changed in all this time. To provide a class of racing that was easy on the pocket, friendly on and off the track, was not age limited, supportive of all who took part, to create a community of racers who looked out for each other and be a platform for those who wanted to compete at a much higher level.

The Cup has been a part of many very successful Kiwi racers over the years, to some extent, more for some but has been for many. Riders like Avalon Lewis (then Biddle), Daniel Mettam, Connor London, Jacob Stroud, Jesse Stroud, Billee Fuller, Zak Fuller, Luca Durning, and more recently Tyler King. I really enjoy seeing how these racers have moved on to such success in other classes and on the International racing scene having been a part of the Cup.

I owe a great deal to our principle naming sponsors of which we have had two. The faith WIL Sport placed in me to get this started and provide some funding for prizemoney was amazing. Phil and Cheryl London were not known to me at the time but through their son Connor heard about what I wanted to do and came forward. The Cup was just one type of sport these very generous people provided altruistic financial support for. We have remained good friends since that first meeting in June 2011. After five years of WIL Sport backing I had a call from the Motorsport Manager for a world famous DJ named Carl Cox. Carl had also heard of the Cup and was avery keen motorsport supporter. Phil and Cheryl were happy to step aside when Carl said he would like to come on board to provide support for the next era of the Cup. Whilst Carl had signs on some very famous riders and Teams in Europe and the IOM TT he wasn’t involved in grass roots racing anywhere and we fitted into that mould well for him. Ten years have passed with Carls brand proudly heading the Cup logo. To have this man behind us is beyond words. His enthusiasm and belief in the Cup is humbling, there is no commercial gain for Carl, he just loves what we do and is so proud to back riders like Billee and Avalon on the world stage because they have come from the Cup.

That very brief history of the Cup leads me to wrap up round 5 of this season at Motomania in Taupo. Again for me quite a strange feeling leaving Auckland with no bikes in the van. We have been racing at the Taupo circuit since 2018 and it’s a circuit that most Cup racers enjoy. Its been the scene of some amazing battles and Cup Championship title deciders and this year was no different. Our grid was quite low on numbers with 24 competitors, as was Motofest and the most common reason seems to be the discretionary spending budget for many has reduced with the costs of living these days. The cost is amplified by the extra travel and accommodation for the 2 day event.

Still the small (for the Cup) grid did not detract form some of the best racing. Starting with the Ninja Cup the 3 way battle for wins between Joe Stroud, Lucas Hyslop and Megan Kemp was epic. Their show was worthy of the Grand Finale Round. With Justin Reid leading the class heading to Taupo he had to finish very close to Lucas to keep that points lead. Joe and Megs battled hard at the front and Lucas rode calculated races behind them. The biggest effect for Justin to retain his lead was coming home P5 behind Benny Cook in Race 2, this tipped the scales and now Justin had to beat Lucas in the final race (or both DNF) to clinch the title of Ninja Cup Champion. The final Ninja race of the season was monumental between Joe and Megs. Wow, such a tight battle with Megs throwing everything at Joe to grab her first win in the Cup and she did so with a beautiful move out of the final corner to take the win by just 0.016 and setting the fastest lap on the way. Just epic! Lucas rode a very smart race and did not want to tangle with Megs and Joe but did enough to bring his AVA Ninja 400 home in P3 just ahead of Justin and in doing so became the youngest ever Cup Champion. In fact Lucas was not born when the first round of Cup racing started!

In other Ninja Cup news Andy Ansell had his best ever finish with a fine P5 overall and some PB’s along the way. Smokin Joe Stroud finishes P4 despite missing the entire round 2. Another talented rider from the Andrew and Karin Stroud gene pool. Newcomer Dani Nottage had a great weekend coming in 8th outright for the round and taking out the most improved rider.

With Scotty Findlay securing the Hyosung Cup title at Motofest the big battle was for P2 between Alyssa Boyd and Troy Fowles. Alyssa rode out of her skin all weekend. She dominated the guys with pole, 3 x P1’s and a fastest lap in race 3. Lachlan Stace did all he could to trim her lead but it wasn’t enough. Never has a women Cup racer dominated a Hyosung Cup round like Alyssa did. She bagged enough points to take P2 in the Championship from Troy by 1 point who had a solid round coming home P4. Nick Trigger had his best ever Cup weekend with 1 x P4 and 2 x P3’s for third overall.

So, we had Cup history made at Taupo with two amazing things happening. Lucas became the youngest ever Cup Champion and we had women win the Ninja (Megan) and Hyosung (Alyssa) Cup races for the last race of the season!

Some fun facts of the season.

Ninja Cup has 5 different race winners
Joe Stroud wins 9 Ninja Cup races from 12 starts
Scotty Findlay wins 13 Hyosung Cup races
No lap records were broken this season
6 women competed for the Women’s Cup
26 Ninjas were registered and 21 Hyosung’s
$11,725 in prizemoney was paid
240 nourishing sausages and 300 containers of refreshments were consumed

Big thanks to Av who helped out at prizegiving , we really value the support from the Cup for her recovery and potential return to the World WCR scene in Europe later this year.

Super special thanks go out to everyone who was a part of the Cup in 2025/26, riders, crews, AMCC Team, flaggy’s, and especially our sponsors.

Carl Cox Motorsport, MTF Finance Wairau Valley, Eurobike – Nolan, Passmasters NZ, Bridgestone Moto NZ, Kawasaki NZ, WIL Sport, Kiwibike Insurance, AMCC, Motul NZ

Please come along to the official Cup prizegiving which we share with the AMCC AGM, this is at the clubrooms on May 9 for a 6pm start. We have 10 trophy’s to present on the night. Attached are the final points standings and some snaps of our Grande Finale!

Finally, as we head into the colder months there is time to reflect on the Cup season we had and look to the future, decide if the Cup is still an important part of the North Island racing scene and gauge interest in running for season 16. I would really value any feed back from all people who receive this message.

Thanks everyone,

Ken