Motorbike racer Robbie Shorter’s philosophy is simple when it comes to racing – you can have the fastest bike, but team work makes all the difference.

The Tauranga rider is one half of the duo causing a stir in the sidecar division of the New Zealand Superbike Championship.

Tauranga motorbike racer Robbie Shorter.

At the last four events he and his partner, Auckland’s Colin Buckley, have won every
race and set lap records for each event.

While many will put the success down to the new Kawasaki the duo are riding.

The bike used to belong to ex-world champion Tim Reeves. Robbie says it comes down to a whole lot of other factors as well.

“You can have all the gear but you’ve still got to peddle it. So you’ve still got to be able to get that [bike] around. We seemed to be coming to grips with it really good.

“Yeah, the bike’s good, Colin is doing a fantastic job behind the bars and it seems to
be working out. We are starting to get some good results.”

Robbie says he’s only been partnering with Colin about a year but the pair have synced
well together, which is important.

“It’s everything, it shouldn’t be any different for us to jump on anybody else’s bike in the field and go out and still do the results we are doing,” says Robbie.

“Sidecar racing is the only sport I know where the team sport is everything. He’s on the front, I’m on the back. He is relying on me to do my job and I’m relying on him to do his job.

“It’s about two people doing individual jobs in unison to all end up with one common goal.”

The 40-year-old says there is still room for improvement and both men will often sit down after a meet and go over what they can improve on.

“Colin and I are always analysing things. He’ll ask me: ‘Do you think there is anywhere I can go faster or should we try this line through this corner?’ And likewise, I’ll say to him: ‘Is there anything I can do to sit out longer on any corners?’.”

The pair now have a break until March 5-6, when they will race at Hampton Downs, near Huntly.