Source: Suzuki Racing.

Jaden Hassan has been crowned New Zealand Superbike Champion after another faultless performance at the fourth and final round of the 2015 series near Taupo last weekend.

The 20-year-old Suzuki rider from Westmere became the youngest-ever national champion in this premier category when he stormed to another impressive hat-trick of wins over the two days.

Runner-up to Hassan this season was 2014 champion Dennis Charlett, who finished a distant 42 points behind, with Sloan Frost taking the third step on the series podium and keeping his number ranking from last season.

“I had a crazy weekend at round three at Hampton Downs the week before Taupo, crashing out of one race, but by winning pole position twice in the series at Timaru and Taupo, and then scoring hat-tricks at both tracks, I think I proved I was the consistently fastest rider in the class,” said Hassan.

“I can’t thank my team enough, especially Ian, Keith, Nick and dad, who took all the pressure off me. All I had to do was turn up and concentrate on racing the bike. I was disappointed with my day at Hampton Downs because that’s really my home track, but at least I managed to bring the title home in the end.”

Surprisingly, Hassan said he has no plans to defend his title next season.

“I think I’ll be taking a year off to travel the world a bit,” Hassan said. “I’m young and I want to do that before I’m too much older. I’ve been racing bikes since I was 12 years old and it’s such a dangerous sport.

“Yyou put your life on the line every time you race and I don’t want to get to 30 and have regrets that I haven’t done anything else in my life. I will come back to the sport. I just want to go away and reset myself.”

Meanwhile, Christchurch’s Alastair Hoogenboezem wrapped up the 600cc Supersport title at the weekend in what was really little more than a formality for the 22-year-old.

Hoogenboezem had previously won the national 125GP class title, but his 600cc class win this season is the highlight of his career.

James Hoogenboezem was a little unlucky to see his runner-up position gobbled up by Auckland rider Toby Summers – the big winner in the 600cc class at the weekend with a 2-1-1 scorecard – in what was one of the most fiercely-fought series this year.