Southland Motorcycle Club vice-president Bill Moffatt praised the 17th Burt Munro Challenge and said Munro himself would have been "pretty pleased that local little Invercargill wins titles and takes out the events" year after year.
The five-day bike racing extravaganza drew fellow riders, adrenaline junkies and thrill-seekers to celebrate the unwavering spirit of motorcycling.
Thousands of bikers and spectators turned up for their biking fix over the five days, and at least 3000 spectators turned up at the rally for the Indian Motorcycle Beach Racing and New Zealand Championships held on Friday, Mr Moffatt said.
Delays due to the wet weather and even a "bike blowing up on the track" during competition on Saturday did not completely deter the racing.
"This year is the first time there has been a round of New Zealand Superbikes and we ended up with young local, [Cormac] Buchanan, who took out the New Zealand title after his last race for the New Zealand Super Sport 600 class at Teretonga Park.
"He was also in the Formula Three class and I think he also beat the lap record for that by about two seconds," he said.
Bike enthusiasts travelled from as far as France and England.
Invercargill man Glenn Coburn, a veteran of the Burt Munro, said he would never miss the challenge and had ridden solo on a five-seater trike he helped fix the day before the event.
"I’ve been coming to the Burt Munro for years.
"I had to bring the trike out for this and the Burt is when I catch up with friends that I haven’t seen in years."
— Nina Tapu
