{"id":202652,"date":"2025-12-26T11:16:06","date_gmt":"2025-12-26T11:16:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/202652\/"},"modified":"2025-12-26T11:16:06","modified_gmt":"2025-12-26T11:16:06","slug":"cemetery-circuit-boxing-day-motorbike-street-racing-under-cloudy-skies-in-whanganui","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/202652\/","title":{"rendered":"Cemetery Circuit: Boxing Day motorbike street racing under cloudy skies in Whanganui"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cNow the kids are a bit older, we\u2019re finally doing it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Scott McPhee said he and sons Cole and Oscar rode dirt bikes, with Alex as \u201cpit mum\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t been to Whanganui since I was about 12,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the first day of our holiday, and, after this, we\u2019re heading north.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whanganui\u2019s Allan Gibson said he came to the event every year: \u201cIt\u2019s a good time\u201d. <\/p>\n

\" Bikes in the Formula Sport class hit the track at the Cemetery Circuit. Photo \/ Mike Tweed<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a great variety here, from your average track bike right through to Supermoto,\u201d Gibson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNormally, we come and watch, then go for a ride on the dirt bikes afterwards. It makes for a nice day.\u201d<\/p>\n

BNT Whanganui manager Brian Simpson said he was on site at 7am.<\/p>\n

The branch is on the corner of Wilson St and Taup\u014d Quay, next to the track.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to get here early to put the gazebos up, and we\u2019ll be here right to the end,\u201d Simpson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just love bike racing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Simpson said the company gave around $3500 worth of cable ties to the Cemetery Circuit this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut thank God we didn\u2019t have to put them all in. That\u2019s Flea\u2019s (organiser Alan Willacy\u2019s) problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"CemeteryCemetery Circuit fans (from left) Allan Gibson, Meadow McGrail and Baylana Tagoai. Photo \/ Mike Tweed<\/p>\n

The circuit takes riders through Ridgway St, Wilson St, Taup\u014d Quay, Heads Rd and Guyton St and 2025 marked the 74th edition of the event.<\/p>\n

This year, Mitch Rees was aiming for a fifth-straight Suzuki International Series crown.<\/p>\n

Rees also won the Robert Holden Memorial feature race in 2022, 2023 and 2024.<\/p>\n

\" Formula Sport racers on the track at this year’s Cemetery Circuit. Photo \/ Mike Tweed<\/p>\n

Mike Tweed is a multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present, his focus is local government, primarily the Whanganui District Council.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cNow the kids are a bit older, we\u2019re finally doing it,\u201d she said. Scott McPhee said he and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":202653,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[3390,2023,49124,105541,124152,5972,60019,3191,10053,78,12638,28369,111,139,69,8480,16511,3512,124153,9877,213,5424,6860,8238,1883,21083,1339],"class_list":["post-202652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-best","tag-boxing","tag-cemetery","tag-circuit","tag-cloudy","tag-day","tag-famed","tag-heat","tag-house","tag-in","tag-motorbike","tag-motorcycle","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-punters","tag-races","tag-racing","tag-scorching","tag-skies","tag-sports","tag-street","tag-typical","tag-under","tag-whanganui","tag-whanganuis","tag-without"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=202652"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202652\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/202653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=202652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=202652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=202652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}