Andy McGechan

It was an almost perfect weekend for Bay of Plenty’s defending champion Mitch Rees as he kicked off his 2024-25 motorcycle road-racing season in style.

Just a week shy of his 32nd birthday, the multi-time championship-winning rider from Whakatāne was in scintillating form at the first round of three in the Suzuki International Series in Taupō at the weekend, riding his brand-new Honda CBR1000RR-R Fireblade to the top of the podium in the premier formula one/superbike class.

And to make his trip into the winners’ circle even more special, he had his 57-year-old father, Tony Rees, there to join him in the celebrations.

Tony Rees, also a multi-time former New Zealand superbike champion, finished third overall for the weekend, just behind visiting international star Davey Todd.

There was little to separate these three world-class riders at the series opener on Saturday and Sunday, but Mitch Rees did seem to have an edge, consistently circulating around the Taupō race track at record-setting pace.

His unbeatable qualifying lap time of one-minute 26.162-seconds set him up perfectly for a glorious weekend on the sun-baked tarmac, and he later went on to set a new race lap superbike record for Taupō of one-minute 26.262s.

With round one now under his wheels, Mitch Rees knows he’s on track to make it four F1/superbike titles in a row in this series. He won the premier class also in 2020, 2022 and 2023 (the series was not run in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic).

“It was a great way to start the series. I’m aiming to make it four titles in a row and that’d be a pretty cool thing to do,” he said.

“I had the pace all weekend. I seem to be going faster and faster each time I ride. I’m certainly pushing to do that. But Davey (Todd) is world class … he’s braking so late and accelerating so hard out of the corners. He’s hard to pass, that’s for sure.

“I’m a bit of a fanboy of his to be honest. Obviously, we’re great mates and I felt at times the only move I could make to pass him would be a desperate one, a late lunge, and that might end up in both of us going down, so it was risky but I’m not taking extra risks.

“Davey is a current champion at the Isle of Man TT races and that’s something that I’d like to do one day too. I just can’t afford a trip like that at the moment.”

His dad, Tony, was also feeling upbeat after his weekend at Taupō.

“The new 2024-model CBR1000RR-R was great, and we didn’t know what to expect when we lined up to race this weekend. Davey has been racing overseas all year and we’ve been doing nothing much at all here at home, so for Mitch and I to gel immediately with the bike was encouraging.

“It’s absolutely stock, straight out of the crate. We just put fuel in it and went racing. Didn’t even change the sparkplugs. It’s a nice bike to ride.”

All the riders now head to the Manawatu for round two of the series at Manfeild, on the outskirts of Feilding, this weekend.

The series will wrap up, as usual, with the world-renowned Cemetery Circuit public street race event in Whanganui on Boxing Day, including the Robert Holden Memorial feature race, a prestigious race that was won by Mitch Rees in 2022 and 2023, by his late brother Damon Rees in 2020 and by their father Tony on seven occasions (between 1990 and 2016).

Meanwhile, other class winners after Taupō at the weekend were Canterbury’s Jake Lewis (formula two/Supersport 600); Taupo’s Karl Hooper (formula three); Waiuku’s Hamish Simpson (Supersport 300); Wellington’s Malcolm Beilski (Formula Sport, Senior); Whanganui’s Jeff Croot (Formula Sport, junior); Glen Eden’s Daniel Mettam (Post Classics, Pre 95, Senior); Tauranga’s Darrick Kattenberg (Post Classics, Pre 95, Junior); Hastings’ Gian Louie (Post Classics, Pre 89, Senior); Auckland’s Scott Findlay (Post Classics, Pre 89, Junior); Panmure’s Adam Unsworth and Whanganui’s Bryce Rose (F1 sidecars); Whanganui’s Tracey Bryan and Kendal Dunlop (F2 sidecars); Whanganui’s Richie Dibben (Supermoto class and Adventure Bikes class).