Andy McGechan

It doesn’t get much more exciting than this for Bay of Plenty father-and-son Honda team-mates and “sometimes rivals” Mitch and Tony Rees.

The dynamic duo from Whakatane are now first and second in the 2024 Suzuki International Series rankings for the premier formula one/superbikes class after the second of three rounds at Manfeild, on the outskirts of Feilding, at the weekend.

Mitch Rees, who turns 32 in two days’ time, is the defending champion in this popular Christmastime competition and it’s a true family affair with his 57-year-old dad, Tony, also a multi-time former New Zealand champion, joining him on the podium.

In fact, it was the “elder statesman” who finished the weekend top step of the podium, ahead of another former national champion in Canterbury’s Alastair Hoogenboezem, with Mitch Rees forced to settle for an unaccustomed third overall after crashing out of the second of three F1 races at Manfeild.

Riding a brand-new Honda CBR1000RR-R Fireblade motorcycle, Mitch Rees qualified fastest on Saturday and then impressively won the first F1 race of the weekend.

But then intense heat made the tarmac slippery and this caused havoc for Mitch Rees in race two when he slewed off the track and into the gravel trap.

He was in good company, however, with 2024 Isle of Man champion Peter Hickman, from Britain, having also slid off a lap earlier in the same corner.

It should have signalled a warning to all the riders, because another Isle of Man hero from the UK, North Yorkshireman Davey Todd, slid off his bike in a different corner in the third and final F1 race of the weekend.

With three of the main protagonists falling victim to the slippery tarmac, it meant a consistent and upright performance from Tony Rees – who registered a 4-2-3 score-card for the weekend – earned him the overall win for this class at Manfeild.

Mitch Rees had qualified fastest on Saturday (worth an extra competition point) and then clocked 1-dnf-1 results for the weekend.

Fortunately for him, this was enough for him to retain his series lead overall, although he is just four points ahead of his dad in the standings as they head now to the final round on the public streets of Whanganui’s famous Cemetery Circuit in just 10 days’ time.

With two of three rounds 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).

“If those other guys all slowed down to my pace, they might have won the day overall instead of me,” Tony Rees laughed.

“I had a good weekend and went faster around here than I have before. But I’m under no illusions that these guys are some of the best riders in the world, the best around, and would be hard to beat.

“I was just doing my own thing and trying to be the ‘best of the rest’. But I did beat them overall because I stayed on the thing.

“I just don’t have the pace to match them these days. I’m old enough to be a dad to all of them.”

Other class leaders after the second round of three in the 2024 Suzuki International Series at Manfeild at the weekend are Cambridge’s Morgan McLaren-Wood (formula two/Supersport 600); Auckland’s Tyler King (in both the formula three and Supersport 300 classes); 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); Lower Hutt’s Dean Bentley (Post Classics, Pre 89, Junior); Panmure’s Adam Unsworth and Whanganui’s Bryce Rose (F1 sidecars); Whanganui’s Tracey Bryan and Auckland’s Kendal Dunlop (F2 sidecars); Whanganui’s Richie Dibben (in both the Supermoto and Adventure Bike classes).

The series will wrap up, as usual, 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).