Rees cracked the “triple” once again this season, winning the premier Formula one/Superbike class overall for the series, then the New Zealand F1 TT title for winning race two at Whanganui, and then also snatching the coveted Robert Holden Memorial feature race trophy on Boxing Day.
He qualified his 1000cc superbike fastest and then won both F1 races at Whanganui before putting underlining that performance by also winning the Robert Holden Memorial (RHM) feature race.
It was Rees’ fifth F1 title win in a row for this series.
Rees previously won the F1 class overall in the Suzuki International Series in 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024 (the series was not run in 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic).
And because Rees then added the RHM feature race victory to the ones he had previously celebrated in 2022, 2023 and 2024, it became four times in a row that he has won this prestigious trophy.
It could have been another Rees family battle at the front this year too, with 58-year-old “elder statesman” Tony Rees chasing hard early on in the 2025 series, until his unfortunate crash at Manfeild two weeks ago sent him to the sidelines and, with a broken ankle, Tony Rees did not race in Whanganui on Friday.
Instead, it was rising star Rhys Lindsay, from Porirua, and Taupiri youngster Jesse Stroud who completed the RHM race podium.
The Robert Holden Memorial trophy probably holds a special place in the Rees family home, with Mitch Rees’ late younger brother Damon Rees having also won it in 2020 and it has also been won by their father, Tony Rees, on seven occasions (between 1990 and 2016).
“My goal this year was to make history, to do something that’s never been done before, and I achieved that,” said Mitch Rees.
“To get my name on the Robert Holden Memorial trophy four years in a row was absolutely mega.
“It has been something of a development year for me as we try out different things with the bike and I’ll be ready to face up to some big-name international riders expected to come over for this series next season.”
Class winners in the 2025 Suzuki International Series, which wrapped up in Whanganui on Boxing Day, are: Whakatane’s Mitch Rees (formula one); Auckland’s Cameron Leslie (formula two/supersport 600); Silverdale’s Tyler King (formula three); Silverdale’s Tyler King (supersport 300); Paraparaumu’s Richard Markham-Barrett (formula sport, senior, over-600cc); Whanganui’s Jeff Croot (formula sport, junior, up to 600cc); Auckland’s Paul Pavletich (Pre 89 post classics, senior, over-600cc); Auckland’s Scott Findlay and Hawera’s Martin Gray (Pre 89, post classics junior, under-600cc) first equal; Upper Hutt’s Keiran Mair (Pre 95, post classics senior, over-600cc); Te Awanga’s Eddie Kattenberg (Pre 95, post classics junior, under-600cc); Tokomaru’s Barry Smith/Whanganui’s Louise Blythe (F1 sidecars); Whanganui’s Tracey Bryan & Jo Franzen (F2 sidecars); Whanganui’s Richie Dibben (supermoto); Masterton’s Jadin Galway (pre 72 classic solos, Cemetery Circuit only); Carterton’s Mark Smith & Graham Wilkinson (pre 82 classic sidecars, Cemetery Circuit only).
Robert Holden Memorial feature race top five: 1. Mitch Rees, 2. Rhys Lindsay, 3. Jesse Stroud, 4. Levin’s Tahana Parker, 5. Upper Hutt’s Sasha Drain.
-Andy McGechan, www.BikesportNZ.com
