Motorsport: Winning streak continues for Whakatāne's Damon Rees

Whakatāne's Damon Rees crafting another unbeaten run, this time at Manfeild. Photo / Andy McGechan, BikesportNZ.com

Bay of Plenty's Damon Rees seems to be unstoppable.

The annual Suzuki Series is seen as an ideal warm-up for the five-round nationals which get under way in Christchurch on January 5-6 and it appears Rees is well and truly warmed up already.

The 22-year-old from Whakatāne was unbeaten at the first round of this season's Suzuki Series at Taupō just over a week ago.

Rees impressed by qualifying fastest at Taupō's Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park and then won both the weekend's two Formula Two (600cc) races, each time finishing ahead of fellow Kiwi international Avalon Biddle, and he set a new lap record in the process.

One week later Rees was at it again.

He qualified fastest in the F2 class at Manfeild Circuit Chris Amon, on the outskirts of Feilding, during the second of the Suzuki Series on Sunday.

Then in the afternoon's two F2 races, he dominated once again, winning them both.

His nearest challenger, Rangiora's Biddle, dropped from the runner-up spot for the series after crashing out of Sunday's second F2 race, which means Rees has now opened up a whopping 24-point advantage over the new Number two rider in the class, Lower Hutt's Rogan Chandler.

Chandler finished third and second in the two F2 races on Sunday which moved him up from fourth to second overall.

With four wins from four starts in the F2 class, it looks highly likely that Rees will go on to wrap up the F2 trophy at the third and final round, the traditional public street race event at Whanganui on Boxing Day, sending riders into battle around the city's world-renowned Cemetery Circuit.

"I crashed in qualifying but, thankfully, I'd already set a good time and so was still able to claim pole position for the race," Rees said.

"Luckily the bike wasn't too badly damaged and I was okay too. Considering how big a high-side crash that it was and how spectacularly that I went flying, it's fortunate that it spat me off the way that it did. But I ended up landing on my bad (left) shoulder. The medics did a great job strapping me up.

"I should take it easy at Whanganui and not take too many risks, but I'm a racer and I always want to win, so maybe not. I love racing at Whanganui but, at the end of the day, I've never actually won there. I'd love to do that but I'll just heal my body up over the next few days and see what happens on Boxing Day."

Rees found racing in the Formula One superbike class tough after his F2 qualifying crash.

"I managed to keep it runner-side-down on the superbike all weekend, but I just didn't have the strength to win. It was hot on the track today and I hurt so bad with my strapped shoulder. My foot's got a big purple lump on it too and was numb after every race as well, so I called it a day in the superbike class and didn't even go out for race two."

Rees will be concentrating solely on the superbike class, however, when the nationals kick off in the New Year.

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