Rotorua Daily Post
  • Rotorua Daily Post home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Residential property listings
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Rural
  • Sport

Locations

  • Tauranga
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō & Tūrangi

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales

Weather

  • Rotorua
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Rotorua Daily Post

Superbike season in review: Whakatāne's Damon Rees in British Superstock series

By Michael Wincott
Rotorua Daily Post·
29 Nov, 2020 08:27 PM5 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Damon Rees has enjoyed a successful season riding in the British Superstock 1000 Championship. Photo / Michael Wincott

Damon Rees has enjoyed a successful season riding in the British Superstock 1000 Championship. Photo / Michael Wincott

The dust has settled on racing in the Northern Hemisphere, leaving Whakatāne's Damon Rees to reflect on a successful first season riding in the British Superstock 1000 Championship.

Rees, who finished eighth overall in his rookie season, said the championship was highly competitive.

"I learned you cannot give an inch to these guys or you will get pushed around so you have to fight from the start to finish," he said.

"The field is so deep with talent you could be half a second off and be in 15th so it's extremely difficult and you need to always bring your A-game."

After a long delay due to Covid-19, round one of the championship took place at Donington Park.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Rees qualified in fourth position, just 0.3s off pole. He was able to podium in both races and finish round one as joint championship leader on 36 points.

"I guess it was like a feeling of we'd made the right choice," he said.

"The choice was to sacrifice everything we had to travel across the world and race in the hardest domestic championship in the world. But it also lit the fire that I wanted more, I want to win."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Round two of the championship headed to Snetterton, where Rees put in an impressive performance in qualifying to sit ninth on the grid, despite the high winds hampering riders.

Rees finished 10th and after the opening three races of the championship he was holding on to third overall, 19 points behind the more experienced championship leader Tom Neave.

The iconic Silverstone Circuit hosted round three and Rees' qualifying time earned him second spot on the grid.

In race one he got off to a fantastic start, managing to lead into the first corner. This was the first time Rees had led a race in the UK.

Discover more

Maximum entertainment: Suzuki Series looms

10 Nov 08:02 PM

Rees eighth in British Superstock Championship

20 Oct 10:22 PM

Whakatāne's Damon Rees eighth in British Superstock

04 Oct 11:06 PM

Whakatāne to Britain: Rees takes podium spot

11 Aug 06:46 PM

By mid-race he had dropped back to fourth position, eventually missing out on the final step of the podium by one second.

After the race Rees said: "I'm really happy with the race, of course I would have loved to have been on the podium, but P4 finish is great toward overall championship points."

In the second race of round three Rees finished sixth, leaving him in third position overall in the championship, 36 points behind leader Neave.

The fourth round was at the Oulton Park circuit.

"Literally nothing can prepare you for how insane that place really is," Rees said about the course.

He finished race one in 17th to record his first no-score of the season and slip to fifth in the championship.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Race two saw Rees make an explosive start, managing to pass five riders by the end of the opening lap and sitting 12th. By the start of the penultimate lap he had moved up to 11th, which he would hold until the finish.

Rees now found himself dropping to sixth in the championship, 70 points from the new championship leader Chrissy Rouse.

Round five of the championship returned to Donington Park, where Rees had enjoyed success earlier in the year.

Heavy rain and high winds saw the morning qualifying session cancelled and replaced with a 10-minute warm-up, limiting Rees' track time for the weekend.

He began race one from 12th position and made a great start until he made a mistake which dropped him back, eventually finishing the race in 19th.

Race two of the weekend was held on a completely dry track over 24 laps. Rees started from 22nd position but going into the Melbourne Loop for the first time he crashed, landing hard on his right shoulder and ending his race early. After five rounds of the championship Rees was now in eighth position.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

In the week prior to the final round of the championship Rees undertook laser and hyperbaric treatments to speed up the healing process of his broken AC joint.

After discussion with the team, he made the difficult decision to sit out the final round of the championship to focus on recovery and being fit for the 2021 season.

Rouse held on to be British Superstock 1000 champion, finishing the year with 181 points.

Looking back over his rookie season, in which he finished eighth overall, Rees said: "I think it went really well, obviously without the injury on my shoulder at the second-to-last round it could have been better but to leave there with two podiums and finish inside the top eight in the championship - I believe I should be proud of what we achieved this season.

"Round one at Donington was a huge highlight for me. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that I would stand on the podium in my first race at BSB, and then to do it again in race two really cemented to me that I am pursuing the right path."

Rees has now set his focus to be fit and ready to take on the challenge of being a championship contender in 2021.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Sport

Rotorua Daily Post

'It’s a big deal': Young gamers chase international esports glory

30 Jun 06:00 PM
Rotorua Daily Post

'Biggest summer of cricket' shapes up for Bay Oval

25 Jun 07:00 PM
Rotorua Daily Post

Small but mighty: Kyro gets set for Tai Mitchell challenge

24 Jun 09:26 PM

There’s more to Hawai‘i than beaches and buffets – here’s how to see it differently

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Sport

'It’s a big deal': Young gamers chase international esports glory

'It’s a big deal': Young gamers chase international esports glory

30 Jun 06:00 PM

Primary school Rocket League players qualify for major tournament finals in Australia.

'Biggest summer of cricket' shapes up for Bay Oval

'Biggest summer of cricket' shapes up for Bay Oval

25 Jun 07:00 PM
Small but mighty: Kyro gets set for Tai Mitchell challenge

Small but mighty: Kyro gets set for Tai Mitchell challenge

24 Jun 09:26 PM
Three tests, surplus of Twenty20s as Black Caps summer fixtures announced

Three tests, surplus of Twenty20s as Black Caps summer fixtures announced

24 Jun 06:00 PM
From early mornings to easy living
sponsored

From early mornings to easy living

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Rotorua Daily Post e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Rotorua Daily Post
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP