Whakatane's Rees closes in on superbike title

Whakatane's Tony Rees (Honda CBR1000RR), perhaps just one week away from clinching another national title. Photo by Andy McGechan, BikesportNZ.com

Using an analogy from another sport, if superbike racing was a tennis match then Whakatane's Tony Rees is at match point after the penultimate round of the series in Taupo at the weekend.

Starting the day 18 points in front of fellow Honda rider Alastair Hoogenboezem (Christchurch) in the premier superbike class, Rees was in a comfortable position.

But the 49-year-old ended the weekend a massive 42.5 points ahead of the new No 2 rider in the series, defending national champion, Wellington's Sloan Frost.

It takes the pressure off Rees for the fourth and final round at Hampton Downs, near Meremere, next weekend and mid-pack finishes will be enough for him to add to his title haul this season.

He won his class at the pre-national Suzuki Series in December and also won the Battle of the Streets race meeting at Paeroa, and now Rees looks well on target to win the national title next weekend.

A fourth and two firsts he achieved at Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park has propelled him into an almost unbeatable position.

"The track was very slippery because of the heat," said Rees. "My aim was to not push too hard because I knew the tyres wouldn't last."

There was a six-rider freight-train in the third and final superbike race of the weekend - Rees leading Taupo's Scotty Moir, Pakuranga's Daniel Mettam, Manukau's Toby Summers, Hoogenboezem and Frost, who was on his back-up bike after he'd won race one but crashed out of race two.

"I tried to be smooth on the throttle. Then I saw my gap back to the others had increased," said Rees.

"We spent a 15-hour day freshening up the engine before the weekend but still struggled a lot with suspension settings. After Saturday's first race, we made a few changes to the bike's handling with a firmer front end, forks and tyre, because I'd also crashed the bike during practice on Friday, so we knew it wasn't quite right. The change made all the difference for racing on Sunday.

"With the championship points advantage I now have, I just have to ride sensibly at Hampton Downs. The championship hunt is not over yet, but at least it's comfortable for me."

In the 600cc supersport class battles, championship leader Shane Richardson managed to limit the damage as his main title threat, Whakatane's Damon Rees, the youngest son of Tony Rees, came on strong at Taupo.

Damon Rees qualified fastest and then finished 1-1-2 in the races, while Richardson finished 2-2-1 at Taupo, meaning Rees shaved six points off Richardson's lead.

But Richardson still leads by as comfortable 20.5 points and a sensible approach at Hampton Downs should see Richardson win his first national crown.