Mitch Rees wins F1 at Whanganui’s Cemetery Circuit on Boxing Day

Bay of Plenty’s Mitch Rees (Motul Honda CBR1000RR) dominated the premier Formula One/Superbike class and celebrated his first major wins of the 2023-24 season on Boxing Day. Photo / BikesportNZ.com

Whakatāne’s Mitch Rees can tick off the first three jobs on his to-do list, the national No1 collecting his first major silverware of the 2023-24 motorcycle racing season on Boxing Day.

The two-rider Motul Team Rees Honda outfit — comprising reigning New Zealand superbike champion Rees and his multi-time former national champion father Tony Rees — have been almost unstoppable this season.

The dynamic duo finished the opening round of this year’s combined Suzuki International Series/New Zealand Superbike Championships first and second overall at a rain-affected opening round in Taupō at the start of December, and then backed that up with another solid showing at an equally damp round two in the Manawatū a week later.

All that remained, therefore, was for the two men to maintain that momentum for at least one of them to earn their first major series win of the 2023-24 season when they raced at the third and final round of the Suzuki International Series on Whanganui’s famous Cemetery Circuit on Boxing Day.

And that’s just what happened.

Mitch Rees had started the hectic day at Whanganui second (by just one point) to his experienced father in the series standings, but when he qualified fastest around the tight and twisting concrete curb-lined street circuit on Boxing Day, he quickly signalled that he meant business.

The just-turned-31-year-old then raced away with back-to-back victories in the premier Formula One/Superbike class and that was trophy No1 in the bag, as outright winner of the Suzuki International Series, and also trophy No 2 because this race was also for New Zealand TT title honours.

Of course, he then lined up as favourite to win the “best-of-the-best” all-classes Robert Holden Memorial feature race and wasted no time in stamping his authority there, enjoying a start-to-finish win and crossing the line 1.6 seconds ahead of his 56-year-old dad, Tony.

So that was trophy No 3 for Mitch Rees and a perfect way for him to start his 2023-24 season, and for Motul Honda Team Rees to set themselves up for a glorious new year ahead.

“My brother Damo won the Robert Holden race here in 2020 and I wanted to run with his number (92) on my bike today, instead of my No 1,” he said, referencing his late sibling Damon Rees, struck down in the UK by a medical tragedy unrelated to the sport he loved and from which he drew so much pleasure.

“I wanted Damo to be with me on this ride and I felt emotional about that. I’ve now applied for 92 to be my official number too, in Damo’s memory. The number lives on. That’s actually the year I was born too, so it kind of lines up nicely.

“In the meantime, I want to hang on to the No 1 for as long as I can though,” he said.

The New Zealand Superbike Championships (NZSBK) series was again this season being run in conjunction with the Suzuki International Series, with the first two rounds recognised as rounds one and two of both parallel but separate competitions.

With the Suzuki International Series phase of the 2023-24 season now wrapped up, it’s time for the riders to refocus on the nationals, which will resume in the South Island in 11 days.

The Boxing Day street fight was never part of the NZSBK series and that six-round NZSBK competition resumes in the new year, with rounds three, four and five in the South Island — at Christchurch, Timaru and Invercargill respectively — with the series then travelling north again to wrap up with round six at Hampton Downs near Huntly in March.

Round five, at Invercargill’s Teretonga race circuit, is included in the annual 2024 Burt Munro festival week.

Class winners in the 2023 Suzuki International Series:

Whakatane’s Mitch Rees (F1/Superbike class & Robert Holden Memorial feature race winner & TT title winner); Invercargill’s Cormac Buchanan (F2/Supersport 600 class); Wainuiomata’s Shane Richardson (F2/Supersport 600 class TT title winner); Taupō’s Karl Hooper (F3/Pro Twins); Morrinsville’s Nick Kampenhout (F3/Pro Twins TT title winner); Feilding’s John Oliver (Formula Sport, Senior); Whanganui’s Jeff Croot (Formula Sport, Junior); Hamilton’s Jesse Stroud (Supersport 300); Hamilton’s Joseph Stroud (GIXXER 150); Upper Hutt’s Keiran Mair (Supersport 150); Taupō’s Karl Hooper (Post Classics, Pre-89, Senior); Lower Hutt’s Dean Bentley (Post Classics, Pre-89, Junior); Invercargill’s Jon Rawcliffe (Post Classics, Pre-95, Senior); Christchurch’s Jordan Leslie (Post Classics, Pre-95, Junior); Whanganui’s Richie Dibben (Supermoto & TT title winner); Panmure’s Adam Unsworth and Whanganui’s Bryce Rose (F1 Sidecars); Whanganui’s Peter and Lucy Dowman (F2 Sidecars); Carterton’s Mark Smith and Isaac Taylor (Classic Sidecars, races run at Whanganui only).