Rees buries his rivals

SPEED MACHINE: Forty-nine-year-old Tony Rees was unbeaten in three races on the Cemetery Circuit in Whanganui to claim the F1 Suzuki Series and the Robert Holden Memorial.

WHAKATANE RACER Tony Rees made a clean sweep and history when unbeaten in three races on the Cemetery Circuit on his CBR1000 Honda in Whanganui yesterday.

The 49-year-old won both Formula 1 races that counted as the final leg of the Suzuki Series and the prestigious Robert Holden Memorial against all-comers later in the day.
Rees has now won the Robert Holden seven times, but surprisingly had never won a F1 Suzuki Series before, and he was excited to come into the final round so close to the leading pack.

With just eight points separating him in third, Horst Saiger from Liechtenstein (Kawasaki ZXR10) in second and Sloan Frost from Wellington (Suzuki GSXR1000) leading, Rees was within striking distance on a track he enjoys.

Rees started as he meant to carry on, clocking the fastest time for pole position for race one. In both races he gave his rivals no peace, leading from start to finish. In race one he finished 2.85 seconds ahead of Saiger, clocking 116.8km/h around the street circuit.
Daniel Mettam (Suzuki GXR1000) finished third just ahead of Scott Moir (Suzuki GSXR1000) from Taupo in fourth. Frost languished in ninth spot.

A protest by Saiger, accusing both Rees and Frost of jumping the start, was not upheld.

The second race again had Rees in front, but this time beating Moir home by .5sec with Frost in third. Saiger finished in sixth.

The two wins gave Rees the points he needed to win the series and his speed around the circuit again placed him in pole position for the Robert Holden Memorial.
Starters in that race include the fastest 25 riders around the track in F1, F2 and F3.

Rees was again in front from the start, although on the final lap he appeared to relax slightly, nearly allowing Saiger to get underneath him on the final run to the chequered flag.

"I saw him just in time and managed to shut him out, but it was close," Rees said.

"Far out, though, that was cool winning the Suzuki Series. I've never won it before, but in saying that it started in 2006 when I took a break from racing," Rees said.

"Back in the day they used to call it the Battle of the Streets when raced in Whanganui, Taupo, Paeroa and sometimes Wellington. I'd won that a few times.

"I was hopeful coming into this final round today so close on points with the other two guys. I knew if I could win qualifying and win pole it would be a great start to bridging the gap and that's just the way it panned out," Rees said. "I actually set a new track and Robert Holden lap record as well which was cool."

Rees clocked 49.052sec, slightly faster than Andrew Stroud's 49.061sec in F1 and Daniel Stauffer's 49.081sec in the Robert Holden.

Rees is also a nine-time National Championship winner, two of which were F1