Like father, like son … 49-year-old Tony Rees and his 21-year-old son Damon gave Honda a winning double whammy as this season’s pre-nationals Suzuki Series kicked into life at Taupo’s Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park at the weekend.

From relatively humble beginnings back in December 2008, the three-round series has grown in significance to such an extent over the past eight years that it now threatens to rival even the New Zealand Superbike Championships in terms of popularity and so it was a huge reason to celebrate when the two Whakatane men took their distinctive blood-red Honda bikes to the top the podium in both the premier classes at round one on Sunday.

Tony Rees raced his Honda CBR1000RR to 2-1 results in his two outings to top the standings in the Formula One/Superbike class, just edging out Wellington’s defending series champion Sloan Frost (Suzuki GSX-R1000) by a solitary point, while Damon Rees qualified his Honda CBR600RR fastest in the Formula Two/600cc Supersport class and then led both races from start to finish as he dominated the day and finished seven points clear of his nearest rival, Wainuiomata’s Shane Richardson (Kawasaki ZX6R).

Tony Rees had led the first race from the start, but, when his rear tyre “stepped out” and he lost traction just a few corners from the end, Frost was able to pounce and take the win, crossing the line less than a bike-length ahead of a clearly frustrated Rees.

“It was very slippery out there,” Rees explained. “The heat off the track was burning up the rubber and it was a bit dodgy trying to keep 180 horsepower under control. There wasn’t a lot of grip and I was riding on the edge.”

Rees put a fresher tyre on for race two and that made a huge difference, with Rees winning by a comfortable 5.8 seconds from the eventual runner-up rider, Liechtenstein’s Horst Saiger (Kawasaki ZX10R), who had attacked late in the race to overtake Frost and relegate him from second to third.

That one overtaking manoeuvre was sufficient to give Rees the outright win for the day. Frost had qualified fastest and the bonus point from that meant that, if the two riders shared first and second, Frost would win the day by just that one point. However, Saiger’s pass on Frost cost the Suzuki man two points and bumped him back to second overall for the weekend.

Tony Rees was naturally thrilled with the outcome.

“I’m ahead of where I was at the same stage last season, so I’m feeling pretty confident and definitely looking forward to round two next weekend,” said Rees.

For Damon Rees, the day was particularly significant.

Not only did he celebrate the first 600cc class win of his career when he beat Richardson to the flag in race one, but he did it again just a couple of hours later, completely dominating the class.

“I came close to winning a race last season, but never quite managed it. Now I’ve got two wins under my belt and it feels great.

“I guess it’s all about me having one more year of experience, plus the bike is more powerful and handles better than last year’s bike.”

Damon Rees topped the qualification chart with a time of one minute 29.8 seconds, which would have been good enough to see him qualify seventh against the 1000cc superbikes.

The series now takes riders to Manfeild for round two next Sunday, December 11, before its traditional Boxing Day finale on the public streets of Whanganui.

Frost won the Suzuki Series for the first time last year, but Rees won the day on the streets of Whanganui in 2014 and last year too, indicating that he’ll be hard to overcome.

Frost, a 35-year-old father-of-three, will need to make the most of his weekend at Manfeild if he’s to give himself a good chance of retaining the series trophy.

“I got a terrible start in the first race,” said Frost.

“It was so hard to pass other riders because they’re all going so fast and there aren’t many good places to pass here. I really had to throw caution to the wind to get past Toby (Summers, of Manukau) and Scotty (Moir, of Taupo) and get myself into second spot.

“I just had to chuck the bike into the corners and close my eyes. Well, not exactly, but you know what I mean.

“I could then see the rear wheel on Tony’s bike was sliding a lot and, when he went sideways, I took my chance.

“I had the wrong tyres pressure in the rear for race two and that cost me. I simply had no grip.

“I’ll just have to come on strong at Manfeild to make up the lost ground.”

Class leaders after Suzuki Series round one:

F1/Superbikes: 1. Tony Rees (Whakatane, Honda) 47 points; 2. Sloan Frost (Wellington, Suzuki) 46; 3= Horst Saiger (Liechtenstein, Kawasaki) and Scott Moir (Taupo, Suzuki) 38.

F2/600 Supersport: 1. Damon Rees (Whakatane, Honda) 51 points; 2. Shane Richardson (Wainuiomata, Kawasaki) 44; 3. Nathanael Diprose (Auckland, Suzuki) 40.

F3/Sport bikes: 1. Glen Skachill (Pukerua Bay, Honda) 26; 2. Leigh Tidman (Taumarunui, Aprilia) 22; 3. Gavin Veltmeyer (Auckland, Suzuki) 20.

Super Motard: 1. Duncan Hart (Tauranga, Yamaha) 47 points; 2. Ashton Hughes (Bulls, KTM) 38; 3. Ben Dowman (Whanganui, Honda) 36.

Bears (non-Japanese bikes) seniors: 1. Colin MacGregor (Tauranga, BMW) 51 points; 2. Nick Southerwood (Auckland, BMW) 44; 3. David Sharp (Auckland, Aprilia) 36.

Bears (non-Japanese bikes) juniors: 1. Ashton Hughes (Bulls, Triumph) 51 points; 2. Jaden Galway (Masterton, Triumph) 42; 3. Daniel McGovern (Wellington, Triumph) 38.

Post Classic (Pre-89) senior: 1. Glen Skachill (Pukerua Bay, Bimota) 51; 2. Eddie Kattenberg (Napier, Bimota) 42; 3= Peter Smith (Rotorua, Suzuki) and Glen Eggleton (Rotorua, Yamaha) 36.

Post Classic (Pre-89) junior: 1. Scott Findlay (Auckland, Kawasaki) 48 points; 2. Dean Bentley (Lower Hutt, Yamaha) 47; 3. Shayne Lawrey (Hamilton, Bimota) 40.

Sidecars: 1. John Holden (UK) and Robbie Shorter (Tauranga) 51 points; 2. Barry Smith (Te Puke) and Tracey Bryan (Tauranga) 44; 3= Chris Lawrance and Richard Lawrance (Warkworth) and Peter Goodwin and Kendal Dunlop (Albany) 33.

© Words and photos by Andy McGechan, www.BikesportNZ.com

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