Thousands of motorcycle riders made their annual pilgrimage to Southland for the 17th annual Burt Munro Challenge festival this year and all were rewarded with special memories to cherish.
Perhaps the most special moments of all, however, belonged to riders of Honda motorcycles, as the distinctive red brand enjoyed a remarkable run of wins in the multitude of motorcycling competitions during the jam-packed week.
It all started with Whakatane’s multi-time national superbike champion Tony Rees taking the top trophy at the Bluff Hill Climb contest on Thursday.
The 56-year-old took his Honda CBR1000RR-R to again win the iconic race, this time heading off Richmond rider Heath Botica in the sprint race to the top of Bluff Hill. Tony Rees had also won this event on his Honda in 2023.
Meanwhile, his 31-year-old son Mitch Rees, the defending national superbike champion, was on a mission at the fifth round of six in the 2023-24 New Zealand Superbike Championships (NZSBK), this separate event being included for the first time within the Burt Munro Challenge programme.
Mitch Rees qualified his Honda CRB1000RR-R fastest in the premier 1000cc superbike class on Friday and then backed that up by finishing 1-2-1 in his three race outings over the damp Saturday and Sunday that followed.
His main rival, Australian former Grand Prix star Ant West, settled for finishing 2-1-2, so the battle for key title honours will no doubt continue for these two men at the sixth and final round of the NZSBK series at Hampton Downs, near Meremere, next month.
Perhaps the most exciting racing of all involved the off-road brigade, with the popular beach race, this year for the first time classified as a national championship, attracting hundreds of riders to a chilly Oreti Beach from all over New Zealand and from overseas too.
Whakatane’s Tony Rees (Honda CBR1000RR-R) heads up Bluff Hill, on his way to winning the Hill Climb event outright. Photo by Andy McGechan, BikesportNZ.com
Invercargill fisherman Conrad White (Honda CRF450, pictured above) had finished runner-up in the event’s feature race, the 50-lap marathon, last year, beaten to the finish by fellow Southlander Johnny Racz (Honda CRF450, from Otautau) and he simply wasn’t going to accept second place this time around.
Racz was a no-show, unavailable this time due to personal commitments elsewhere, but White still had a massive fight on his hands to try to tame outstanding visiting Australian racer Damien Koppe, who had previously won this great race back in 2018.
The 35-year-old from Townsville was quick off the mark and by the halfway stage had built up a commanding 9-second lead over White, with the rest of the large field trailing some distance behind.
But then the timing screens started to show a fight-back, with a determined White chipping away at the Australian’s advantage.
With 27 of the 50 laps completed, White was just 5.8 seconds behind Koppe and the gap was starting to close dramatically.
When there were just 10 laps remaining, White had closed to within 2.6 seconds of Koppe and the gloves were coming off.
Then, suddenly, with just eight laps to go, White had snatched the lead, but the gap back to Koppe was less than half a second. Koppe changed his race lines to match his rival, but it was too late and White eventually took the win by a thrilling 0.4-second margin.
“I had so much motivation to win this year after coming second in the past,” said the 27-year-old White afterwards. “Damien (Koppe) and I each had different lines through the two corners … I took the inside line; he took the outside and it turns out I was catching him.”
With three major event wins ticked off, the Honda brigade certainly has reason to celebrate the Burt Munro Challenge 2024.
© Words and photos by Andy McGechan, www.BikesportNZ.com
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