New Zealand superbike ace Mitch Rees is in no doubt about the enormity of the challenge that lies ahead for him when he tackles racing at the Isle of Man starting May 26.
The 32-year-old from Whakatane made it official this week the news that many of us had known since the end of the 2025 New Zealand Superbike Championships in Taupo in March, that he was heading overseas to taste perhaps the greatest motorcycle road-racing experience on the planet – racing the Isle of Man street circuit.
He will ride a Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade for the Milenco by Padgetts Honda team in the RST x D3O Superbike TT, Milwaukee Senior TT and RL360/Opul Superstock TT races.
Rees will also contest the North West 200 and opening round of the National Superstock Championship in preparation for his Mountain Course debut.
This is what he exclusively told the BikesportNZ.com web site:
“It’s not something I’ve always wanted to do … not at all. It’s just that I love riding bikes and it’s an opportunity to go and do something different and exciting,” he said.
“It’s not something I’ve dreamt of doing and, when I first started racing, I thought this (racing at the Isle of Man) is nuts. I thought it would be cool to do it, but, getting anywhere from the other side of the world is such a tough ask.
“Australia is the easiest (destination for a Kiwi racer) but even that is still difficult, so achieving anything internationally for a Kiwi is tough to do.
“And racing at the Isle of Man is perhaps the scariest too. It’s very dangerous. I will worry about personal safety, but (British racer and Isle of Man winner) Davey Todd is a really good friend of mine and we’ve talked about it quite a lot, talking about how he approached it and I go there with zero expectations of a great result.
“I’m just going there to ride and learn and I believe, if you enjoy it, then the results might come. But the result is literally irrelevant for me this year.
“The way I look at the Isle of Man TT, it’s a four-to-five-year process before you can be competitive for a podium, so I’m just going there to learn about it. You’ve got two weeks in a 52-week year that you can learn this track on a motorcycle.
“I’ve done a couple of laps around the track last year in a car with Davey (Todd) and did a couple of laps with him on a bus too. He works with the TT crew and he does a bus tour trip and gives voice-over commentary, explaining several sections, so I was in on that too and it was very good.
“And I’ve done a lot of laps around there on a video or Play Station game, so that was good too.
“Peter Hickman and Davey Todd are big noises in the Isle of Man TT community and I was competitive with them here in New Zealand,” he said, in what is actually a massive understatement, considering that Rees convincingly beat them both during the 2025 New Zealand Superbike Championships and around the famous Cemetery Circuit street races on Boxing Day.
“And then you’ve got Dean Harrison and Michael Dunlop,” Rees continued. “They are the others that make up the four guys at the pinnacle of racing at the Isle of Man these days.
“My aim when going up against Hicky and Davey at the pre-Christmas Suzuki International Series in New Zealand was to prove to myself that my riding ability was good enough that I could go to the Isle of Man, ride it at around 80 percent, learn it and be safe.”
Rees certainly ticked all the boxes this season and now we await with nervous tension as he prepares in a short while to head off and race along the sweeping roads and lanes, past stone fences and curbs, off dips and hollows, across rises and bridges, handlebar to handlebar with some of the world’s best bike racers, all of them trying to prove they’re the best and bravest of all.
Go Kiwi!!!
© Words and photo by Andy McGechan, www.BikesportNZ.com
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