SUPERBIKES This all changed when the start of the nationals rolled around two weeks later . Whakatane ’ s Damon Rees had crashed out of one of the six F1 / Superbike races in the Suzuki series – and you can ’ t afford to do that in a three-round series – but that mattered not , because it was really little more than a training month for him before he was due to head off-shore for begin another British Superbike Championships ( BSB ) campaign . He was therefore headed to Ruapuna only as a spectator and supporter for his brother , until British PM Boris Johnson announced a new English ( COVID-19 pandemic ) lockdown , placing sporting activities there on ice . For Damon Rees there was only one thing for it ... to borrow his brother ’ s spare
bike and race as many NZSBK races as the British lock-down would allow him . So , although he may have been a lastminute entry in the NZSBK and riding a borrowed ( older-model ) bike , it didn ’ t slow him down at all and he completed the two-round South Island phase of the NZSBK in winning style . The 25-year-old Damon Rees and his elder brother Mitch packed up their equipment at the conclusion of racing at Levels with the two Honda team-mates positioned 1-2 at the top of the Superbike class rankings at what was also the halfway stage of the 2021 championship . The champagne corks had also been popping after the opening round the previous weekend when the 28-year-old Mitch Rees had finished the two days sitting pretty at the top of the
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