Whakatāne's Damon Rees has competed in the first four rounds of the British Superbike Championships. Photo / Michael Wincott
Whakatāne's Damon Rees has competed in the first four rounds of the British Superbike Championships. Photo / Michael Wincott
With the third and fourth rounds under his belt, Whakatāne's Damon Rees now sits in 21st place in the British Superbike Championship.
The third round of the championship was held at Brands Hatch on July 24-25.
The opening two free practice sessions were on Friday and it was important for Rees to get as much dry track time as possible as rain was forecast for the weekend.
He set a lap time of 1m 30:242s onboard his Ashcourt Racing BMW 1000rr, which was good enough for 28th.
In qualifying, Rees was unable to improve on his lap times from free practice but qualified for the opening race of the weekend in 15th position.
Pole position was taken by Astro JJR BMW's David Allingham.
In the opening 15-lap race Rees got a good start off the line and at the end of the opening lap was in 18th place. By mid-race he had dropped back to 19th, 0.169s behind Lewis Rollo in 18th.
On lap 14, poleman Allingham retired hurt which promoted Rees back to 18th. After a last-lap drama between Tim Neave and current champion Chrissy Rouse, Rees was promoted to 16th after the flag.
Damon Rees in action in the British Superbike Championship. Photo / Michael Wincott
The grid places for the second 14-lap race of the weekend were determined by the riders' fastest lap in the opening race and Rees started 19th.
He got a good start and by the end of the opening lap had moved up to 16th. With two laps remaining Rees passed TT winner Ian Hutchinson and race one pole-sitter David Allingham to move up to 14th place, holding it to the finish and claiming his second lot of points for the season.
Rees sat in 22nd position in the championship on four points.
The fourth round of the championship was held at Thruxton from July 30 to August 1 at the Hampshire circuit.
Rees qualified in 23rd place, just 1.567s from the pole position set by Luke Stapleford.
In race one, he got a good start and ended lap one in 23rd place. By mid-race he had moved up to 21st.
With four laps remaining Rees was involved in a fierce 10-rider battle for 13th place. Halfway around the final lap, he had moved up to 20th position but he got repassed going into the final chicane and finished 21st.
Rees started race two in 18th place but got a poor start and lost a number. By lap four he had set his fastest lap of the weekend and had progressed to 18th, 0.303s behind Richard Kerr in 17th.
With two laps remaining he had moved up to 15th and had caught the battle for 13th which was led by Allingham.
Rees eventually finished the second race of the weekend in 15th just 2.587s behind championship contender Billy McConnell in 12th.
Alex Olsen has taken over the championship lead going into round five with 105 points, and is ahead of McConnell in second with 100 points while Taylor Mackenzie has dropped to third on 86 points.
Rees sits in joint 21st place in the championship on 5 points.
The fifth round of the British Superbike Championship will take place at Donington Park over the weekend of August 13-15.
