Winning streak continues for Honda hero Damon Rees in F2 of Suzuki Series

Whakatane's Damon Rees (Honda CBR600RR), crafting another unbeaten run, this time at Manfeild. Photo / Andy McGechan

Bay of Plenty man Damon Rees is simply unstoppable.

The annual Suzuki Series is seen as an ideal warm-up for the five-round nationals that are set to kick off in Christchurch on January 5-6 and it's probably fair to say that Rees is well and truly warmed up already.

The 22-year-old from Whakatane was unbeaten at the first round of this season's Suzuki Series at Taupo just over a week ago.

The Team Rees Racing Honda man impressed by taking his Carl Cox Motorsport-backed Honda CBR600RR to qualify fastest at Taupo's Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park and then won both the weekend's two Formula Two (600cc) races, each time finishing ahead of fellow Kiwi international Avalon Biddle, and he set a new lap record in the process.

He qualified fastest in the F2 class at Manfeild Circuit Chris Amon, on the outskirts of Feilding, venue for Sunday's second of three rounds for the Suzuki Series.

Then in the afternoon's two F2 races, he dominated once again, winning them both.

His nearest challenger, Rangiora's Biddle, dropped from the runner-up spot for the series after crashing out of Sunday's second F2 race and this means Rees has now opened up a whopping 24-point advantage over the new No.2 rider in this class, Lower Hutt's Rogan Chandler.

Chandler finished third and second in the two F2 races on Sunday and this moved him up from fourth to second for the series.

With four wins from four starts in the F2 class, it looks highly likely that Rees will go on and wrap up the F2 trophy at the third and final round, the traditional public street race event at Whanganui on Boxing Day, sending riders into battle around the city's world-renowned Cemetery Circuit.

"I crashed in qualifying but, thankfully I'd already set a good time and so was still able to claim pole position for the race," Rees explained.

"Luckily the bike wasn't too badly damaged and I was okay too. Considering how big a high-side crash that it was and how spectacularly that I went flying, it's fortunate that it spat me off the way that it did. But I ended up landing on my bad (left) shoulder. The medics did a great job strapping me up.

"I managed to get the wins and so now I have good-sized buffer heading into Whanganui.

"I should take it easy at Whanganui and not take too many risks, but I'm a racer and I always want to win, so maybe not," he laughed.

"I love racing at Whanganui but, at the end of the day, I've never actually won there. I'd love to do that but I'll just heal my body up over the next few days and see what happens on Boxing Day."

Also racing a Honda CBR1000 in the Formula One superbike class, Rees found that a tough mission after his F2 qualifying crash.

"I managed to keep it runner-side-down on the superbike all weekend, but I just didn't have the strength to win. It was hot on the track today and I hurt so bad with my strapped shoulder. My foot's got a big purple lump on it too and was numb after every race as well, so I called it a day in the superbike class and didn't even go out for race two."

Rees will be concentrating solely on the superbike class, however, when the nationals kick off in the New Year.