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Kawerau’s Tony Rees had mixed fortunes at round three of the Australian Formula Xtreme series today at Queensland Raceway in Ispwich.
During qualifying yesterday, Rees was only able to get in four good laps before his rebuilt Yamaha R1 began giving trouble.
The Bikebiz team worked all day to overcome the apparent electrical problem and Rees was given a couple of laps to test the repair.
\"Luckily we got 4 good laps in during the first qualifying session as the bike has been playing up ever since. Electrical problems seem to be the problem, hopefully we’ve sorted them out, we won’t know until it gets hot tomorrow,\" said Rees after qualifying fourth.
Race day dawned cloudy but dry and the Kiwi Superbike Champion was ready to do battle with the favorites, Radar Team Yamaha’s Craig Coxhell, Robert Baird and Jamie Stauffer.
Race one saw a massive battle, with the three Radar Team Yamaha riders coming home ahead of Rees, however only 6.2469 seconds divided the top four riders.
As the weather deteriorated, Rees won both race two after Coxhell’s machine developed engine problems and once it began raining race three by a full 6.3997 seconds.
Race four began with Rees, getting his best start of the day, unfortunate although it had stopped raining, the track was still damp and while taking the same line he had when it was raining, Rees came unstuck and finished his day with another mishap.
“I am annoyed with myself for getting off in race four, because I could have won it and been first overall for the day. However Baird also didn’t finish and both Coxhell and Stauffer also had DNFs, so the points are a lot closer,” said Rees after his accident.
POINTS after three rounds:
Jamie Stauffer, Radar Team Yamaha R1, 197 points
Robert Baird, Radar Team Yamaha R1, 194 points
Tony Rees, Bikebiz Yamaha R1, 176 points
Craig Coxhell, Radar Team Yamaha R1, 176 points
