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Easter Sunday saw Kawerau\'s Tony Rees, Four times New Zealand Sports Production Champion, takes 2ND in the Bathurst Tourist Trophy.
Rees teamed with Australian Graeme Morris on board a Yamaha R1 1000cc, led the 4 9-lap race on lap one from Yamaha factory rider Australian Kevin Curtin. However by lap two Curtin had caught and passed Rees. The tough Kiwi rider battled on as the Australian Champion broke the lap record as he increased the gap between himself and Rees.
Rees had opted to run with a standard fuel tank, rather than the enlarged version used by Curtin.
\"My plan was to go like mad from the start, as Kevin was running an enlarged pet rol tank, which meant more weight. But right from the flag drop Kevin was on th e pace.\" said Rees.
On lap 18 Rees pitted for fuel and handed over to Morris, who while lapping slow er than Rees, was able to maintain their second position, although a lap down.
On lap 37 the team pitted again for fuel and a tyre. Back on board Rees stormed out in pursuit of Curtin, now slowing due to gearbox problems. Rees took the op portunity to unlap himself and then set about clawing back curtin\'s lead but even after pulling back over a minute, it wasn\'t enough and Rees finished SECOND just 1 minute30 seconds behind Curtin.
During the weekend Rees and Curtin broke the Motorcycle lap record no less than 18 times with Curtin finishing on 2 minutes 15.8 seconds.
Third were fellow Kiwis John hepburn and Brian Bernard on board a Suzuki 1300 Hayabusa.
The weekend also saw two further races in the Formula Xtreme series in which Rees consolidated his second position, with two second places behind Curtin.
This class will be seen in New Zealand at the LK Drivesafe 500 on November 5-8 N ovember at Pukekohe.
