“ It has been something that I ’ ve wanted to do for a while , to put my name on the Robert Holden trophy . Dad put his on there so many times , so I was stoked to be able to do that . “ The first race today was fairly easy for me , but Scotty ( Moir ) kept me honest in the second race and Mitch ( Rees ) was keeping me on my toes in the last one , so I didn ’ t really have it all my own way .” It was a joyous occasion also for Mitch Rees , finally clinching the series honours at his fourth attempt and after finishing third overall last season . “ I ’ m over the moon to have won the series ,” said Mitch Rees . “ I have been there or thereabouts all the way through , but it ’ s great to finally win it . I had a good tussle going with Damo ( Rees ) in the Robert Holden race , but , to be fair , to make the pass for the win happen , it was going to be pretty risky .
“ I secured the all-time lap record and Robert Holden Memorial lap record , so I ’ m pretty happy with that too . I scored the lap record here last year too , but then Damo took that from me in F1 race one today , until I snatched it back in race three . So the lap record didn ’ t really leave the family at all ,” he laughed . For 36-year-old Moir , he ’ s probably sick and tired of finishing runner-up . He finished second in the premier superbike class in the 2020 New Zealand Superbike Championships , that series wrapped up early due to the COVID-19 pandemic lock-down in March . His solid runner-up finish in the Suzuki International Series means he ’ ll obviously among the favourites to challenge for the main title in the nationals in 2021 .
34 KIWI RIDER