championship table , nine points ahead of Rangiora ’ s Jake Lewis ( Yamaha ) and 10.5 points ahead of third-ranked Damon Rees . But nobody had an answer for Damon Rees at round two at Levels a week later as he qualified fastest on the Saturday and then proceeded to score a hat-trick of race wins over the two days of intense action , lifting himself from third to first in the series standings . It ’ s expected now that Damon Rees will be able to contest all four rounds of the domestic series in New Zealand and that might ring alarm bells for his rivals – he won five of the first six races in the NZSBK last season before heading off-shore to tackle the BSB and that meant he denied himself the chance to add the 2020 Kiwi superbike crown to the 600cc title he won in 2017 . “ The strategy was to just come away with as many points as I could get in the South Island and then go hard in the North Island ( in the second half of the series ). “ It was a perfect weekend for me at Levels – a pole position and three wins – I ’ ve not done that for a while . “ We ’ ll have some new bikes for the North Island races and we ’ ll do a lot of testing before those events . It ’ s just so good to be racing here at home when there ’ s nothing happening on the other side of the world and this is the best preparation for me for when I do head across to do the British championships .” Mitch Rees compiled a 4-2-3 scorecard at Levels , adding to the 2-2-3 tally he achieved at Ruapuna , proving again that consistency counts for so much . “ The bike has been good for me ,” said Mitch Rees . “ I ’ ve just got to stop making mistakes . I ran off at the
38 KIWI RIDER