YOUNG
KIWI
CHARGERS
WORDS: Roger Moroney
PHOTO: Nick Edards/halflightphotographic.
com.au
liked the reaction from young Damon
Rees after he celebrated his first F1 win
at Taupo’s Bruce McLaren Motorsport
Park just before Christmas... which I
guess was something of an early Christmas
present.
“Maybe there’s something about the Rees
family and this track, eh?” he concluded
cheerfully.
Indeed.
And it’s more than just ‘maybe’... it’s a
certainty for sure. His elder brother Mitch
also picked up an F1 race and their old man,
Tony won a few races from time to time.
Now, there’s the understatement of the
year, because the remarkable thing about
Tony is that he doesn’t appear to have lost
any edge. He was a comet on wheels last
season and whatever fuel is rushing through
his genes has clearly seeped into the genes
of his lads.
And, hey, there on the rider lists and
winning lists is another familiar surname
imbued with family genes. Jacob and Jesse
Stroud.
Crikey, isn’t it a treat when the sons of
Damon Rees is among a gaggle of
new Kiwi chargers that we hope to
follow on the world stage
a couple of the finest riders from the
generation earlier are now stepping up onto
the rostrum. I wonder though if they sit
around the Christmas table and compare lap
times. That could be entertaining, with the
older chaps pointing out that the evolution
of engines and their ability to create power
had continued, so that today’s race irons
arguably had more horsepower, and
potentially slightly finer handling then theirs.
“Oh just pass the mint sauce thanks dad,”
would be the likely response.
The current grids of riders look good and
sharp, and that’s always a fine portent for
the season ahead. Road racing, and the
off-road varieties of two-wheeled duelling,
appear to be in pretty good shape, and
that’s heartening.
There were tales emerging before the
season got under way that some cuts may
have to be made to field numbers because
there were so many riders signing up. I can
remember a time a couple of decades back
when a couple of classes were, on at least
two occasions, merged together to make up
the numbers on the starting grid.