Tony Rees was perhaps lucky just to be able to race on Sunday after he accidentally gulped a mouthful of engine coolant from an unmarked bottle, thinking it was water. After vomiting up the contents of his stomach, the 49-year-old eventually made it out on to the track and gave a typically inspired performance as the team fought back through the pack after Holmes had crashed early in the race. Riders in these three leading teams will clash again as individuals when the popular annual prenationals Suzuki Tri-Series kicks off at Taupo on December 10, and then in the four-round New Zealand Superbike Championship series that follows, beginning at Mike Pero Motorsport Park, in Christchurch, on January 6-7. Round three of the nationals will be held at Hampton Downs in March and so technical adjustments made during racing at the Motul Six-Hour will no doubt form the basis of machine tuning for that event. This year’ s result was doubly significant for Mettam because it meant he became the first rider to win this race a second time – he had teamed with fellow Aucklanders Summers and Connor London to win the inaugural running of the event in 2015.“ I knew we were going quicker than the other
teams today, but I had to try and manage my pace and not push too hard, to go easy on fuel and tyres,” 21-year-old Glen Eden bike mechanic Mettam said afterwards. It was a good test for us with the new bike. We have lots of data now, so we can really move forward with our settings.” Taupo man Moir said he, too,“ went easy at first to conserve tyres, but then I got told to hurry it up”.“ The tyres were deteriorating near the end, but, honestly, I didn’ t feel unsafe on the track,” said the 32-year-old.“ We had to have shorter stints on the bike than some of the other teams because our bikes are quite thirsty for fuel, although it also meant we had plenty of power. Fuel consumption won’ t be an issue with the shorter duration races in the nationals.” Frost was thrilled that the team was able to work so well together.“ I think we showed on the track today that we’ ll be a force to be reckoned with again this season,” said the 36-year-old refrigeration engineer from Wellington.“ This new model bike is great. We have only had it about a month now and so this race was a great way to get some valuable track time on it.”
Scotty Moir heading onto the front straight at Hampton Downs
84KIWI RIDER