ROAD NEWS
ROUGH WEEKEND FOR REES AT DONINGTON PARK
Story : Michael Wincott
W ith the championship reaching its boiling point , Donington Park held the penultimate round of the British Superstock 1000 Championship over the first weekend in October . With torrential rain and high winds forecast for Saturday and Sunday , all riders took advantage of the dry track for Free Practice 1 . Kiwi hopeful Damon Rees completed thirteen laps in total , setting a lap time of 1.33.170 , which was good enough for 12th position . The weather took a turn for the worse for Free Practice 2 which took place in wet conditions Rees completed six laps , ending the session in 26th position . Saturday saw the arrival of storm ‘ Alex ’ bringing heavy rain and high winds . The morning qualifying session was cancelled and replaced with a ten minute warm up session . With weather conditions continuing to get worse throughout the morning , the organisers decided to postpone Race 1 until Sunday . The starting grid for Race 1 was determined by Free Practice 1 and Free Practice 2 combined times , meaning Rees would start from 12th position on the grid .
RACE ONE The opening race of the weekend for the British Superstock 1000 class got underway on a drying track , Danny Kent grabbed the advantage as the pack stormed into Redgate off the start , Rees held on to his starting position of twelfth before making a mistake on lap one , dropping him to twenty-seventh position . Approaching mid race distance , with track conditions improving , Rees started making progress , moving up to twentyfourth . With track conditions continuing to improve , Rees was able to lap faster than the riders in front of him , moving up to twentieth . Going into the final lap Rees had moved up one more position to nineteenth which he would hold till the finish . Billy McConnell was the race winner after making a last lap pass to beat long-time race leader Lewis Rollo .
RACE TWO The second race of the weekend was held later in the afternoon on a dry track . Rees would be starting the race from twenty-second position on the grid . Race one winner Billy McConnell made the best start as he led Rouse off the line , Rees held onto his starting position as all the riders jostled for position going into Redgate . As the riders approached the end of the opening lap Rees was looking comfortable pushing hard to make up positions , but going into the Melbourne Loop for the first time he would crash , ending his race early . After five rounds of the championship , Rees is in 8th position on 71pts , 11pts behind 7th placed Fraser Rogers .
86 KIWI RIDER