Although they have signed to race for overseas teams, Yamaha’s Tony Rees of Kawerau and Suzuki’s Shaun Harris of New Plymouth, have still got their sights firmly set on the New Zealand Championship titles, up for grabs at Manfield Autocourse, this Sunday April 1. 

Sunday will see the resumption of the Motorcycle Trader &News Championship after an eight-week break. Between them, Rees and Harris either lead or are second, in four of the seven championship battles to be continued this weekend.

Rees, five times Open Sports Production Champion, will be out to regain the lead in this class, which he relinquished to Christchurch’s Andrew Stroud at the last meeting at Stroud’s home track at Ruapuna. 

Harris, who currently leads the points in the 600 Sports Production class, will be endeavoring to overtake Palmerston North’s Dennis Charlett’s lead of one point, in the Formula Two championship.

But the battle to watch, will be between the pair in the Superbike Class. Harris currently leads Rees by 9 points, 86.5 to 77.5. Neither rider has won a Superbike title and both would like to add an NZ Championship to their resume.