by Andy McGechan
This was the third and final round of the 2025 Suzuki International Series, a renowned post-Christmas competition that always brings out the best in elite motorcycle racers from all around the world.
A total of 16 overseas riders arrived to race the series this season, mostly from Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States of America, but it was the locals who shone out the most.
This year’s 74th edition of the famous Cemetery Circuit race meeting was, as always, a spectacular affair, particularly when light rain began to fall early in the afternoon, the riders forced to make critical tyre choices, further adding to the gamble of high-speed racing.
The 2025 edition of the Suzuki International Series kicked off at the Taupo International Motorsport Park on the first weekend in December and round two was staged at Manfeild, in Feilding, just a week later.
The grand finale on the fabled Cemetery Circuit on Boxing Day, a massive annual festival of speed that is always a popular last fling before New Year celebrations begin, certainly delighted the large crowd that showed up on Friday.
Whakatane’s Mitch Rees cracked the ‘double’ once again, winning both the premier Formula one/Superbike class overall for the series and also clinching the coveted Robert Holden Memorial feature race trophy as well on Boxing Day.
He qualified his 1000cc superbike fastest and then won both F1 races at Whanganui before putting icing on the cake by also winning the Robert Holden Memorial (RHM) feature race.
It was a record five Suzuki International Series F1 title wins in a row for the just-turned 33-year-old and also the fourth consecutive time he’s won the all-in RHM race.
Rees previously won the formula one class overall in the Suzuki International Series in 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024 (the series was not run in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic).
The prestigious RHM race was previously won by Mitch Rees in 2022, 2023 and 2024, by his late brother Damon Rees in 2020 and by their father Tony Rees on seven occasions (between 1990 and 2016).
It could have been another Rees family battle at the front this year too, with the 58-year-old “elder statesman” Tony Rees chasing hard early on in the 2025 series, until his unfortunate crash at Manfeild two weeks ago sent him to the sidelines and, with a broken ankle, Tony Rees did not race in Whanganui on Friday.
Instead, it was rising star Rhys Lindsay, from Porirua, and Taupiri youngster Jesse Stroud who completed the RHM podium.
It is interesting to note that Stroud’s father, Andrew Stroud, was the original winner of the F1 class at the inaugural Suzuki International Series in 2008 (and the three years that followed) and Andrew Stroud also won the RHM at Whanganui on two memorable occasions (in 2006 and 2009).
A solid performance by Cameron Leslie gave him the Formula Two (600cc) title this year, the Auckland man finishing the series ahead of Bulls rider Ashton Hughes and Waikato’s Jesse Stroud, while Silverdale’s Tyler King was the dominant force in both the Formula Three and Supersport 300 classes.
One of the most talked-about performances this year would possibly be that of Canterbury’s Harriet Grace.
The 24-year-old, a parts and accessories manager at a bike shop in Christchurch, celebrated the first podium visit of her racing career when she finished runner-up in a Supersport 300 class race at Manfeild two weeks ago.
However, Grace magnificently went one better at Whanganui on Boxing Day when she won the day outright for her class, at the same time becoming the first female ever to win a solo bike class overall at Whanganui.
The other bike classes also provided nail-biting excitement, the racing always close around the Cemetery Circuit, with many Whanganui riders to the forefront, particularly in the sidecars classes.
Tokomaru’s Barry Smith, with Whanganui’s Louise Blythe as co-pilot, won the F1 sidecars class, while it was a Whanganui sweep of the podium in the F2 sidecars category with Tracey Bryan and Jo Franzen leading the “Dowman family affair” of sibling team-mates James and Michael Dowman and then father-and-daughter crew of Peter and Lucy Dowman to the top step.
Whanganui’s Richie Dibben qualified his lightly-modified Suzuki RM-Z450 motocross bike fastest in the supermoto class at each of the rounds this year and then set about winning every race at every round, making him a rarity as the only individual unbeaten among the more than 200 competitors this season.
For the record, the all-female Bryan and Franzen team were unbeaten in the F2 sidecars class this year.
Class winners in the 2025 Suzuki International Series, which wrapped up in Whanganui on Boxing Day, are: Whakatane’s Mitch Rees (formula one); Auckland’s Cameron Leslie (formula two/supersport 600); Silverdale’s Tyler King (formula three); Silverdale’s Tyler King (supersport 300); Paraparaumu’s Richard Markham-Barrett (formula sport, senior, over-600cc); Whanganui’s Jeff Croot (formula sport, junior, up to 600cc); Auckland’s Paul Pavletich(Pre 89 post classics, senior, over-600cc); Auckland’s Scott Findlay and Hawera’s Martin Gray (Pre 89, post classics junior, under-600cc) first equal; Upper Hutt’s Keiran Mair (Pre 95, post classics senior, over-600cc); Te Awanga’s Eddie Kattenberg (Pre 95, post classics junior, under-600cc); Tokomaru’s Barry Smith/Whanganui’s Louise Blythe(F1 sidecars); Whanganui’s Tracey Bryan & Jo Franzen (F2 sidecars); Whanganui’s Richie Dibben (supermoto); Masterton’s Jadin Galway (pre 72 classic solos, Cemetery Circuit only); Carterton’s Mark Smith & Graham Wilkinson (pre 82 classic sidecars, Cemetery Circuit only).
Robert Holden Memorial feature race top five: 1. Mitch Rees, 2. Rhys Lindsay, 3. Jesse Stroud, 4. Levin’s Tahana Parker, 5. Upper Hutt’s Sasha Drain.
The Suzuki International Series is supported by Suzuki New Zealand, Mondiale VGL, Auto Super Shoppe Tawa, Givi, I-Tools, Bridgestone tyres, Metzeler tyres, Sharp As Linehaul Ltd Whanganui, TSS Motorcycles, Ipone, Inferno Design & Digital, Kiwibike Motorcycle Insurance Specialists, Shark, Barred Up Scaffolding, The Dentists.
Credit: Words and photo by Andy McGechan, www.BikesportNZ.com