Rees delivers career best TT result on Supersport debut. The who’s who ahead of him tells the whole story
Personal bests on both Hondas, eight Supersport places gained on pure pace in the damp, and the Superstock and Senior TTs still to come
By Kent Gray
P13 in his first Supersport TT after qualifying P21. A personal best lap of 123.610mph (198.931kmh) on his baby-blue Honda CBR600RR. Damp patches all over the infamous Mountain Course.
Mitch Rees, humble mechanic from Whakatāne, is knocking on the door of the Isle of Man TT’s modern day elite. Loudly.
Dunlop. Harrison. Hickman. Jordan. Brookes. Herbertson. Coward. Anderson. Hutchinson. Browne. Johnson. Cummins.
And then Mitchell Rees on the Milenco by Padgett’s Honda CBR600RR. Thirteenth out of 42 finishers.
“P13 in my first Supersport race at the Isle of Man TT, after starting P21 in less than ideal conditions,” Rees said afterwards, with the understatement of a man who fixes ATVs and side-by-sides for a living in the Bay of Plenty and races the world’s most dangerous circuit as a hobby. “Massive team effort this gig.”
Massive indeed
From rookie crashes to knocking on the door
This is a rider who finished 19th and 23rd in his two Superstock races in his 2025 rookie year, fell off on lap one of his only Superbike TT start that same year, and came back in 2026 to finish 20th in Monday’s Superbike TT opener.
P13 in the Supersport is not just a personal best race result. It is a statement of intent from a campaign that is building beautifully with the Superstock and Senior TTs — the latter a race stolen from him by dangerous winds last year — still to come. Not to mention another Supersport TT, fingers crossed.
His 198.931 km/h on the 600 boxed very closely to the PB 204.518 km/h average he posted on the CBR1000 in the Superbike TT.
Davey Todd, speaking from the sidelines as he recovers from his Daytona injury, put Rees’ ride into context on the TT Live+ broadcast.
“In those conditions, it’s always impressive to see riders setting personal best lap times. Not ideal conditions…I know there’s a few damp patches out there. Mitch Rees and Pierre Yves Bian setting personal bests out there in those conditions is good to see.”
When one of the fastest road racers on earth singles you out by name, even when he’s a close pal, you’re doing something right.
The conditions Todd referenced were the product of a weather-disrupted race week that has tested everyone’s patience. Tuesday’s Supersport TT was delayed four hours from its original 11am start to allow the roads to dry after Monday’s inclement weather and overnight rain, the race also cut from four laps to three.
Even so, damp patches remained at Glen Helen, Glentramman, Ramsey Hairpin and the Waterworks when the race finally got underway at 3pm local time. Racing in the dry around the Mountain Course is challenging enough. Racing it in mixed conditions, on a bike you’ve barely ridden in the last decade is something special.
Dunlop extraordinary. Again.
At the front of the race, Michael Dunlop was simply extraordinary. Again.
The Scars Racing Ducati Panigale V2 rider overhauled early leader Dean Harrison at the end of the first lap and never looked back, winning by 24.47 seconds with a fastest lap of 127.672mph. It was Dunlop’s 16th Supersport TT win, the last nine of them consecutive, and extended his all-time TT victory tally to 34. It was also a 53rd TT podium, numbers that add to a family legacy unmatched and unlikely to ever be touched.
Harrison (Honda CBR600RR) finished second, Peter Hickman (Swan Triumph by PHR Performance) third. Paul Jordan was fourth on the Ducati Panigale V2, Josh Brookes fifth.
Three of the top six rode Ducati Panigale V2s — Dunlop, Jordan and Dominic Herbertson. Harrison and Jamie Coward in 7th represented the CBR600RR contingent in the upper reaches. The bike matchup matters for understanding what Rees achieved.
Todd, who pioneered the Ducati V2 himself at the 2024 TT, laid out the technical reality with precision.
“… the CBR600 isn’t slow — it is fast top-end speed, it just takes a little bit longer to get there because it’s down on torque from the Ducati V2,” said the Englishman who has 2024 Senior and Superstock and 2025 Superbike TTs to his name.
“The place where it does suffer is from Ramsey up the mountain, especially where you’re driving uphill — that Ducati V2 torque really comes into play there, and you can lose a considerable amount of time up the hill driving without having the torque.”
The flip side, Todd noted, is through the brutal Ginger Hall to Ramsey section, the stretch of road so violent riders stand on the pegs for two minutes because sitting down makes it impossible to see. It’s a sector where the CBR600’s superior chassis can claw some time back.
“The CBR600 chassis is a fantastic chassis. Arguably one of the best chassis in the class, or any class for that matter. Everybody always loves riding a CBR600, handles really well, whereas the Ducati has been known — and when I rode it, it was incredibly nervous around this place, over the bumps it didn’t like so much.”
Rees, on the Honda, a bike with less torque but a chassis to die for. He used it well. His pit stop of 35.670 seconds on lap one was competitive — within four seconds of Dunlop’s 31.346 and Harrison’s 32.719 — meaning the places he gained from 21st to 13th came almost entirely on the road.
That’s eight places on pure pace. In patchy conditions. On a bike that he last raced seriously in 2017.
Now the weather gods get their say
The next challenge is going to be getting back on track at all.
TT organisers confirmed Wednesday morning’s session has been cancelled, with low cloud and showers forecast throughout the day. A further update on Wednesday afternoon and evening racing will be issued no later than midday local time (11pm NZT), but the outlook is not encouraging. Thursday is also forecast for inclement weather.
The Superstock TT Race 1 — in which Rees will line up on his CBR1000RR-R Fireblade — was already postponed on Tuesday after Saturday’s original running was also abandoned. Clerk of the Course Gary Thompson has indicated Sunday is likely to be pressed into service to accommodate the remaining races, including the showcase Senior TT.
For Rees and everyone else, patience is now the discipline. The Padgett’s Hondas are quick. The Kiwi rider is in form. The Mountain Course is giving up its secrets one lap, one race, one personal best at a time — his 127.082mph Superbike best on Monday, his 123.610mph Supersport best today.
The weather gods, for now, get to have their say.
