Weekend sport: Young rugby stars and superbikes

The final round of the NZ Superbike Championship takes place in Taupō this weekend.

The Super Rugby U20 tournament kicks off in Taupō on Saturday.

The contest is an annual fixture in Taupō and sees the best young players in New Zealand compete against each other, providing a development experience for players, team management and referees.

Fiji and Moana Pasifika Under 20 sides will join 162 emerging players from the Blues, Chiefs, Hurricanes, Crusaders, Highlanders and a New Zealand Barbarians U21selection.

The tournament runs from March 15-22 at Owen Delany Park and all matches are live on Sky.

The condensed format of the competition sees the eight teams launch straight into the quarter finals.

On Saturday the Hurricanes play Fiji (11.05am), Chiefs play Barbarians (1.05pm), Crusaders play Moana Pasifika (3.05pm) and the Blues take on the Highlanders (5.05pm).

Semifinals and ranking games are played on Tuesday and the final takes place at 5.05pm on Saturday, March 22.

NZ Superbikes

Mitch Rees is comfortably in front, as the NZ Superbikes Championship heads into the final round at Taupō Motorsport Park this weekend.

Rees is 68 points ahead of Hoogenboezem, with his father Tony Rees, 57, in third one point back. 

Mitch Rees has won eight races from nine starts in the series, finishing runner-up to Christchurch’s Dale Finch in one of three races in Timaru last month. 

Rees, a Whakatane motorcycle dealer, is riding a 2024-specification Honda while his father is on an earlier model.

“The new bike has some slight aero changes and we have made gains in suspension set-up.”

He acknowledges the threat posed by his two Yamaha rivals, Al Hoogenboezem, of Auckland, and Dale Finch, of Christchurch, sitting second and fourth in the points respectively.

Amongst the other national championship class and TT title winners at Hampton Downs last weekend was Taupō’s Karl Hooper in the Superlites class TT title.