A couple of previews, the link to the FB album and below, a Dropbox link to the proofs from Wingfield Motors Power Series Rnd.1, the Western Province superbike champs and the Breakfast Run Grand Prix.
BIG FIELDS, BIG EXCITEMENT IN ROUND 1 OF POWER SERIES SPONSORED BY WINGFIELD MOTORS AT KILLARNEY INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY – by Dave Abrahams
The RST Suzuki South Superbike races featured a number of new rider/bike combinations and it was one of these, multiple Super600 champion Hayden Jonas, who turned the Superbike series on its ear with two superb wins on his debut aboard the brand-new Samurai R1, resplendent in yellow and black livery that quickly led to his being nicknamed ‘Bumblebee’.
He was chased home in Race 1 by Ronald Slamet, back on a new PM Motorsport M1 after a two-year absence, and almost immediately on the pace. He got a poor start and battled to get by Bernard Haupt’s Fueled Racing R1, but once he’d made a move that stuck he was able to consolidate a solid second, ahead of Haupt, Gerrit Visser (Yamaha R1) and Trevor Westman on the Mad Macs ZX-10R.
Kewyn Snyman (Hillbilly R6) and Jared Schultz (ASAP World R6) but up a superb dice for Super600 line honours until Snyman slid off in G-Energy Corner, while SuperMaster rivals Quintin Ebden (Milu R1) and Rob Cragg (Mad Macs ZX-10R) were even closer, finishing in that order just 0.08sec apart.
Slamet said after Race 1 that if he got a better start he could challenge for the lead – and that’s exactly what he did in the second outing, taking the lead in the first-corner melee and holding it for two laps. There was no holding the Bumblebee, however, as he grabbed the lead on lap three and pulled slowly away to win by a littler more than two seconds from Slamet, Visser, Haupt and Westman.
Frankie Breedt of Race Base worked a minor miracle to put the ASAP World R6 back on the grid for Race 2, but its front suspension was out of alignment and, mindful of the National races just a week hence, Schultz was under orders to bring it back in one piece. He finished well down in 10th overall while Snyman beat all the litre-class SuperMasters to come home sixth overall.
Ebden pulled out after four laps, leaving Cragg and Malcolm Rapson (Kawasaki ZX-10R), both former Regional champions, to debate line honours in the over-35 category. In the event Cragg got the better of a superb dice to win by 0.109sec.
The battle in the RST Trac Mac Clubmans Class races was even more intense; Wayne Arendse, out for the first time on the ex-Leroy Malan Kawasaki ZX-10R, found himself under extreme pressure from former National contender Aran van Niekerk, who’d got tired of waiting for a broken foot to heal and was out on a VanBros Racing R6.
Despite being forced to adopt an awkward cornering style Van Niekerk was quicker around the corners than Arendse – but the big Kawasaki was significantly faster on the straights. The two swopped places at least once on every lap of Race 1, but it was Van Niekerk who was in front by 1.366sec when it mattered, with Dylan Croudace on a Ducati Panigale a distant third.
Arendse tried a different strategy for Race 2; he followed the R6 around for eight laps, planning to blitz the smaller machine out of the final corner and outdrag him to the line – but the Kawasaki missed a shift at the worst possible moment and Arendse crossed the line a bare 0.87sec adrift.
Less than two seconds later Joske Kotze (JB Skips ZX-6R) and Croudace crossed the line just 0.403sec apart after an epic dice for third.
Arendse went on to take his revenge in the RST Trac Mac Powersport race, riding Paul Medell’s Kawasaki ER650 to a convincing win from the similar machine of Willem Louw, who just avoided being beaten for second overall by a flying Jason Linaker (on a Samurai Ninja 300!) – the gap at the line was 0.003sec.
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