17 Nov EPIC DUELS AT KILLARNEY SUPERBIKES
Round 6 of Power Series racing presented by Wingfield Motors and Kfm 94.5 at Killarney on Saturday 14 November delivered some of the closest and most exciting Superbike racing yet seen at this circuit, with winning margins measured in hundredths of a second or less.
A true clash of the titans between international star David ‘McFlash’ McFadden on the StuntSA/RPM Centre R1 and rising hotshot Kewyn Snyman’s Missile Motorcycles ZX-10R saw them swapping places on almost every lap of both RST Suzuki South Superbike races.
Nevertheless, it soon became apparent that Snyman had a small but crucial power advantage, enabling him to keep McFadden (just) behind him when it mattered. McFlash refused to give up however, diving inside Snyman going into the final corner of Race 1 and coming out with a two bike-length advantage, on his way to posting the fastest two-wheeled lap of the day, a blistering 1min11.867 – only for Snyman to slingshot past onto the final straight and take the race win by 0.022sec.
Ronald Slamet put in a strong ride on the JP Markets & True Vine ZX-10R, staying with the leaders for most of the race, but dropped off in the closing stages to come home 3.226sec adrift. Fourth overall and leading the Super600 class was Jared Schultz on the ASAP World R6, well ahead of the highly-anticipated Masters clash between Malcom Rapson (Suzuki GSX-R1000) and Jacques Ackerman, which went Rapson’s way by four seconds after after a race-long battle.
Race 2 saw Snyman and McFadden take up where they had left off in the first race, with McFadden even more determined to make up for his Yamaha’s power deficit. He actually led laps two and sixth as they traded corners on almost every lap but Snyman was able to eke out a tenuous advantage in the closing stage to win by 0.475sec.
Slamet came home a distant third and Schultz again led the 600’s home in fourth overall, while Ackerman took revenge for his earlier Masters defeat by blitzing Rapson on the line to take class honours by a scant 0.015sec.
Mike ‘Giant Killer’ Hunter (LLG Properties ZX-6R) walked away with both RST Trac Mac Clubmans races, leading every lap of Race 1 and finishing almost 10 seconds ahead of veteran Wayne Arendse (JJ Smith Trust ZX-10R), who got the better of an exciting dice for second with Deon Ebel’s Ebelbros Racing CBR1000RR.
Jos Troch (Apex CBR1000) and Paul Rulu (Engine Guru ZX-10R) broke away from the midfield pack and fought it out down to the line, where Rulu narrowly outsprinted Troch to claim fourth by just 0.080sec.
The closest finish of the race, however, was at the top of Class B, where Breakfast Runner Nasief Smart (Quickpos R1), Devon Chatton (Honda CBR600RR), Mitch Robinson (Hillbilly EBR 1190 RX) and Garth Livingstone (Ducati 999) finished in that order, all covered by little more than a second after banging elbows for eight laps.
Ebel got the holeshot in Race 2, while Arendse was unceremoniously bundled out of the way in the first corner and finished lap one in eighth place. Hunter then chased Ebel down, passed him on lap four and began pulling slowly away, while ‘man on a mission’ Arendse sliced his way through the field to third.
Then Stavro Michel (better known as the lead guitarist of biker rock band Tuxedo) and the Hillbilly/Ballistic Uniforms RC51 took a huge tumble in Kfm Corner at the start of lap seven and brought out the red flags. The results were taken as at the end of lap six, giving Hunter the win from Ebel and Arendse.
Class B went to Faizel Mohamed (Quickpos CBR1000), while Robinson passed Chatton on lap six to claim second in class by just 0.024sec.
Late entry Trevor Westman (Roxstar Z650) and rookie Dominic Penny (Suzuki SV650) dominated the first RST Trac Mac Powersport race, with Penny establishing a tenuous lead on lap one and eking it out lap by lap to cone home half a second ahead of Westman. Franco Flach (Kawasaki ER6N) finished a distant third, with Lance Jonas (Samurai SV650S) all over him like a rash after passing Chris Williams (Trac Mac ER650) for fourth two laps earlier in a late charge.
Sixth overall and leading the Powersport 300 class after the dice of the race was Jason Linaker (Samurai Ninja 300) with Slade van Niekerk (Prestige/GT Graphics R3), David Lindemann (GM Contractors/Fueled Racing R3) and Powersport 650 veteran Andrew Thompson (MHM Ninja 650) all within a quarter of a second of Linaker at the line.
Race 2 looked set for another thriller, until early leader Penny ran very wide in Kfm Corner at the start of lap three, letting Jonas and Westman through. A lap later Flach put a pass on the shaken Penny and set off in pursuit of the leaders, but Penny was not about to give up. He recovered to put in the best lap of the race at 1min22.207, one lap from the flag, and close to within 1.398sec of Flach.
Westman passed Jonas for the lead two laps from home, finishing half a second clear with Flach only 0.152 further adrift and Williams fifths, only 2.442sec behind the leader.
The Powersport 300 category finuish was even closer, however, as Van Niekerk, Linaker abnd Lindemann finished in that order, sixth, seventh and eighth overall, all three covered by just 0.451sec after swapping places at least once a lap on every lap of the race. Thanks to Funky Franky Petersen for the pictures.