03 Feb RACE PREVIEW – POWER SERIES #1 – BIKES – 4 FEBRUARY 2023
NEW SPONSOR FOR PREMIER SUPERBIKE SERIES
The premier league motorcycle races this weekend feature entries from every leading superbike manufacturer except, ironically, new series sponsor Triumph – but hopefully that will change as the season progresses.
In the meantime, 2022 champion Malcom Rapson returns on the Racebase Suzuki GSX-R1000, to face a stern challenge from Missile Motorcycles team principal Kewyn Snyman on a Honda Fireblade, Shaun Harris’ Fine & Country Helderberg BMW S1000RR, Brad Bodsworth on the Black Sheep Racing Ducati 1098 and two Kawasaki ZX-10R’s – the 888 Motorcycles machine of Hilton ‘Wild Man’ Redelinghuys and David Enticott’s Motorwise/Sarum Engineering/Iron Horse Racing.
The same is true of the second-tier Superbike Challenge, where Wayne Arendse (JJ Smith Trust ZX-10R) mixes it with Shaun Mackrill (GFP Lighting S1000RR), Quinten Weening and Matthew van Niekerk on the Bulldog Racing R1’s and Mark van den Berg on the GFP GSX-R1000.
But the real wild cards are the three young hotshots of the Bridgestone STC650 series, as Slade van Niekerk, Jason Linaker and Tristin Pienaar make their Superbike debut on an RST CBR600, the Project Sixty SA ZX-6R and the RS Trailers R6 respectively.
Wesley Hendricks (Maxicool ZX-10R) and Wayne Gresse (Tony’s Motor Spares ZX-10R) must start as favourites in the Clubmans, Classics and Breakfast Run races, but they’ll be under attack from an unexpected source – multiple former champion ‘Danie van Killarney’ Maritz, in a rare outing on his 1986 ‘Go Daddy’ Suzuki GSX-R1100.
Never mind that the Gixer is 37 years old and its rider will be 59 later this year – you can expect to see them dicing for the lead!
Added to the mix are Drag Racing hotshot Sharief Reynolds on his Ducati 998 and rookie Keana Strode on a Kawasaki ZX-6R, while Classic BMW riders William Morries and Mario Ferreira are back, as are Breakfast Runners JP Schemers (Honda CBR1000RR) and Keegan Wasserfall (Honda Fireblade), promising close racing throughout the 20-strong field.