07 Jun RACE REPORT: Power Series 5 June 2021 Bikes
THE WEAKEST LINK: McFLASH SIDELINED BY BROKEN CHAIN
International rider David McFadden looked set to dominate the South Motorcycles Superbike races at Round 4 of Power Series racing presented by Wingfield Motors and Kfm 94.5 at Killarney on Saturday until he was sidelined by that nastiest of gremlins – a broken chain.
But before that ‘McFlash’ romped away on the Stunt SA/RPM Center R1 to win Race 1 by 15 seconds from pre-race Master Class favourites Malcolm Rapson (Racebase GSX-R1000) and Jacques Ackermann (South/Stepp/Barker ZX-10R).
Gareth Gehlig (GG Racing ZX10R) held an early third but dropped back in the second half of the race, as Jean-Baptiste Racoupeau fought back from a poor start to pass him three laps from the flag, finishing fourth overall and second in the Superbike class.
Born-again racer J-P Friederich, out for the first time on the GR Taxi/MI Car Centre R1, came home a creditable sixth overall and fourth in the Superbike Class, with rookie Gavin Louw ninth overall and third in the Masters division.
As the field formed up on the grid for Race 2 however, McFadden was seen wheeling his Yamaha off the line – it had broken its brand-new chain on the warm-up lap!
That threw the race wide open for Rapson and Ackermann to fight it out for line honours – a battle that ended in Rapson’s favour by only 5.513 seconds at the line, with Racoupeau third overall and leading the Superbike class after once again catching and passing the faster-starting Gehlig.
Hilton Redelinghuys caused a stir by putting his 24-year-old classic Kawasaki ZX-7R on pole for the first Clubmans and Breakfast Run race, but was mugged at the start by Chris ‘the Green Goblin’ Williams on the Trac Mac Ducati, who maintained a two-second cushion throughout the race and was never challenged for the lead.
Behind him, however, things were not so clear-cut; a great start by Deon Ebel put him into an early third, but he was soon pushed back as veteran Wayne Arendse on the JJ Smith Trust ZX-10R moved up from fourth to second in just four laps.
Ebel was then treated to the best seat in the house as Arendse and Redelinghuys battled it out for second, swopping places several times until Redelinghuys got ahead on the final lap and held off a slingshot move on the finish line to take second by just 0.004sec!
Rob de Voss (Hillbilly Buell 1125R) was the first Class B Rider home in sixth overall, while Nicho Venter on a Yamaha R1 led home a superb Breakfast Run dice that saw the top four amateurs finish within 3.363 seconds.
Arendse made a characteristically poor start in Race 2, finishing lap one fifth behind Williams, Zobair Adams (EVS Ventilation GSX-R750), Redelinghuys and rookie Reginald Seale on the CX International R1. By lap three, however, he was up to second and chasing Williams for the lead.
On lap five, however, the Ducati shook its electronic control unit loose and, rather than damage it, Williams retired.
That set up an epic four-way dice for the lead that went right down to the line as Arendse, Adams, Seale and Redelinghuys finished in the order, covered by less than two seconds.
Mike Fast (Aprilia Tuono) was the first Breakfast Runner home in eighth overall, just 0.185sec ahead of Class B leader De Vos.