17 Aug RACE REPORT: POWER SERIES 6 BIKES – 7 AUGUST 2021
RED FLAGS MAR SUPERB BIKE RACING AT AUGUST POWER SERIES
The first motorcycle race on the revised programme at Round 6 of the Power Series presented by Wingfield Motors and Kfm 94.5 at Killarney on Saturday 7 August more than made up for a long delay caused by mist, as the Powersport riders delivered some of the closest two-wheeled competition in many years.
The Powersport 650 Class action was always expected to be explosive, with established stars battling teenage short-circuit graduates. Kewyn Snyman (Missile Motorcycles ER6), CBR150 champion Slade van Nierkerk (Project 60 ER650) and Trevor Westman (Roxstar Ninja 650) took it all the way to the wire in a race-long battle for the lead, never more than a bike length apart, that saw positions changing on almost every lap. But it was former SA Supersport 300 champion Snyman who was just 0.103sec ahead of Van Niekerk at the line after an epic final lap, as Westman dropped back slightly to finish third.
Fourth was veteran Paul Medell, out of retirement for a rare outing on a Kawasaki ER650, a scant 0.129sec ahead of teenager Jason Linaker after a superb duel, followed by Gerrit ‘Ginger Ninja’ Visser (Kawasaki ER650) in his first appearance this year. The closest finish of the race, however, was the dice for seventh, as Zante Otto on the second Missile Motorcycles ER6 chased short-circuit star David Lindemann all the way to the line, finishing a heart-breaking 0.081sec adrift after an all-out effort in the closing stages.
Such was the pace of the leaders that only one of the Powersport 300 riders was still on the lead lap at the end. Tristin Pienaar (KTM RC390), son of former SA Superbike star Clinton Pienaar finished 10th overall, ahead of Mitch Robinson (Mag Workshop Ninja 400), Billy de Beer (Project 60 Kawasaki 400), Braddon Hutchings (HSC RC390) and Abigail Bosson (in a rare appearance on the Main Circuit aboard a borrowed Yamaha 300), all of whom were a lap down.
The start of the combined Clubmans, Classics and Breakfast Run race was red-flagged after Robby Pedrica (Xstore Consulting R1), who had qualified third and was starting from the front row of the grid, stalled on the line. He immediately raised his hand and most of the grid managed to go around him.
One rider, however, tried to go between Pedrica and the pit wall but collided with the stationary Yamaha, knocking them both down; Pedrica’s R1 then skittled a third rider as it fell over, by which time the red flags were out already.
Veteran Wayne Arendse on the JJ Smith Trust ZX-10R led off the restart, with Zobair Adams (Suzuki GSX-R750), Nasief Smart (Yamaha R1), Reginald Seale (CX International/AllMoto R1) and Classic rider Hilton Redelinghuys on the 1997 888 Motorcycles/HM Shifters ZX-7R in hot pursuit.
Smart came under pressure from Seale, who passed him early in lap two, and Redelinghuys, who made his move going into Interceptor Corner. Unfortunately, the two clashed and both went down very hard, bringing out the red flags a second time, at which point the race was called off entirely.