RACE REPORT: Short Circuit – 24 JULY 2021

RACE REPORT: Short Circuit – 24 JULY 2021

HOT RACING AT MIDWINTER SHORT-CIRCUIT MEETING

Slade van Niekerk’s dominance of the headline CBR150 one-make series was shaken, if not stirred, at Round 5 of Short Circuit Racing at Killarney on Saturday 24 July.

The defending champion and 2021 series leader won all three races in the combined CBR150 Junior and Senior classes as usual but was made to work very hard for it by former SA Supersport 300 title holder Kewyn Snyman, hot rookie Tristin Pienaar, son of former SA superbike star Clinton Pienaar, and an on-form Connor Hagan.

Pienaar was all over Van Niekerk for the first three laps of Race 1 but was then relegated to third as Snyman went on the charge, posting the fastest lap of the race at 51.501 seconds on lap six and closing to within 2.323 seconds of Van Niekerk at the flag.

HSC rider Nicholas Hutchings ran fourth in the early stages but went out on lap five, opening the door for Hagan to put in a strong run to fourth.

Snyman made his move earlier in Race 2, blitzing both Pienaar and Van Niekerk on lap two to take the lead but Van Niekerk was back in front a lap later as the two delivered the dice of the day. Snyman put in the fastest lap of the race, a 51.118sec flyer on lap nine, to finish just 1.394 seconds adrift after 10 thrilling laps.

Hagan came home third, four seconds behind the leaders, having passed Pienaar on lap seven.

Race 3 delivered an even more dramatic result as early leader Pienaar fell victim to both Van Niekerk and Snyman on lap three, and then went out on lap seven. Hagan, chasing hard to catch the leaders, posted the fastest lap of the day, a blistering 51.107 seconds, on lap seven but got it all wrong on the last lap to come home a distant sixth, promoting Hutchings, 18 seconds behind the leaders, to a surprise third.

David Lindemann was unchallenged in the Super Single races, but this category still delivered more than its fair share of drama. Lindemann romped away to win Race 1 in fine style from Jason Linaker, Billy De Beer and Nicholas Hutchings. Linaker took an early lead in Race 2 but was passed by Lindemann on lap three, then dropped back to finish nine seconds adrift, with Hutchings third and Stavro Michel fourth after De Beer went out on the final lap.

Race three was red-flagged on lap seven when a multiple crash took out both Hutchings – Nicholas and his cousin Braddon – as well as De Beer, all of whom were dicing for third at the time. The restart was a four-lap sprint that saw Lindemann passing Linaker on the final lap to win by little more than a second, with Michel a distant third.

Tristin Pienaar didn’t bring his fast but fragile 80cc two-stroke Junior Motard to the line for the first Supermotard race, but Matthew Vismer and Rohan Swanepoel provided plenty of excitement with a race-long tussle that saw them finish just 0.229sec apart. Nenad Veljanovic was third on the road, only to be penalised three places by the Clerk of the Course for jumping the start, which gave the place to David Vismer.

Starting from stone last, Pienaar sliced through the field in Race 2 to take the lead three laps from the flag and win by 7.624 seconds from Matthew Vismer, with Veljanovic third after Swanepoel went out on lap five.

Once again, however, Pienaar was a non-starter for the final outing, while Swanepoel put in a charge that took him from a distant third to within 0.214sec of Matthew Vismer at the flag, with Veljanovic a distant third.

Ryan Kat took an early lead in the first Formula M race, until his car suffered a terminal mechanical infarction on lap four, gifting the front spot to Eudrich Huysamen, who had just passed Shaakir Holliday for second. Huysamen then walked away to win by 25 seconds from Fuaat Gamiet, who’d passed Holliday for second on lap four.

Race 2 was a lot closer as Holliday, Gamiet and Huysamen frantically swopped the lead for the first four laps, then settled down to finish in that order, covered by 12 seconds across all three.

The final Formula M outing produced the biggest engine blow-up seen on the Short Circuit in many years as Gamiet’s car rattled to a stop on lap five, amid clouds of oil and smoke, instantly bringing out the red flags. It turned out that the car’s drive chain had snapped, causing the broken end to whip round and tear the oil filter off its mounting, spewing high-pressure oil all over the hot engine.

It took some time to clean up the mess on the circuit, so there was no re-start; the result was called as at the end of lap four which, ironically, gave the win to Gamiet, who was leading when the chain let go, by two seconds from Huysamen and Holliday.

Riley Coleman won all three Mini Moto races, hotly pursued by rookie Mogammad Adams and Storm Williams, while fourth overall resulted in a tie between Aaron Lindemann and Christopher Bosson, with another rookie, Mia Pienaar, serving notice that big brother Tristin and dad Clinton are not the only talented riders in the Pienaar family.