08 Sep RACE REVIEW – POWER SERIES #7 BIKES 3 SEPTEMBER 2022
POWER SERIES SUPERBIKES RACE FROM RAIN INTO SHINE
Only five of the 13 entries turned out for the first South Superbikes/Superbike Challenge/Masters/600cc race at Round 7 of the Power Series presented by Wingfield Motors at Killarney on Saturday 3 September, after threatening clouds turned to rain just before the start.
Racecraft and smooth riding were key as defending Regional and Masters champion Malcolm Rapson on the Racebase GSX-R1000 led every lap to come home half a minute ahead of the field, while Jamie Hall proved once again that rain levels the playing fields with a clean ride into second on the Master Glass Garden Route R6, the only 600cc machine in the race. Jacques Ackermann on the Project60 SA/Barker/Stepp Durbanville ZX-10R was third, a lap down, followed home by JP Friederich (GR Tax/Johnny Fox/Mcar Centre R1) and Breakfast Run graduate Brad Bodsworth (Pit Please CBR1000RR).
Race 2, run in bright afternoon sunshine, was a different story, as young gun Kewyn Snyman, out for the first time on the Missile Motorcycles S1000RR, took the fight to Rapson, caught him on lap three and held off a series of determined challenges to romp home eight seconds clear. All eyes were on the race-long three-way battle for third, however, as Friederich, Hilton Redelinghuys (888 Motorcycles ZX-10R) and Ackermann fought it out all the way to the line, finishing in that order within less than second.
Michael du Toit (Danie Maritz Racing/Quick Pos R1) led home the second-tier Superbike Challenge in sixth overall, followed by Lubabalo Ntisana (LB Autos |ZX-10R), second in class and seventh overall. Mike Hunter’s LLG Properties/Microil ZX-6R was the first 600 home in 10th overall, with Hall 11 seconds down in 12th overall.
Rookie Breakfast Runner Matthew Deuse (Motorwise/Bulldog Racing ZX-10R), who came out of nowhere at the previous event to win both Strato Technology Clubman Motorcycles, Classic Superbikes and Breakfast Run races in his maiden outing, faced a far stronger challenge this time in Killarney’s most experienced bike racer, Danie Maritz, on the 1986 Go Daddy GSX-R1100.
Deuse didn’t falter under pressure, however. Both he and Maritz missed the wet Race 1, which was won by Wayne Gresse on the Tony’s Motor Spares ZX-10R from Donovan Stevens (Suzuki GSX-R1000) and Nicho Venter (Yamaha R1). Race 2 was a real cracker as Maritz moved up through the field to challenge Deuse, showing him a wheel in almost every corner for the final five laps. But Deuse held the line to take the third win of his first four races by just 0.164sec.
Third was Norman McFadden on an early Yamaha R6, from Shaun Harris (Pit Please VTR1000 SP1) and Wesley Hendricks (Maxicool/Motorwise ZX-10R). Ruan Smit on the Motoflex ZX-10R was the first Breakfast Runner homein 11th overall.
Jason Linaker (RST Ninja 650) was the only top contender with full wets in the first Bridgestone STC 650/SSP 300 race, run on a streaming wet circuit – and it showed, as he ran away to lead by 53 seconds after five laps, while veteran Lance Jonas (Samurai Racing/OneX/Fifty8 Performance SV650), defending champion Slade van Niekerk on the Project60 SA ER650 and Billy de Beer (Red Beard Racing ER650) fought it out for second.
Then Brendan Goldie (Project60 SA ER650) got spat off in a huge highside in Malmesbury Sweep, bringing out the red flags. The field reformed on the grid for a three-lap sprint to the line, in which Linaker was followed home by Van Niekerk, Jonas and De Beer, with cousins Nicholas and Braddon Hutchings the first SSP 300 riders home in fifth and sixth respectively on the HSC RC390’s.
Race 2 in the dry was a whole different story, as Van Niekerk and young gun Tristin Pienaar (Kawasaki ER650, sponsored by Dad) went at it for the lead from lights to flag, never more than a couple of bike lengths apart. The champion led for seven of the nine laps, only for Pienaar to pull off a superb pass with two laps to go and hold on to win by less than half a second.
Linaker was third, 13 seconds off the pace, closely followed by Gerrit ‘Ginger Ninja’ Visser (Kawasaki ER650), Jonas and Andre Calvert (Jetnav/Leslie’s Gifts ER650). Nicholas Hutchings led the 300s in ninth overall, but all eyes were on the battle for second in class, with Raymond Alexander (HSC Ninja 300), Zante Otto (Honda CBR500), Braddon Hutchings and Mitch Robinson (Mag Workshop Ninja 390) swopping places on every lap in the dice of the day, eventually finishing in that order, covered by less than four seconds.