26 Oct RACE REVIEW – POWER SERIES #8 BIKES – 21 OCTOBER 2023
‘ROCKET MAN’ SNYMAN IN COMMAND AT KILLARNEY SUPERBIKES
Gauteng-based international star Allann-Jon Venter, back at Killarney for the first time in six years, rode the True Vine/Vault Markets ZX-10R to two very creditable seconds, albeit nine seconds behind the Rocket Man in their first outing and 11 seconds adrift in Race 2. Master of Masters Malcom Rapson was third in Race 1 on the Racebase ZX-10R but was relegated to fourth in Race 2 by teenage 600cc rider Tristin Pienaar (Stocker Racing R6) who pulled a superb start to slot into third and successfully held off challenges from Rapson, former Regional Champion Rob Cragg (Matrix/Mad Macs) and fellow Brat Packer Slade ‘Wild Child’ van Niekerk (Project 60 SA ZX6) to take the 600cc honours for the day in fine style.
The dice of the day, however, was the battle for fourth in Race1, which saw Cragg, Mark van den Berg (GFP Suzuki GSX-R1000), Van Niekerk and Pienaar finish in that order within less than three-quarters of a second! And right behind them, Brad Bodsworth and Deon Ebel (each on a Honda CBR1000RR) fought it out for Superbike Challenge honours, taking a class win and a second apiece, with less than a second in it each time.
Gerhard Vrey (Somerset Auto Clinic/Mad Macs ZX-10R) won both the South Motorcycles Clubman/Classic Superbikes & Breakfast Run races going away, while Piers Canute (Project 60 SA R6) made Leighton Thomas (Ubuntu Movers ZX10) work very hard for it in Race 1, chasing the bigger machine all the way to the flag. Samkelo Liwani (Yamaha R6) then put in a superb ride in Race 2 to take second away from Thomas and Canute by the narrowest of margins.
Conrad Meyer (Suzuki GSX-R1000) was the top Breakfast Runner – sixth overall in Race 1 and seventh in Race 2 – while Sharief Reynolds and his immaculate Ducati 996 delivered two smooth and polished performances to take Classic Superbike honours, finishing ninth overall in each outing.
Hot rookie Ryan Coetzee on the Project 60 SA ER650 held a tenuous lead throughout the first Bridgestone STC 650/SSP300 race, while rivals Nicholas Hutchings (HSC Racing SV650) and Jamie Hall (MGA Racing ER650) battled it out for second, finishing in that order less than a quarter of a second apart after nine hard-fought laps.
Hutchings raised his game for the second race, however, taking the fight to Coetzee while Hall held a solid third, but despite his best efforts, Coetzee held on to take his second win for the day by just 0.150sec, with Hall six seconds adrift in third.
On paper the SSP300 class looks like it was a walkover for Adrian Solomon and the Pool King/ULAG/Western Cape Pumps Ninja 400 – until you look at the lap charts. These show that Abigail Bosson (Ateka/Project Sixty/Calberg/Sales Hire R3) was chasing Solomon for all she was worth until she crashed out in Castrol Corner on the final lap, handing second in class to Raymond Alexander (Microil Ninja 300), nearly 30 seconds adrift.
The unbreakable Ms Bosson was back for Race 2, and was again running second in class, although no threat to Solomon, when she crashed again in the same corner, gifting second in class to Alexander for the day.
Nevertheless, she was so far ahead of the fourth-placed SSP300 rider in each race (Mitch Robinson on the Mag Workshop Ninja 399) that she was classified third in each race and third overall for the day – without ever taking the chequered flag!
Thanks to new Killarney photographer Kathryn Odendaal for the great photo.