16 Aug RACE REVIEW – DRAG RACING – 12 AUGUST 2023
MSA DRAG RACING THRILLER AT KILLARNEY

Drag Racing in winter is always unpredictable, but the MSA Drags event at Killarney on Saturday 12 August delivered only pleasant surprises. The first was the weather; what began as a chilly winter morning became a beautiful spring day, while the second nice surprise was the biggest motorcycle entry in many years – 18 of them.
And they provided the day’s top performances as well, with Lee Engel and his Class MA Suzuki GSX-R1000 the only competitor to break into the eights on the day. His 8.88314 second run at 250.87km/h was more than half a second quicker than the best of the four-wheelers, but only 0.149sec ahead of second-placed biker Thaakier Abrahams (BMW S1000RR, 9.00163sec at 239.31km/h) with Achmad Jacobs third, thanks to a best effort of 9.04674 seconds and 247.33km/h.
Class MB went to Josh Maart (Suzuki GSX-R1000, 9.25097 seconds at 241.00km/h), ahead of Ameer Naicker (BMW S1000RR, 9.34119 seconds at 241.84km/h), while Class MD belonged to Uzair Kamies (Kawasaki ZX636, 10.48391 seconds at 216.46km/h) and Kim Carr (the only lady competitor on the day in any class) who laid down a superb 10.78476 second pass at 200.04km/h on her Honda CBR600RR.
The fastest four-wheelers on the day were two street cars, led by Yaseen Ebrahim’s venomous black Nissan GTR R35 with a 9.51244 second run at 242.78km/h, followed by another Class 6S star, Abdul Hadi Ismael in his Audi TTRS at 9.82120 seconds and 230.02km/h.
Grant Steenveld (Volkswagen Golf 7R, 9.90667 seconds at 226.14km/h) took Class 4S ahead of Corbin Rass (Volkswagen Golf 7.5R, 10.08274 seconds at 225.20km/h.
Class OS belonged to Paul Jantjies and his Opel Kadett with a best run of 10.80373 at 213.26km/h, narrowly ahead of Royston Prestage (Volkswagen Golf 1 ABF Turbo) at 10.90405 at 216.55km/h, while Class OA, at 16 strong the biggest class entry of the day, was taken by Saud Bassa’s Nissan-engined Conquest ‘Yster’ (11.19732 seconds at 195.65km/h), just a tenth of a second quicker than Geo Maneveld’s Volkswagen Golf 1 Goku 20-valve (11.29984 seconds at 189.16km/h).