RACE REVIEW – POWER SERIES #4 BIKES 4JUNE 2022

RACE REVIEW – POWER SERIES #4 BIKES 4JUNE 2022

LAST-CORNER PASS DECIDES SOUTH SUPERBIKES

Trevor Westman on the Team Wayward/Project Sixty60 ZX-10R very nearly aced both South Superbike races at Round 4 of the Power Series presented by Wingfield Motors at Killarney on Saturday 4 June, only to be outbraked by Malcolm Rapson and the Racebase GSX-R1000 in an epic move on the very last corner of Race 2!

Westman got by far the better start from pole in Race 1 and by the time Rapson cut through the traffic to second, it was all he could do to stay within a couple of seconds of the Project Sixty60 team leader. And when the last lap board came out, he backed off to cruise home five seconds adrift.

JP Friedrich held an early third on the GR Tax/Johnny Fox’s Pub R1, only to bottom out the front suspension under braking for Pertamina Fastron corner on lap three. The resulting off-track excursion dropped him down to 10th and it took him the rest of the race to work his way back up to fourth, behind shoestring racer Jacques Ackermann on the Project60/Barker/Stepp Durbanville ZX-10R, who finished a hard-earned third, 13 seconds behind the leaders.

Michael du Toit (Danie Maritz Racing/Quick Pos R1) led the second-tier Superbike Challenge charge in fifth overall, less than a second ahead of ‘giant killer’ Michael Hunter’s Mike Hunter’s LLG Properties/Microil ZX-6R.

Rapson pulled a clean start in Race 2 and was within a couple of bike lengths of Westman throughout the race – and then went round the outside of Westman in Pertamina Fastron on the last go-round to win by 0.066sec. Friederich made no mistakes, coming home a well-deserved third ahead of Ackermann, Du Toit, Challenge newbie Matthew van Niekerk (Kawasaki ZX-10R) and Hunter.

The Strato Technology Clubmans/Classic & Breakfast Run Motorcycles races belonged to hot rookie Shaun Harris and the Fine and Country Helderberg S1000RR, who romped away to win Race 1 by 20 seconds from Nick Benn (Suzuki GSX-R1000) and Nicho Venter (Yamaha R1). Wesley Hendricks (Maxicool/Motorwise ZX-10R) was the first Breakfast Runner home in sixth overall, while John Kosterman, back on his late-eighties Suzuki GSX-R1100 after a long absence, showed the Classics how it’s done, finishing ninth overall.

Race 2 was another Harris benefit as he increased his winning margin to 26 seconds, followed home at a respectful distance by Benn and Donovan Stevens (Suzuki GSX-R1000), while Hendricks put in an heroic ride to finish fourth overall. Kosterman debated ninth overall all the way with Mario Ferreira on the quickest of the three mustard-coloured BMW, finally taking the Classic Class honours by just 0.947sec in a splendid comeback ride.