08 Aug RACE REVIEW – POWER SERIES #6 BIKES 30 JULY 2022
BREAKFAST RUNNER SPRINGS A MAJOR SURPRISE AT POWER SERIES 6

Both Strato Technology Clubman Motorcycles, Classic Superbikes and Breakfast Run races at Round 6 of the Power Series presented by Wingfield Motors at Killarney on Saturday 30 July were won by a total rookie – a Breakfast Runner riding in his first ever Main Circuit race.
Matthew Deuse, riding a Kawasaki ZX-10R, pulled off a stunning debut by qualifying second on a damp circuit, just 0.286sec slower than another hot Breakfast Runner, Rey Fiveash (Cape Office Furniture GSX-R750). Deuse then went on to lead all but the first lap of Race 1, passing Fiveash on lap two and romping away to win by more than five seconds from Clubman contender Nicho Venter (Yamaha R1), industry veteran Derek Hendricks (Back on the Bikers Delight R6 after a long layoff), Wayne Gresse on the Tony’s Motor Spares ZX-10R and Fiveash, who was unable to maintain his earlier advantage as the track dried out.
Nevertheless, Hendricks, Gresse and Fiveash delivered a superb dice for third that went all the way to the wire as they finished in that order within less than 1.5 seconds. Mario Ferreira (BMW R1100S) was the first Classic rider home in 11th overall, well ahead of team-mate William Morries.
Deuse had to work much harder for the win in Race 2, as Gresse grabbed the hole shot, with Hendricks, Venter, Breakfast Runner Ruan Smit (Motoflex ZX-10R) and Deuse hot on his tail. Hendricks demoted Gresse to second on lap two but by then Deuse was up to third and pushing hard. He took second on lap three and outpowered Hendricks for the lead a lap later, pulling away at about a second lap to finish 4.895 seconds clear.
It was definitely a race to remember for the amateurs, with Hendricks the only Clubman in the top five!
Ferreira once again led the Classic brigade in ninth overall, three places ahead of Morries.
Defending champion Slade van Niekerk battled with a misfire on the Project Sixty SA ER650 in Qualifying and had to surrender pole position for the first Bridgestone STC 650/SSP 300 race to arch-rival Tristin Pienaar’s KTM Paarl 650. A new spark plug sorted the ER650 out for the race, however, and Van Niekerk chased Pienaar from the start, sizing him up and then sliding down the inside under braking into Fastron Corner at the end of the back straight on lap seven, taking a gap that wasn’t really there to grab a lead he never relinquished, although Pienaar stayed right with him to finish less than a second adrift.
Well down in third was Jason Linaker (RST Ninja 650), with veteran Lance Jonas (Samurai/OneX/Magari Finance Yamaha MT07) a distant fourth, while HST Racing team-mates (and cousins) Nicholas and Braddon Hutchings were the only two SSP 300 riders to finish on the same lap as the 650s.
Heavy rain early in the afternoon prompted the Project Sixty squad to fit wets to Van Niekerk’s Kawasaki but by the start of Race 2 the weather had cleared and the circuit was almost dry. Within a lap the supersoft tyres had overheated and gone off, and Van Niekerk was battling to stay with the leaders. He eventually trailed home fourth behind Pienaar, Linaker and Project Sixty SA team-mate Ryan Coetzee. The HSC riders again dominated the SSP 300 category, finishing seventh and eighth overall respectively, while Abigail Bosson, who finished a strong fifth in class in Race 1, was running third and heading for her first Main Circuit podium finish when her Ateka/Project Sixty SA R3 shed its output sprocket on lap four, depriving her of drive and ending her day prematurely.