RACE REVIEW – POWER SERIES RND 1 12 FEBRUARY 2022 BIKES

RACE REVIEW – POWER SERIES RND 1 12 FEBRUARY 2022 BIKES

SUPERBIKE THRILLERS REV UP POWER SERIES OPENER

Trevor Westman (Project Sixty60 ZX-10R) and Malcolm Rapson (Racebase GSX-R1000) shared a win apiece in the South Motorcycles Superbike series at Round 1 of the 2022 Power Series presented by Wingfield Motors at Killarney on Saturday 12 February, leading the charge in two action-packed races.

New class divisions saw last year’s Clubmans Class A riders promoted to the big leagues, as 17 riders piled into Turn 1 at the start of a brand new season, with Rapson leading from Rob Crag (Mad Macs ZX-10R), David Enticott (Motorwise/Sarum Engineering ZX-10R), Jacques Ackermann (ProjectSixty60/Barker/Stepp/HD ZX-10R) and Westman. By lap four, however, Westman was up to second and giving the defending series champion a hard time.

Westman actually led two laps but Rapson passed him on the final lap and help on to win by just 0.156sec. Enticott was third, 7.5 seconds further adrift, followed by Cragg and Ackermann. Michael du Toit (Danie Maritz Racing R1) was the first Superbike Challenge rider home in eighth overall.

Rapson took the early lead in Race 2 but was unable to maintain his earlier pace, as Westman blitzed him on lap five and pulled away to win by six seconds, with Cragg third again, a scant 0.017sec ahead of a late-charging Enticott.

Du Toit, seventh overall, led home a four-way battle for Challenge honours as he, Lubabalo Ntisana (LB Auto ZX-10R), Wayne Arendse (JJ Smith Trust ZX-10R) and Deon Ebel (Honda CBR1000RR) came home covered by just three seconds.

The Bridgestone STC 650 and SSP 300 races were a Slade van Niekerk benefit as the reigning champion romped away to win both races on the Project Sixty60 ER650. He was followed home in Race 1 by arch-rival Jason Linaker (RST Z650) and David Lindemann (GM Painting Contractors SV650) only 0.066 seconds apart after a superb four-way dice with Tristin Pienaar, out for the first time on a brand-new Kawasaki ER650, and Gerrit ‘Ginger Ninja’ Visser, also Kawasaki mounted.

Nicholas Hutchings (HSC RC390) was the first SSP 300 rider home in eighth overall, with Willie van Niekerk (Midlife Crisis R3), Mitch Robinson (Mag Workshop Ninja 390) and rookie Jarryd Butler 2.5 seconds behind him, crossing the line in that order, all three covered by 0.146 seconds!

Lindemann got the best of another epic four-way dice for second in Race 2, as he, Linaker, Pienaar and Visser finished in that order, covered by less than a second., while Hutchings, Van Niekerk and Adrian Solomon were the first three SSP 300 riders home in eighth, ninth and tenth overall.

The first Strato Technology Clubman, Classic and Breakfast Run Motorcycles race was red-flagged after only a few seconds as pole-sitter Hilton Redelinghuys on the only Classic Superbike in the field, the 888 Motorcycles ZX-7R, crashed out in Turn 2 on the very first lap.

At the re-start Jamie Hall (Master Glass Garden Route R1) grabbed the hole-shot ahead of Donovan Stevens (Suzuki GSX-R1000) and Wayne Gresse (Kawasaki ZX-10R), but by lap three Andre Kruger on the Motorwise ZX-10R had come up from fourth to second, and was looking to mount a challenge for the lead.

Then two riders went down in Interceptor Corner on lap five, bringing out the red flags again – for good this time, with the win awarded to Hall ahead of Kruger and Stevens.

Race 2 was less destructive but just as dramatic, as Kruger and Hall went at it hammer and tongs, leaving the rest of the field to sort themselves out behind the scrap for the lead – which changed at least three times during the race.

However, it was Kruger who was ahead when it mattered with Stevens a distant third ahead of Nick Benn (Suzuki GSX-R1000). Wesley Hendricks (Maxicool ZX-10R) was the first Breakfast Runner home in a well-deserved fifth overall.