RACE REVIEW – SHORT CIRCUIT 13 AUGUST 2022

RACE REVIEW – SHORT CIRCUIT 13 AUGUST 2022

DIAMOND-CLASS RACING AT KILLARNEY SHORT CIRCUIT

Some days are diamonds, says the song, and Round 6 of the 2022 Killarney Short Circuit series on the Half Main circuit on Saturday 13 August was one of those. After a week of increasingly dismal weather forecasts, the day was clear and crisp and the racing, well, sparkled.

Defending champion Slade van Niekerk further tightened his grip on the combined CBR150 Juniors and Seniors category, winning all three races in fine style – and had a whole lot of fun doing it. Arch-rival Nicholas Hutchings took the early lead in Race 1 but by lap four Van Nierkerk was managing the race the way he likes it – from the front.

He came home just three seconds ahead of Hutchings, with Main Circuit 600cc contender Brett Roberts a distant and lonely third, while talented rookie Adrian Solomons put in a splendid charge from eighth, to take fourth from Max Munton by just 0.101sec after a superb dice in the closing stages.

Race 2 saw Van Niekerk, Hutchings and Roberts setting the pace again, with Solomons in a safe fourth until he went out on lap 9. That set the stage for a four-way battle over fourth between Munton, Justin Priday, Braddon Hutchings and Donovan Le Cok that went all the way to the wire as they came home in that order, covered by little more than four seconds.

And even then the drama wasn’t over as Munton was penalised for jumping the start, dropping him to the bottom of the battling quartet.

Race 3 was a clean run to the flag for Van Niekerk, but all eyes were focused on the race-long battle for second between Roberts and Nicholas Hutchings, who swopped places a number of times before crossing the line just 0.112sec apart, with Roberts in front when it counted.

Braddon Hutchings was a distant fourth, while Priday and Munton were so close for fifth that the timekeepers couldn’t separate them; in the end the stewards gave the nod to Priday.

Matthew Vismer looked set for a clean sweep of the combined Clubsport/Super Motard races, comfortably taking Race 1 ahead of an almighty dust-up for second between Nicholas Hutchings, Raymond Alexander and Rohan Swanepoel, who eventually finished in that order, covered by less than 2.5 seconds.

Race 2 was a bit more spread out, as Hutchings Alexander and Swanepoel followed Vismer home, but Hutchings pulled off a surprise in Race 3, battling with Vismer all the way and passing him two laps from the end to take the win by just 0.145sec. Swanepoel and Alexander followed at a respectful distance in third and fourth respectively. Max Schwerin won all three MiniMoto races in fine style, chased home by Caleb Boniface and Riley Coleman in the first two races. Coleman however, pulled a strong comeback in Race 3 to snatch second from early leader Boniface.