Women's Day thriller for Cape Superbikes
Cape Town – Round 6 of the RST/Trac Mac/Suzuki South regional motorcycle series at Killarney on 9 August delivered all the drama fans could have wished for, with ultra-close racing, spectacular tumbles (thankfully without any serious injuries) a red flag and a championship wrapped with two rounds still to go.
And, it being Women’s Day, a special salute to the three ladies who were out there proving that speed is not exclusively a guy thing.
Nevertheless, the two superbike races were dominated by David McFadden and the StuntSA/RPM ZX-10R, although he was made to work very hard for it in Race 1 by the Haupt brothers, Brandon and Bernard, on the Fuelled Racing R1s, Trevor Westman’s Mad Mac’s ZX-10R and Gerrit Visser on the Samurai R1.
McFadden got a bad start, and was fourth behind Brandon Haupt (who was suffering from a bad cold), Westman and Bernard Haupt at the end of lap one. Bernard briefly took the lead on lap three but then ran very, very wide on lap 4 and dropped down to ninth, leaving his brother to hold off Westman, McFadden and Visser.
A lap later, however, McFadden blasted past both Westman and Haupt to go to the front of the four-bike leading train – but there was more drama just behind them.
Hayden Jonas on the Samurai R6 and Jared Schultz (Uncle Andy/ASAP World GSX-R600) and Brandon Staffen (AJH Cooling/RPM ZX-6R) were battling it out for line honours in the Super600 class when Jonas and Schultz collided going into Turn 2. Both went down; Jonas was able to rejoin, stone last, but Schultz’s Suzuki was too damaged to continue.
That left Staffen unchallenged at the top of the class - and fifth overall; ahead of him, McFadden and Brandon Haupt were getting ready for an epic last-lap showdown when Staffen took a monumental tumble going into Turn 3, bringing out the red flags.
The result was called as at the end of the previous lap however, giving McFadden the win by 0.69s from Brandon Haupt, with Westman and Visser less than 1.5s adrift. Staffen was classified fifth overall and first in Super600, way ahead of Gareth Gehlig (Formula Autos ZX-6R) and Jared Schultz’s father Karl (ASAP World ZX-6R), while Malcolm Rapson took SuperMasters honours in sixth overall.
Race 2
Brandon Haupt’s cold finally got the better of him halfway through the second race, leaving David McFadden to romp home unopposed, winning by almost seven seconds from Westman and Bernard Haupt, who finally made a pass on Visser that stuck on the last lap after a race-long dice.
Jonas came home fifth overall, clinching the 600cc title for the fourth consecutive year with four races to go; he’s hoping to move up to the Superbike class for the remainder of this season, in preparation for an attempt on the Regional title in 2019.
Andre Calvert didn’t qualify on the Omega Property 1299S due to a steering damper problem, started from the back of the grid in both races and put in two superb rides to finish eighth in both outings.
Powersports
Chris Williams (Trac Mac ER650), Mike van Rensburg (Simple Maintenance Solutions ER650) and up-and-coming racer Ezio Miglietta (Kawasaki ER650) delivered a master class in one-make racing in the first Powersport outing, although Miglietta dropped back at the end to finish third, while Van Rensburg chased Williams all the way to the line in the closest finish of the day – just 0.053s.
Kewyn Snyman on the Mag Workshop RC390 finished fifth overall and well ahead of Powersport B rivals Connor Hagen (NPH Electrical RC390) and Zante Otto (Otto Racing R3) who put up a race-long dice for second in class.
Sadly, the chain of Snyman’s KTM broke while he was running fifth, on lap five of Race 2 – but almost nobody noticed because ahead of him Williams, Van Rensburg, Joske Kotze (Suzuki SV650) and Miglietta were involved in the dice of the day, a four-way thriller which ended in that order, covered by just 1.635s. Hagen and Otto, meanwhile, settled the junior Powersport class between them.
Zante Otto (Otto Racing R3) finished second for the day in Powersport B. Picture: Dave Abrahams
Clubpersons
Williams also took the honours in both Clubmans races on the Trac Mac Panigale, after two superb duels with Honda SP-2 of Wessell Kruger; top challenger Willem Binedell crashed the Dog Box GSX-R600 out of third in Race 1 and trailed home way down the field in Race 2.
This class was also remarkable for the presence of not one but two ladies - Zandri-Mari Uys on the Art by Zandri/Cane Industries GSX-R600 and rookie Liesl Claassen, riding a Yamaha R6, who finished fourth in Clubmans B and fourth in the Breakfast Run Class respectively.
Zandri-Mari Uys (Art by Zandri/Cane Industries GSX-R600) was fourth in Clubmans B. Picture: Dave Abrahams
Rookie Liesl Claassen brought her Yamaha R6 home fourth in the Breakfast Run Class. Picture: Dave Abrahams