Round three of the Mike Hopkins Regional Motorcycle series at Killarney on Saturday delivered all the drama a soap-opera writer could wish for, punctuated by a long delay caused by a massive oil-spill by a car competitor, two huge crashes and three incredibly close finishes.
Aran van Niekerk (Stunt SA ZX-10R) put down his marker with a 1min12.287 qualifying lap to take pole position, with Ronald Slamet (a late entry because his Mike Hopkins ZX-10R was still in pieces on Thursday!), former champion Malcolm Rapson (Kawasaki ZX-10R) and Gerrit Visser (Competition Bikes CBR1000RR) making up the rest of the front row.
But when the lights went out it was Slamet who grabbed the hole shot and a lead he was to hold until Van Niekerk posted a career best of 1min11.996 on lap three to close the gap and neatly outbraked him into Turn 5 on lap four.
That was a challenge the young Namibian was not about to let go unanswered and for the rest of the race the two swopped the lead at least once a lap, carving each other up on every corner.
FASTEST LAP
Slamet put in his fastest lap of the race, a 1min12.062, on the final tour but it just wasn’t enough as Van Niekerk outdragged him to the line to win by 0.052sec.
Visser, a young man who is rapidly coming into his own in his first season of litre-class racing, came home less than 1.5 seconds later after an early battle with Rapson, who faded a little in the closing stages to come home eight seconds in arrears.
Behind them, Van Niekerk’s younger brother Nicholas van der Walt (DMR CBR600RR) got the best of a superb three-way 600 Challenge shoot-out with Brandon Haupt (MX Clean GSX-R600) and Sharl Wasserfall (Berlux ZX-6R) – who crossed the line 0.046sec apart, three seconds after Van der Walt.
Kashief Mohamed (Auto Dealers CBR1000RR) took the Class B honours in an exciting late charge from Andre Calvert (Kawasaki ZX-10R) and Shaun de Jager (Hondas CBR1000RR), while Elric Everson was the first Class C rider home.
RACE 2
Van Niekerk got a slow start when Race 2 finally got the green light after a long delay caused by an incontinent classic car; Slamet was first into Turn 1 again but Van Niekerk was third behind Visser after lap one. By the end of lap two, however, he was second and pushing hard to close the gap, while Visser and Rapson debated third.
On lap four, however, Van Niekerk’s Kawasaki highsided twice in quick succession coming out of Turn 2 and spat him off hard onto the tar – and a lap later Visser lost the front end in almost the same place, but went down quite gently and was able to pick up the Honda and keep going to come home 17th.
600 CHALLENGE BRAWL
That left Slamet way out in front, with Rapson in a lonely second, and all eyes shifted to the 600 Challenge brawl - which was now also the fight for third overall - as Van der Walt, Chris Williams (KawasakiZX-10R), Haupt and Wasserfall got into it again, with Zane Simon (Kawasaki ZX-10R) and Hilton Redelinghuys (Suzuki GSX-R600) in close attendance.
Van der Walt broke away at the end to cement a solid third overall for the day, but Williams, Haupt, Wasserfall, Redelinghuys and Simon fought it out to the line, finishing in that order in 3.5 seconds.
Mike Wilhelmi (Fasr Fence ZX-10R) just got the best of a five-way tussle at the top of Class B as he, Tyran Simon (Kawasaki ZX-10R), Jacques Brits (BMW S1000 RR), Leroy Malan (Honda CBR1000RR) and Shaun de Jager (Honda CBR1000RR) came home in less than two seconds – and Everson aced Class C again.
CLASSICS/POWERSPORT
Everybody expected that the day would be a showdown between Warren ‘Starfish’ Guantario, riding the Calberg ER-6 in Carl Liebenberg’s enforced absence, and Graeme Green, fresh out of retirement on the Team Lucky Strike SV650, joined on the front row of the grid by Kurt Fortune (Kawasaki ZX-6R) and rookie Alastair Hyatt (Yamaha R6).
Race 1 was a cracker, with Guantario setting the pace and Green all over him like a rash from lights to flag, showing the Calberg rider a wheel at least once a lap and outbraking him several times into Turn 5, but Guantario wrung out every last watt of the Kawasaki’s slight top-end advantage to come home 0.056sec - less than half a length – ahead.
Behind them teenager Hayden Jonas (Suzuki SV650RR) chased Fortune’s much more powerful four-cylinder Kawasaki for all he was worth until a piston let go on lap five, resulting in a clound of blue smoke and a sudden cessation of momentum.
HARD RIDE
Hyatt fluffed his very first race start (who doesn’t?) but made up three places in the first five laps to finish fourth – and, had the race been two laps longer, that would probably have been third.
Alan Kessel (Honda RVF400) put in a hard ride to head the Powersport B ratings, while John Kosterman’s Suzuki GSX-R750 was the first Classic home, well ahead of Tony Jones’ Ducati Paul Smart Replica.
Race 2 was even closer; Green got the advantage off the line and held it for the first two laps, after which he and Gauntario treated the fans to a world-class display of close racing, swopping places at least once on every lap, until Gauntario put in a sizzling 1min19.1283 on lap five, which gave him just enough of an advantage to hold on to the line, albeit by literally half a wheel (0.20sec, to be exact).
Hyatt got a decent start and stalked Fortune for four laps before slipping neatly by to take third overall by just more than a second and win the Clubman’s Class on his racing debut, while Kosterman walked away with the Classic honours.