The 112th day of the year arrived cold and wet and as the 53rd Earth Day the environment was possibly shedding a few tears. Celebrating the birthday of Guglielmo Marconi, the 1909 Physics Nobel prize winner, actually celebrates the arrival of radio communication, but with 253 days remaining it was time for racing (or should that be sailing). Races shortened to compensate for the anticipated slower laptimes.
Formula Libre 2×8 Laps
They have the choice of wet or dry tyres, but as the first race of the day arrived the weather was still contemplating what it wanted to do and given the fact that most of the field ran semi-slick tyres they risked calling it dry.
Well, Storm Lanfear, may have the appropriate name but his EMD Engineering VW Reynard FVW simply skated straight off the road at Fastron corner and after a very poor rally car imitation headed for the safety of the pits.
Normally capable of 1min10 laps conditions were not ideal early Saturday morning and the green and cold surface of the circuit restricted pole to 1min21.865 for Dee-Jay Booysen with Storm Lanfear alongside on 1min22.460.
Dee-Jay Booysen had his work cut out to simply stay on the black stuff in a shortened, wet, race with a best lap of 1min40.192 indicative of track conditions. Darren Liebenberg blotted his good record by spinning his 26C Kawasaki 635cc powered Formula M into the scenery on lap one whilst Ryno Pentz did not even get of the startline. Liebenberg triggering the first red flag of the day to clear his car from the circuit.
Saving his regular VW Reynard for the fast approaching Simola Hillclimb Byron Mitchell finished second in the 21V Dolphin Engineering Forza with Richard Carr third in his 49V Rhema. Heat two saw conditions looking dry at the start and Dee-Jay Booysen opted to go onto wets for the race.
Jip, it stayed cold but dry and a fast recovering Storm Lanfear closed in rapidly from the back of the grid to finish on the tail of Booysen.
Spitfire Furniture Sports & GT Cars H1 10 Laps
The return of Dawie Joubert and Gary Kieswetter a much needed boost for this series with Dawie posting 1min16.563 for pole and Steve Humble slotting in next to him on the front row of what was relatively dry conditions.
Dawie Joubert simply cruised to victory in the 18A Rembrandt Racing / Wild Rose Gin Porsche 991 Cup racer with Gary Kieswetter claiming second place from the back of the grid (Having not qualified) in his 43A Advanced Packaging Technology Porsche GT3 Cup. Steve Humble found the lighter 11A Harp Motorsport Mallock Opel MkI4B difficult to handle on the slippery surface and settled for a tight third.
Race two and the Joubert, Kieswetter show continued whilst
Kaltron Supercars 2×6 Laps
Michael Nel turned his qualifying pole into race victory with Glen Phillips slithering his way into second with Andrew Moffitt third. A best time of 1min40.550 certainly indicating a tricky surface and most had a number of moments in cars that do not have wipers and with the one piece tops seriously misting windscreens.
Having qualified with four new tyres Michael Nel found himself at the back of the grid for heat two as rules limit the change of tyres.
Bejo Trustees Fine Cars 2×6 Laps
Jaco Oosthuizen surprised with a great drive in his 127 Ravenol Toyota Conquest RSi 1600 to head Robert Toscano home in the Mazda Miata MX5 and Natasha Tischendorf in her VW Jetta CLi MkII.
Bridgestone STC650 / SSP300 Motorcycles 2×7 Laps
Ryan Coetzee nabbed pole on 1min24.033 aboard his 32 Project Sixty SA Kawasaki ER650 with Nicholas Hutchings a close second aboard his 72 HSC Racing Suzuki SV650. Serving notice of her intent Zante Otto claimed third spot on her 73 Missile Motorcycles Suzuki SV650.
In the SSP300 category Adrian Solomon claimed pole on his 4 Pool King Kawasaki Ninja 400 with Abigail Bosson second fastest on her 73 Atcka Yamaha YZF3, despite having dropped her machine into Fastron corner. Wouter Smit third fastest on his Livingstone Baths Kawasaki Ninja 400.
South Motorcycles Clubmans / Classic SBK / Breakfast Run H1 6 Laps
Veteran, Norman McFadden, claimed pole on his Classic SBK 369 Yamaha R6 with Samkelo Liwani second fastest on his Clubmans 49 Yamaha YZF R6 and Paul Rulu third on his Clubmans 15 Engine Guru Kawasaki ZX10R. Michael Reifarth fastest Breakfast Run rider on his 75 Team Bulldog Yamaha R1.
Triumph Motorcycles Superbikes / SBK Challenge / Masters / 600cc. 2×7 Laps
The youngster showed little respect to the senior competitors and used the nimble handling of their 600cc mounts to great effect. That is, everyone except Tristin Pienaar, who unfortunately came off his 50 RS Trailers Yamaha R6 heading into Turn 1 on the very first lap.
Malcolm Rapson had the legs on the 600 machines in the straight lines but with the surface remaining slippery the nimble machines could simply outbrake the 1000cc machine into corners. In fact no less than six riders opted not to start the race at all as they considered the risk too high.
Hats off to Jason Linaker who pipped Malcolm Rapson by a mere 0.019sec after seven every entertaining laps. The red 93 RST Honda CBR600 heading the 1 Racebase Suzuki GXR1000 after Slade van Niekerk gave himself a heart stopping moment down the straight on his 111 Project Sixty SA Kawasaki ZX6, dropping back into third spot.
Jason Linaker unfortunately going down in heat two with Slade van Niekerk keeping it pinned to record a rather dominant victory in extremely tricky conditions. Malcolm Rapson wisely settling for 2nd spot with Jamie Hall in third aboard his 65 MGA Racing Yamaha R6. Jason Linaker recovering to a lonely fourth after his tumble.
Overall Slade van Niekerk won handsomely from Malcolm Rapson, Jamie Hall and Jason Linaker.
- 600cc Slade van Niekerk from Jamie Hall, Jason Linekar, Keana Strode.
- Superbikes Malcolm Rapson (M)
- SBK Challenge Brad Bosworth (M) from Wayne Arendse (M)
Pirelli V8 Masters 1×8 Laps
Carl Nel claimed first place in heat 1 after a pretty determined drive in the 64 Gears for Africa entry with Fabio Tafani second in his 39 Club Refrigeration APV247is and defending champion Sean Moore third in his 1 Ziegler Logistics entry. Marcel Angel fourth in his 14 Autohaus Angel APV247is and in fourth it was the second 46 Autohaus Angel entry of Jason Ibbotson. Alister Brown sixth after having spun into Turn 1 on the opening lap with the 22 NAC Helicopters entry.
The Pirelli V8 Master drivers bravely came out for an inspection lap, but conditions proved simply impossible for the powerful V8 cars that run without wipers, have seriously misting windscreens and massive slicks. Heat two called off in the interest of safety.
Published by: Patrick Vermaak
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