Cape Town – September traditionally marks the beginning of spring, and in the Cape that usually means a strong south-easter, which is likely to have an interesting effect on Round 7 of the Mike Hopkins Regional Motorcycle series at this weekend’s Flower Power meeting.
The racers will be riding into the wind down the long, slightly curved Killarney back straight - which will affect the litre-class machines less than the 600s because they have significantly more torque but about the same frontal area. The lighter 600s will also be more affected by blustery side-winds in Turns 3 and 4, giving the litre-class superbikes a significant advantage.
Most of the competitors, however, will get about the same boost out of the very slow Turn 5 and down the main straight - which will make judging the braking point for the left-hand Turn 1 both more difficult and more crucial.
This is unlikely to affect the front-runners – David ‘McFlash’ McFadden on the MSD Racing GSX-R1000 L5, Brandon Haupt’s MX Clean ZX-10R, Trevor Westman on the Mad Mac’s ZX-10R, Ronald Slamet on the DMR S1000 RR and Malcolm Rapson’s family-funded Kawasaki ZX-10R.
Expect McFadden and Rapson to fight it out for the lead, while Westman, Slamet and Rapson bang elbows over the minor placings. Behind them, however, the ‘brat packers’ of the 600 Challenge will face a stronger than usual attack from the Mutlu R1M of Quintin Ebden and Andre Calvert’s KC Transport ZX-10R.
Crucial points needed
In particular, defending 600 Challenge title-holder Hayden Jonas, fresh from a bruising SuperGP weekend at Aldo Scribante in Port Elizabeth that included a major crash and a fighting third-place finish, will be keen to get crucial points in the bag without taking unnecessary risks.
He’ll be unwilling to mix it with the bigger bikes but he may have to, to get ahead of arch-rival Warren Guantario on the Mad Mac’s ZX-6R, ASAP World father and son Karl and Jared Schultz, each on a ZX-6R, and veteran John Oliver’s Glass It R6.
It’ll be the same at the top of Class B, where Emile van der Merwe’s Kawasaki ZX-10R and Jacques Brits on the Lize Signs R1 will want to make the most of an unusual advantage over the Schultz’s, who beat them soundly last time out.
Powersports/Clubmans
Here Shane Field (Field Cupboards GSX-R750), Bronte Heinrich (Ducati 996 SPS), ‘Big Harry’ Clifton (MSD Auto services ZX-10R) and Wessel Kruger’s classic Honda RC51 SP2 will have the edge over the 650cc twin Powersport machines of JP Friederich (Calberg SV650), and especially, ultra-skinny teenager Brandon Staffen on the Ice Tech/AJS SV650.
But Staffen in particular has proved that he’s no respecter of either older riders or the forces of nature; don’t write him off just yet.