Cape Town - International Superstock rider David ‘McFlash’ Mc Fadden put in another two superb rides to dominate the ninth and final round of the Mike Hopkins Regional motorcycle series at Killarney on Saturday.
But it wasn’t enough for the Suzuki rider to secure the 2015 title; consistent performances, dogged determination in the face of what often seemed like perverse fate, lots of midnight oil on the part of his crew and just being 100 percent there for every round of the series gave Ronald ‘The Red Baron’ Slamet and the Mike Hopkins ZX-10R their third consecutive regional title.
Both were showing signs of strain by the end of the season, although the most telling comment came from crew chief Francois Breedt of Racebase, when he said: “It’s over; we’ve done it – now I can go back to real life.”
Going into the final round, however, the championship was hanging in the balance. McFadden put the Suzuki South GSX-R1000 L5 on pole with a sizzling 1:11.267 lap, but he was only 0.186 quicker than Slamet and the next four – Gerrit Visser, former champion Malcolm Rapson, Trevor Westman and rising star Brandon Haupt, each on Kawasaki ZX-10R – were all under 1:12.6.
RACE 1
And that’s what happened, as McFadden romped home to win by 3.686 seconds from Slamet, who was determined not to make any mistakes. Behind them, however, it was open season as the three Young Guns - Westman, Haupt and Visser - battled for third, swopping places on almost every lap and finally finishing in that order within three tenths of a second.
Rapson mixed it with them for the first half of the race but fell back in the closing stages, while Andre Calvert on the KC Transport ZX-10R was never in contention, coming home a distant seventh after a lonely ride.
In the absence of 600 Challenge champion Hayden Jonas (his injured ankle was healed but the ASAP World ZX-6R had wrecked yet another gearbox in practice) the first Supersport machine home was the Wicked tuning ZX-6R of Alex van der Berg.
Jacques Ackermann (Jotim R1) and Arrie Swanepoel (BMW S1000 RR) put up a spirited debate over Class B honours, eventually finishing 0.084sec apart, while Jan Nytomt (also on an S1000 RR), aced Class C.
RACE 2
The second outing saw phenomenal starts from Visser and Slamet, who led at the end of lap one. By the start of lap three, however, normal service had been resumed, with McFadden leading from Slamet and Haupt, Visser, Westman and Rapson scrapping over third.
Slamet’s second in Race 1 had clinched the title in his favour, and he wasn’t about to take any chances, doing merely enough to stay ahead of the melee for third, which eventually resolved into two separate duels.
Haupt and Visser finished less than a quarter of a second apart in third and fourth respectively, while Westman, battling handling problems on the Mad Mac’s ZX-10R, did well to stay (just) ahead of Rapson and finish fifth.
Class B was another Ackermann benefit, while Nytomt celebrated his last appearance in Class C by finishing half a lap head of Shakir ‘Shrek’ Smith, second in class aboard the Entity CBR1000RR.
CLASSICS/POWERSPORTS
Going into the final round of the series, it was all about whether top dog Warren Guantario (Calberg ER650) could stay ahead of team-mate JP Friederich and whether that would give him enough points to prevent Class B leader Mike van Rensburg (MVR ER650) from taking the trophy.
But that wasn’t how it worked out. Teenage rookie Kewyn Snyman put the Monster Plumbing ER650 on the front row of the grid for the first time and harassed Guantario unmercifully for the first half of the race, until a broken earth wire forced his retirement.
Ace tuner ‘Danie van Killarney’ Maritz – too busy working on customers’ machines to qualify his 1985 Suzuki GSX-750 - started from the back of the grid and scythed through the 26-strong field to pass Friederich on the last lap and finish second overall, with Van Rensburg fourth.
RACE 2
That still left the advantage in his court, however; all he had to do in the second race was to finish - even if Guantario won outright - to take the title.
However, Snyman, the Monster Plumbing machine once more running strongly, pulled a magic start; he and Guantario swopped places at least once on every lap of the race but the talented rookie was ahead - by just 0.153sec - when it counted to take his first main-circuit victory.
Maritz delivered another blitzkrieg on the old Pre-Sling and was reeling in third-placed Friederich with three laps to go when the thirty-year-old engine cried ‘Enough’ and put a piston through the block. Miraculously, he got the bike off the circuit before it dropped any oil on the racing line and no harm was done, other than to Maritz’ pride.
Guantario, seemingly at a points deficit, was resigned to congratulating a slower rider on taking the title in a series he has dominated for two seasons – until it transpired that Van Renburg had crashed on lap six. He remounted and continued, to finish 17th overall and seventh in class, setting up an entirely unexpected points permutation - but even that was enough to give him the title after all, with Guantario a very close second.