Cape Town - Brent Harran missed qualifying and SuperPole when electrical gremlins got into his Kawasaki ZX-10R but his pit crew solved the problems and he rewarded them with two race wins in the Round 3 of the 2015 SuperGP Champions Trophy at Killarney on 17 May.
After missing out on pole position for the first time in SuperGP last time out at Zwartkops, it was back to normal for Clint Seller as he put his new Yamaha R1 on pole, just seven hundredths of a second quicker than the similar machine of Mathew Scholtz.
Lance Isaacs (BMW S1000RR) was next with another Capetonian, Andre Calvert (Kawasaki ZX-10R) at the top of row two, ahead of Nicholas Kershaw (BMW S1000RR) and Garrick Vlok (BMW S1000RR).
A number of local Superbike riders had joined the SuperM field and, although they were starting a row behind the SuperGP grid, the Kawasaki ZX-10Rs of Davis McFadden and Ronald Slamet were expected to work their way through to the head of the combined race.
RACE 1
The big winner from the start was Harran who moved up to be part of the leading trio with Scholtz and Isaacs. The BMWs of Vlok and Kershaw had a very short race, both ending up in the kitty litter at the outside of the first turn leaving their riders to watch proceedings from the side of the track.
Seller's new Yamaha picked up an electrical malfunction and he pitted which dropped him to the back of the field. He did manage to continue and limit the damage to his championship aspirations by scoring some points for his eventual sixth place.
While the three-way battle at the front continued McFadden and Slamet were working their way through to the sharp end of the field. Three quarters of the way though the race Harran went down hard in Turn 4. Concerned officials called for a medical vehicle, which left the riders expecting a red flag.
They slowed, but when the race was not stopped, they resumed racing. When the chequered flag came out after 15 laps Isaacs was leading from Scholtz and Calvert but, after a hearing by the stewards, it was decided to declare the result after 11 laps which was before the medical car took to the circuit.
This gave the win to Harran with Scholtz second and Isaacs third. Calvert was classified fourth with the Yamaha R1 of Brandon Goode fifth.
McFadden took the SuperM win from Slamet with Trevor Westman (Kawasaki ZX-10R) third. Aran van Niekerk (BMW S1000RR) and David Bolding (Kawasaki ZX-10R) made it a Cape Town clean sweep of the top five positions with Beau Levey (KTM RC8) rounding out the top six.
RACE 2
This was again a three-way battle, this time between Harran, Seller and Scholtz, each of whom led at some stage, but it was Harran who was in front when it mattered, taking victory from Seller by just six hundredths of a second. Scholtz started losing grip in th4e closing stages and settled for third while Isaacs, who was running with the leaders at the start of the race, slowly dropped back down the field with brake problems, to finish sixth behind Goode and Calvert.
An off-track excursion by Slamet early on in the race meant there was not going to be a repeat of his first race SuperM duel with McFadden who got past all the SuperGP riders on his way to the chequered flag. Westman and Van Niekerk completed the podium. Bolding just managed to hold off a recovering Slamet to take fourth with Jacques Ackerman in sixth.
SUPER600
A number of Cape Town 600cc riders joined the Super600 field but, as their bikes didn't comply with the national series rules, they ran as a separate class within the same race and started a row behind the Super600 grid.
Sheridan Morais (Yamaha R6) claimed pole position from championship leader Steven Odendaal (Yamaha R6) with Michael White (Kawasaki ZX-6R) completing the front row of the grid. The second row of the grid was made up of Blaze Baker (Kawasaki ZX-6R), Nicole van Aswegen (Triumph Daytona 675) and Dylan Barnard on his privately entered Kawasaki ZX-6R.
In the 600R class Hayden Jonas (Kawasaki ZX-6R) led the way from John Oliver (Yamaha R6) and Alex van den Berg (Kawasaki ZX-6R).
In Race 1 the battle at the head of the field was initially between Morais and Odendaal while Jonas worked his way through the field to join them. These three then opened a substantial gap over the rest of the field, thrilling the crowd with very close racing. A slight mistake by Jonas on the last lap allowed Morais and Odendaal through to take the top two places on the road and in the Super600 category. White claimed the final podium step in the Super600 category with Baker, Malcom Rudman (Kawasaki ZX-6R) and Van Aswegen completing the top six.
Behind Jonas in the 600R class Van der Berg was the best of the rest with Oliver not far behind.
The drama started early in Race 2 when Odendaal binned it in Cape Town corner on the second lap. Morais did the same a lap later, crashing out of the lead and leaving White and Baker to fight for the Super600 win.
White took a while to open up a gap over a determined Baker but, once he had done so, was slowly able to extend it, going on to win by more than four seconds. Van Aswegen had the best result of her Super600 career, taking the final podium position.
With Odendaal and Morais on the side lines Jonas had things all his own way at the head of the combined field, taking an easy win in the 600R class from Oliver and Van den Berg.
SUPERJUNIOR
Brandon Staffen took two race wins at Zwartkops on debut in the SuperJunior National Challenge and was looking to repeat the feat at his home circuit but it was another debutant that had other ideas. Kewyn Snyman signalled his intentions with a qualifying lap more than a second quicker than the rest of the field to make sure of pole position.
Snyman, William Friend and Staffen were involved in an almighty battle for the lead until shortly before the end when Friend lost the front end of his bike leaving the other two to fight it out for the last couple of laps. Snyman hung on to take the win by a tenth of a second. Luca Coccioni finished a somewhat lonely third with Dominic Doyle claiming fourth by a bike length from Tyreece Robert, while Jared Schultz rounded out the top six.
The second race was another thriller with five riders vying for the lead. Snyman was in front when it counted - albeit by only 0.05s - from Staffen to take his second win of the day. Friend was less than a tenth of a second further back with Robert and Coccioni not far off. After 10 hard laps of racing the top five were within a second of each other.
SuperGP will move back inland for its next outing with the teams and riders heading off to Red Star Raceway in Mpumalanga for the fourth round on 14 June.