Cape Town – The second round of the Mike Hopkins Motorcycles Regional series at Killarney on Saturday delivered more drama than a soap opera – most of it seemingly at the sharp end of the field.
It all started a week before when injudicious repairs to the tarmac rendered the track unrideable and the Superbike competitors were unable to practice. By race day, however, most of the problems had been addressed, although there was still a nasty step at the exit of Turn 1 and small changes all the way round, forcing all the riders to learn what was in effect a new circuit.
Double 600 Challenge champion, Fifty8 Racing’s Hayden Jonas, finally received all the parts for his new ZX-6R from Kawasaki – three days before race day – and looked set to sit out a second round of his title defence. Then a friend lent him an eight-year-old Triumph 675 Daytona street-bike with 48 000km on the clock, bog standard except for a quick-shifter and a tailpipe, and it was game on – if the bike was up to it!
Regional champion Ronald ‘the Red Baron’ Slamet entered late; he was still battling with the set-up of his new ‘works’ BMW S1000RR but as usual he just put his head down and got on with the job, albeit a second or so slower than his usual pace.
Brandon Haupt, in contrast, had it all together. The Ravenol/Cape Bike Travel/MX Clean ZX-10R was running like a train and the tall, quiet youngster was on the form of his life.
RACE 1
He put the Kawasaki on the front row of the grid, grabbed the holeshot when the lights went out to start Race 1 and found himself with a clear track in front of him and Slamet, Gerrit Visser (Kawasaki ZX-10R), Trevor Westman (Mad Mac’s ZX-10R) and veteran Malcolm Rapson (Kawasaki ZX-10R) right behind.
Jonas was the top 600 Challenge qualifier, and led the class for a lap, but the old Daytona was no match for Warren ‘the Starfish’ Guantario’s brand new Mad Mac’s ZX-6R. Guantario went to the front of the squabbling 600cc Brat Pack on lap two and gradually pulled out a three-second lead as Jonas, Alex van den Berg (Wicked Tuning ZX-6R) and the well-sorted Glass It R6 of born-again racer John Oliver, ducked and dived, carving each other up into every corner, banging elbows and fairings on more than one occasion.
Visser’s crew had replaced the handlebars on his Kawasaki during the week; when the right-side clip-on worked loose in mid-race the bike became unrideable and he headed for the pits, promoting Rapson to third. Then, a lap later, Haupt’s Kawasaki rattled to a halt, its engine blown, at the exit of Turn 2 and his race was run.
But the final few laps were anything but an anticlimax as the 600 Challenge battle went all the way to the line, with Jonas, Van den Berg and Oliver finishing in that order within little more than a second. Van den Berg and Oliver also took the top two spots in Class B, with another 600 Challenge rider, Karl Schultz, third on the ASAP World ZX-6R.
Once the ZX-10R had been recovered, a black mood settled over the Haupt pit – until Haupt’s father/mechanic Peter came up with the idea of transplanting the engine from Peter’s similar but older road bike. But could it be done in time for Race 2?
With the help of Ruan Lamprecht of Cape Bike Travel and several hours of intense concentration later, the complicated loom and fuel-injection hook-up were completed just in time for Haupt to take a couple of deep breaths and get out there for the second race.
RACE 2
He actually got a surprisingly good start, but the bike was, not unexpectedly, down on top-end power and Haupt was mugged on the way down to Turn 1. He soon struck back, however, and finished lap one in third behind Slamet and Westman.
It took him another four laps and several attempts to get by Westman and a couple of electrifying laps to reel in Slamet – but the regional champion was not about to give any points away, as the two battled it out over the final few laps.
It all came down to the last corner of the last lap, as Haupt went insanely late on the brakes, way deeper than his usual line, and came out in front. Even then Slamet wasn’t giving up, he charged out of the slipstream on the final straight, but just failed the slingshot as Haupt took his maiden Regional race win by a scant 0.020s from Slamet, Westman, Rapson and Visser.
Guantario romped away with 600 Challenge line honours, three seconds ahead of another dramatic tussle between Jonas, Van den Berg and Oliver, that saw all three cross the line within two seconds – with Van den Berg and Oliver once again acing Class B.
POWERSPORT/CLUBMANS
The Powersport/Clubmans races were all about on-form rider JP Friederich as he stamped his authority on the series, despite early challenges from 15-year-old rising star Brandon Staffen, riding the Keating & Jansen SV650 in his first season on the main circuit, Mike van Rensburg (MVR ER650) and the Clubmans machines of Harry Clifton (MSD Auto Services ZX-10R), Jonathan Hope (Yamaha R6) and Shakir ‘Shrek’ Smith on the Entity CBR1000RR.
Friederich comfortably won both races, but there was a lot of jostling for position, shutting of doors and robust overtaking behind him, as corner speed played out against straight-line advantage. Powersport honours for the day went to Friederich and Van Rensburg in Class A and B respectively, with Clifton, Smith and the consistent Nick van Zyl (Interspeed ZX-10R) taking home the Clubmans’ silverware.