Cape Town – Round three of the Mike Hopkins Regional Motorcycle series at Killarney on Saturday promises to be a lesson in world class racecraft, with David ‘McFlash’ McFadden taking a well-earned break from his World SuperStock commitments and out on the Suzuki South GSX-R1000 L5 to show home fans and fellow competitors exactly how it’s done.
But behind McFlash you can expect all kinds of mayhem, with Trevor Westman out for the first time on the brand new 2106 Mad Mac’s ZX-10R, Brandon Haupt on the form of his life aboard the MX Clean ZX-10R and veteran Malcolm Rapson on his family-sponsored Kawasaki ZX-10R fitter than he has been for some time.
Another entry on a Suzuki GSX-R1000 is McFadden’s father Norman, a racer of some note before he stepped down to support his sons’ efforts on the track. It will be interesting to see whether McFadden senior is capable of staying with the young guns when mounted on current machinery.
Also on very current machinery are the two leaders of the Brat Pack - officially known as the 600 Challenge - Hayden Jonas and Warren Guantario, each aboard a new Kawasaki ZX-6R. This is shaping up to be battle royal as the youngsters get to grips with their new machines and Jonas in particular is also not shy to give the litre-class riders a go if they let him get close enough.
More 600cc riders who aren‘t shy to mix it with the big boys are Alex van der Berg (Liquid Blast ZX-6R) and born-again rider John Oliver on the Glass It R6.
Van der Berg also took Class B honours in both races last time out, which earned him a promotion to Class A, so the claimants for the class silverware are likely to be Oliver, Leroy Malan (Kawasaki ZX-10R) and father and son ASAP World riders Karl and Jared Schultz.