Freezing weather with heavy rain and a bitterly cold wind in the morning failed to dampen the hot racing at round 7 of the Power Series at Killarney on Saturday August 28.
Despite the unpleasant weather, the headline Mikes Place Clubmans Saloons category attracted 31 entries, with Nieyaaz Modack in the MIM Carriers/NSI Racing E46 M3 setting the pace in race 1, hotly pursued by Clint Rennard (G&A Promotions/Speed Precision Golf Non Turbo) and Raaziegh Harris (Panic Plumbers Golf Mk1).
Harris held second for the first two laps before surrendering the position to Rennard, then the two of them chased Modack all the way to the flag, where they finished within just more than half a second.
Next was Achmat Achmat (Beta Machine & Tools BMW 135), ahead of “Baby Jakes” Jacobs’ Executive Decisions BMW 535i, fifth overall and heading Class B.
Modack took the early lead again in race 2, ahead of son Imaad in the second MIM Carriers/NSI Racing E46 M3, but got it all wrong on lap five and dropped back to 25th place, while Imaad, Jacobs, Daanyaal Coetzee (A&M Plumbing M3) and Cody Alberts fought it out at the sharp end, finishing in that order within 8.2 seconds after nine closely-fought laps.
Josh Broome’s fast but fragile Spitfire Radical SR8 finally came into its own in the third running of the Ons Huisie 100 for Bertha Wines Weltevreden Estate Sports & GT cars over 31 laps, posting the fastest lap, a 1min13.764 flyer, on lap 23 and leading every lap to win by 26 seconds after a faultless run.
Defending series champion Fabio Tafani led every lap of the first V8 Masters outing, but the drive of the race came from Sean Moore. He sliced through the field from stone last on lap one to post the fastest lap of the race on the final lap and missed out on catching Tafani by just half a second. Sander Le Bon finished third, a further eight seconds in arrears.
Moore put in another scorcher in race 2, taking the early lead until Tafani posted a blistering 1:17.310 on lap three to take the lead, slowly pulling away to win by four seconds, with Richard Schreuder third.
Only five riders came out for race 1 of the South Motorcycle Superbike series; among those who elected to sit out were pole-sitter and favourite David “McFlash” McFadden on the Stunt SA/RPM Center R1, and Trevor Westman’s brand new Team Wayward by Project Sixty ZX-10R, so it was Supermasters riders Malcolm Rapson (Racebase GSX-R1000) and Jacques Ackermann (South/Barker/Stepp Durbanville ZX-10R) who led the way.
Rapson soon showed his mastery of the difficult conditions, pulling smoothly away to finish 22 seconds ahead of Ackerman, followed by Lubabalo Ntisana (Kawasaki ZX-10R).
Race 2, run in bright sunshine late in the afternoon, was a whole different story, as McFlash once again earned his nickname with an emphatic win, 21 seconds clear of a race-long battle for second that saw Westman, Rapson, Ackermann and late entry Connor Hagan on the NPH Electrical GSX-R600 (the only 600 in the field) finish in that order, covered by just 2.03 seconds, after swapping places on almost every lap.
The first combined Clubmans, Classics and Breakfast Run race proved once more that rain is the great leveller, as two Class B riders, Nick Benn (Two Wheel Solutions GSX-R1000) and Jamie Hall (Honda CBR600RR) led the field home.
Wayne Arendse made his usual poor start in race 2, but the circuit was dry and he was able to set a cracking pace, grabbing the lead on lap three and holding off determined charges from Nasief Smart and Zobair Adams, as the three came home on that order, covered by just 1.14 seconds after a race-long battle.
Polesitter Slade van Nierkerk (Project 60 ER650), Jason Linaker (RST Ninja 650) and Zante Otto (Missile Motorcycles ER6) defied the treacherous conditions to put up the dice of the day for the win in the first Powersport race. Otto challenged Van Niekerk several times for the lead but was unable to make a pass that would stick and eventually surrendered second to Linaker, who finished less than half a second behind Van Niekerk, who clinched the 2021 Powersport 650 championship with the win.
Van Niekerk also went on to take race 2 ahead of Trevor Westman.
There was no catching Nian “Race Muis” du Toit’s new BMW 328 in the first Thunder Saloons race as he romped away to win by almost a minute from Imaad Modack’s MIM Carriers/NSI Racing E46 M3, with Ammaar Coetzee (A&M Plumbing E46 M3), Raaziegh Harris (Panic Plumbers E46), Anwar Levy (Armien levy Motorsport E30) and Roshan Khan (Roshan Khan (Cool Touch Racing BMW 325is) all over the younger Modack like a cheap suit.
Modack was the winner of race 2 after Du Toit went out on lap 4 from the lead.
The big V8-engined Mustangs were at a distinct disadvantage in the wet conditions of the first SDC Classic Cars race, which favoured rear-wheel drive fours. Franco Donadio was able to win as he pleased in his immaculately prepared Ford Escort Mk1, with Charles Arton’s agile Datsun 240Z a gallant second, followed by Bruce Avern-Taplin (Toyota Corolla) and Dave Alhadef’s MSP Racing 325is.
The circuit was dry for race 2 but it was Arton who took the early lead , until Donadio got past on lap three.
