Red Square Kawasaki ZX10 Masters Cup – Pre Race 3 Report East London

With Graeme van Breda (#41) leading the overall championship at the moment, we are heading to our first coastal event for the year, the breathtaking seaside track East London, hosted by Border Motorsport Club. With the extra power the coastal air adds to your bike, the riders are always eager to leave Gauteng and are looking forward to spend the weekend of 26 & 27 April at the beach. This time around we will have an all bike event, included in the line-up are some of the local talent, the Bridgestone Superbike category and the Supermotards of the Superbike Magazine short circuit series. So if you are a motorcycle fanatic, like we are, better you get yourself to the track this coming weekend. We will be there as from Thursday for a track-day, Friday is practice and Saturday the races!

So talking about the racing, my eyes will be glued to the second place battle, because there are 3 riders who are in an all-out battle for this position, but these three riders are also fighting it out for the Masters Class championship. Jonty Collard (#11), Jaco Gous (#43) and Michael Smit (#49) is really stepping up this year and they have been working themselves up from being top ten riders to being the leaders in the Red Square ZX10 Masters Cup. Interesting enough all three of them come from the off road scene, and they have also ridden in the Motard series some time or the other.

But let’s just bring things into perspective, the crowd pleaser Brian Bontekoning (#16) has entered for this event, and we all know that he is a top three finisher himself, he is certainly going to upset these three riders. Another but, is the comeback for this event! Kyle Robinson (#18) has rejoined the Club and yes you remember correctly, he is also a top three finisher and also in the Master’s Class championship.

But we have a train of “new” riders who have joined from the start of the season, and we have no idea of their talents at tracks we have not visited yet this year, such as East London. Talking about new riders, we welcome to the ZX10 family Carl Rohrbeck (#36), a very welcome Carl! Carl hanged up his racing boots for a while, but he kept on riding, and is now hungry to get back to the racing.

Gareth (Action) Jackson (#21), Colin Preller (#79), Rob Morf (#55) and Clifford Ogle (#95) are riders to watch as being “new” we do not know what they could surprise us with on the day. Do not forget about Gareth Bezuidenhout (#22), a very determined rider and he is sure to be top 3. Sounds like a lot who are usual top 3 contenders, only Saturday, 27 April will give us the answers; it is going to be an epic race!

With the top 3 Extreme Veteran Class riders not being able to attend this event, it gives an opportunity to Johan le Roux (#44), Henk Schuiling (#69) (back after a 6 month break), and Teddy Brooke (#93) to cash in on some points to climb up the leaderboard.

Going to the 3^rd event of the year the points look as follow:

On behalf of all the members of the ZX10 Masters Cup we would like to thank everybody involved that made this event happen and also our main sponsors: Bridgestone, Kawasaki and Red Square.

See you on the beach!

Lynette and Sifiso (#63)

The Killarney event of 22 September, is the penultimate event of the year and the riders are very excited, as they only have one opportunity to race at Killarney’s awesome track per year. Killarney is also the home track of two of our members Jacques Ackermann (#70) and Rob Cragg (#78) and as they are part of the ZX10 family, it makes Cape Town part of the ZX10 family as well!

Sven Grüne (#66) is leading the overall and veterans’ championships with Graeme van Breda (#1) in second place. Third overall is currently Jaco Gous’s (#43) spot, showing why he was crowned Rider of the Year in 2017.

Jaco Gous (#43) is also the master of the masters’ class and Gareth Bezuidenhout (#22) in second spot. Jonty Collard (#11) is hot on their heels and he has shown what an excellent contender he is at the PE event, and is now being called the master of the rain! But there’s an interesting battle in the masters class between Ruan Oberholster (#34), who is only 2 points ahead of Sifiso Themba (63) and 15 points ahead of Pelo Seata (#80). The race between these riders is something to keep your eyes on. Will be interesting to see who is where after this race!

Ian Harwood (#24) (the Bridgestone man) is currently third in the Veterans class, but Sanjiv Singh (#12) is not going to give that spot to Ian on a platter, and will be riding at full force to get it back from Ian.

The extreme veteran class flag is in the hands of Pieter de Vos (#17), Teddy Brook (#93) is second in line followed by Johan le Roux (#44) in third place.  

The point standing before Killarney looks like this:

Please come and visit us if you are at Killarney!

Lynette and Sifiso (#63)

With two thirds of the events done and dusted for the year, we are moving to our home track, the Big-Z (Zwartkops) for the annual Sasol Race Day on 18 August! The battle between the frontrunners is still hot and it is going to be something to get out of bed for. Graeme van Breda (#1) will not give up defending his championship title against Sven Grüne (#66), the 2016 champion. Jonty Collard (#11) and Ian Harwood (#24) have moved up to the third places in their respective championships, after their great performances at the sopping wet Port Elizabeth event. Well done Ian and Jonty, for both of them it is a personal best.   

But back in the mix are some of the riders who have sat out for the coastal events, such as Appanna Ganapathy (#77), Jacques Ackermann (#70) and Sanjiv Singh (#12) whose families have been keeping them busy. Andre van Vollenstee (#82) and Rodney McLachlan (#42) will also be back for the Zwartkops event, both of them well seasoned riders who are not scared to show the others how it is supposed to be done. Guy Didcott (#88) will also join in the fun this time, one of the new members in the Club. Michael Smit (#49) only has good memories of his previous super performance at Zwartkops, when he was crowned rider of the day.

Don’t forget the riders who are just consistent at every event, sure to get the limelight they deserve, Sifiso (iam63), JLR (#44), Pelo (#80), Teddy (#93) and Ruan (#34). We cannot wait to smell the rubber and toxic fumes, that is part of a race day, and which we need every now and again to get our addiction under control, that is circuit motorcycle racing!

The point standing before Zwartkops looks like this:

A big hoha to Jacques (#70) with the birth of your child, what a blessing!

On behalf of all the ZX10 Masters Cup family we invite you to a day of fun and excitement, come join us on 18 August and forget about all your worries for one day!

And a big thank to all our sponsors: Bridgestone, Kawasaki, and Red Square.

See you at Zwartkops!

Lynette and Sifiso (#63)