A wet and overcast Phakisa raceway did little to cool the stifling race action on Saturday as the Superbike racing stepped up a notch on the penultimate round of this year’s Vodacom Power Tour and favourites Shaun Whyte and Sheridan Morias had crowds on the edge of their seats.
A wet and overcast Phakisa raceway did little to cool the stifling race action on Saturday as the Superbike racing stepped up a notch on the penultimate round of this year’s Vodacom Power Tour and favourites Shaun Whyte and Sheridan Morias had crowds on the edge of their seats.
Early-morning rain and overcast skies throughout the day put a serious damper on the day’s proceedings, but the two Superbike races brought the Phakisa crowd to its feet. Going into the race weekend, First Technology Yamaha team-mates, Shaun Whyte and Sheridan Morias were separated by a mere two points, and with no team orders to comply with, the race action was uninhibited.
The first heat was won by 2004 champion Hudson Kennaugh who – before the Phakisa meet – still had a mathematical chance of clinching his successive title for Dealer Team Suzuki. The recent winner of the Suzuki GSX European Cup series beat off the advances of Whyte and Arushen Moodley to win the heat, but Whyte still scored enough points to remove Kennaugh from the title race. Morias finished fourth, ahead of Kawasaki’s Stuart MacLeod.
Whyte and Morias were relentless in the second heat, and fought all the way from the start while Kennaugh gradually slipped down the order. Morias was triumphant in the second race while Whyte finished second, ahead of Moodley and MacLeod in another fourth-place finish.
With both races running to the wire and only four points separating the top two riders, the Superbike championship will only be decided at the final race meeting at Kyalami on November 26.
In the production car event, the drama started on Friday when the entire Alfa Romeo factory team withdrew from the event after a disagreement and left Class A without the entries of Reghardt Roets, Morné Jurgens and Marc Auby. As the rest of the field got down to business, Gary Formato (Sasol AE Nissan 350Z) set the quickest qualifying time though already-crowned champion for 2005, Anthony Taylor struck back in the race to take the lead ahead of his Castrol BMW 330i team-mate, Etienne van der Linde, Formato and Hennie Groenewald.
After five laps, the race officials stepped in the caution the BMW 330is of Groenewald and Steven Morris, along with the Audi A4 3,2 quattro of Richard Sorensen for persistent corner cutting. Taylor set a new lap record at Phakisa on his way to winning the first heat, while van der Linde finished second and the Nissan 350 Zs of Formato and Duncan Vos finished third and fourth.
Taylor repeated his performance in the second race where he again led his BMW from start to finish, though Formato finished second this time round after a race-long battle with Etienne van der Linde. Duncan Vos again finished fourth for Nissan, ahead of Morris, Briggs and Sorensen’s Audi.
Shaun van der Linde (Castrol MINI Cooper S) won both of the Class T races while Martin Steyn, Clint Weston and Craig Nicholson completed the line-up. The result left Van der Linde and Steyn tied on points at the head of the Class T log, with the final order to be decided at the final round at Kyalami.
Phillip Kekana (Sasol Toyota RunX RSi) won the opening Class B race ahead of his team-mate, Dave Compton, and the Tubular Tech Fiat Stilo Abarth of Marco dos Santos. Garth Waberski (Seagull Autogas Mercedes-Benz C270 CDI) enjoyed the distinction of setting a new Class B lap record before overheating brakes forced him to slow down.
Delon Williams (Adrian Tee Peugeot 206 GTi) was docked 30 seconds for jumping the start, but made no mistakes in the second heat, which he won from Angus Thompson and Garth Waberski.
Eckhart Schoenknecht (Delo VW Polo Tdi) led the first Class C race before being disqualified for cutting corners, and left Motorola Fiat Palio drivers Theunis Eloff and Trevor Tuck in the top two places. John Kruger (Ford Fiesta 1,6i), Shane Williams (M&R Ford Ikon 1,6i) and Guy Botteril (Bigfoot Express Fiat Palio).
Schoenknecht returned to win the second race, ahead of Rob Preuss (VW CitiGolf 1,6) and Williams’ Ford Ikon.
In the Wesbank V8 championship, Grant van Schalkwyk all but wrapped up the series in his Hi-Q Jaguar XKR. A second-placed finish, behind Hennie Groenewald (Havoline Jaguar), and a win left van Schalkwyk well clear of 2004 champion Johan Fourie in his Ericsson Opel Omega. Fourie has had a dismal season and will need a miracle at Kyalami to win his fourth title.
