This year’s South African Superbike Racing Championship was clinched in dramatic fashion at the Port Elizabeth Aldo Scribante circuit on Saturday (November 1). –
– Autopage Cellular Yamaha team captain Russell Wood added a record-setting 14th national title to his formidable list of career achievements, to crown the Vodacom Power Tour’s last coastal visit of the year. Wood took the title in style, by coming from behind to win both of the day’s two-wheeler races against extremely tough competition. –
– Following Saturday morning’s Official Qualifying session, Wood occupied fifth place on the starting grid. His closest Championship rival, Shaun Whyte (First Technology Yamaha) was in pole position, followed by Cell C Suzuki riders Trevor Crookes, Noel Haarhoff and Stewart MacLeod, Wood, Gavin Ramsay (Kreepy Krauly Yamaha) and Garth Norris (Inala Kawasaki). –
– At the start of the 12-lap opening race MacLeod blasted into the lead, closely followed by Whyte, Crookes, Ramsay and Wood. The lead changed hands four times over the first nine laps, with MacLeod, Whyte, Crookes, and finally Wood occupying the front spot. Meanwhile a hard-charging Greg Dreyer (Autopage Cellular Yamaha) scythed through the field from 12th place on the grid, to join the leading bunch on Lap 10. Once in front, Wood beat off several spirited attacks by Shaun Whyte, who set the quickest lap time of the race. Wood eventually won from Whyte by less than a second. Behind them a robust, shoulder-banging war saw Greg Dreyer snatch third place through the last corner, followed over the finish line by MacLeod and Crookes. Noel Haarhoff took the sixth place, marginally ahead of Greame van Breda (Inala Kawasaki) and Arushen Moodley on his First Technology Yamaha. –
– Following the result, calculations showed that a victory in the day’s second, 15-lap race would resolve the title in Wood’s favour. Championship rival Shaun Whyte was not going to make it easy though, forcing his First Technology Yamaha into the lead when the lights turned green. He was relentlessly pursued by Greg Dreyer and Russell Wood, with the Autopage Cellular Yamaha pairing drafting into the first two places by the tenth lap. A lap later, Dreyer slid wide coming into the pit straight and crashed heavily, leaving the rider with a sprained ankle and his Yamaha much devaluated. It also left Wood to deal with a final, determined attack from Shaun Whyte and Trevor Crookes (Cell C Suzuki), with the three riders finally covered by six tenths of a second over the finish line. Fourth, after a storming ride that saw him setting the day’s quickest two-wheeler lap time, was Cell C Suzuki’s Hudson Kennaugh. He led home Arushen Moodley (First Technology Yamaha), Noel Haarhoff (Cell C Suzuki), Greame van Breda (Inala Kawasaki) and Alex Lenearts (First Technology Yamaha). –
– The day’s respective Privateers’ Challenge victories went to Gavin Ramsay on his Kreepy Krauly Yamaha and Sheridan Morias (Teazer’s Kawasaki). –
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