Three South Africans are off to the US for the world championship Street Bike Shootout at Florida’s Gainesville Raceway in November, and are hoping to bring the finals to SA in 2005.
Three South Africans are off to the US for the world championship Street Bike Shootout at Florida’s Gainesville Raceway in November, and are hoping to bring the finals to SA in 2005.
Kawasaki riders Fransie Engelbrecht, Henry van der Merwe and Brad Anassis (current leader of the SA Superbike Series) are all South African record holders across the quarter mile for the three national motorcycle classes.
At last year’s world finals, the top rider in the squad, Engelbrecht, caused a major upset when he upstaged reigning world champion Rickey Gadson. Engelbrecht blasted across the line in 7,781 seconds, posting the second fastest time in the race.
“This year I’m going with two team members and we hope to win for South Africa,” Engelbrecht said. The 20-year-old will be racing his locally built Kawasaki ZX12R Turbo, which holds the current SA record of 8,12 seconds.
The team that wins the final has the opportunity to host the next year’s competition, and the trio hopes to clinch the team competition and take the final out of the US for the first time ever.