The second round of the Red Square Kawasaki ZX-10R Masters Cup 2017 Championship season delivered very fast paced action right from the start. Joining the first round of the Extreme Festival on Human Rights day, a public holiday, promised to be a special day. And so it was with a great spectator turnout and action aplenty for all.
Red Square Kawasaki ZX-10R Masters Cup – Round 2 – 21 March 2017 – Zwartkops Raceway
A few surprises saw a much faster Gareth Bezuidenhout in his rookie year in the club challenging for the lead and overall championship and new found pace from Jaco Gous joining that challenge. The club also welcomed two new racers, Mmusapelo Seate and Greg Whyte, to the fold.
Qualifying
The first welcome surprise for the day saw season newcomer Gareth Bezuidenhout putting his bike on pole in qualifying. He was followed by Graeme van Breda and Sven Grune locking out the front row of the grid in third. Jaco Gous qualified in fourth and Teddy Brooke would line up alongside him in fifth position. Brian Bontekoning would line up in sixth completing the top six qualifiers.
Unfortunately Superpole got cancelled due to the track being cleaned after an oil spillage during qualifying for the racecar categories.
Race 1
Gareth Bezuidenhout was quickest off the line taking an early lead in the race
As the first race got underway it was Stewart Christie (Eastern Veterinary Hospital) that got it all wrong and dropped the bike on the start. The race was immediately red flagged. A fortunate Christie who escaped injury picked up his bike but had to retire to the pits due to a too damaged bike. The restart delivered the next pleasant surprise for the day. Gareth Bezuidenhout was quickest off the line taking an early lead in the race. Graeme van Breda (IVID/ Reef Supplies/ Elco Electrical) slotted into second followed by Sven Grune and Jaco Gous (Central Propshaft Springs). Next in line was Brian Bontekoning (Moyair) with Teddy Brooke (Brooke Regrigeration) hot on his heels. Alan Ryan led the rest of the pack.
The pace at the front was fast and furious with the top 3 dipping times into the high 1:04’s. On lap 3 it was Sven Grune that put in the fastest lap for the day at 1:04.416 as he tried to pass a very busy van Breda looking for that opening to pass a flying Bezuidenhout. That opportunity presented itself on lap 8 when Bezuidenhout slowed for a backmarker. Van Breda grabbed the lead as he dived underneath Bezuidenhout’s in turn 2. For Grune it was a missed opportunity as he followed Bezuidenhout and also slowed for the backmarker. They finished the race with van Breda taking the win from Bezuidenhout and Grune in third.
Further afield saw another battle between Bontekoning, Brooke and Gous with Bontekoning eventually finishing in fourth. Behind them it was Sanjiv Singh (Double Apex) Andre van Vollenstee (Stunt SA) in their own battle. Keeping a close eye on them and waiting for a mistake was Alan Ryan followed by Appanna Ganapathy (ART Racing). Singh manged to finish in seventh ahead of van Vollenstee. Ganapathy eventually got the better of Ryan finishing in ninth overall.
Behind them was a group of five to six bikes in another highly contested battle being led by Henk Schuiling (Air Systems Racing). It was a hard charging Greg Bezuidenhout (J&Y Graphix) that tried a last turn manoeuvre to successfully overtake Schuiling. It was however the experience of Schuiling that ensured he had the power to out drag Bezuidenhout with but 0.097 of a second separating the two over the line! Finishing in fifteenth was Rodney McLachlan (Count Air) doing all he could to keep newcomer Greg Whyte (Fluid Control Services) at bay.
Top 10 finishers overall in Race 1
Sven Grune put in the fastest lap for the day at 1:04.416
Pos
No.
Class
Name
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
41
22
1
16
43
93
12
82
77
21
A
A
B
B
A
C
B
C
A
C
Graeme van Breda
Gareth Bezuidenhout
Sven Grune
Brian Bontekoning
Jaco Gous
Teddy Brooke
Sanjiv Singh
Andre van Vollenstee
Appanna Ganapathy
Alan Ryan
Race 2
Gous passing the other front row contenders on the outside of turn 1
The fast paced race 1 most certainly set the tone for race 2. As the lights went out it was no surprise to see van Breda quickest off the line refusing to be caught napping again. The third surprise of the day however came from a hard charging Jaco Gous passing the other front row contenders on the outside of turn 1 to slot in behind van Breda in second place. Hot on his heals would be Gareth Bezuidenhout, Teddy Brooke and Sven Grune.
An unfortunate incident in turn 2 saw Teddy Brooke go down after a shunt as he turned in. This caused Bontekoning to run wide onto the gravel. Newcomer Greg Whyte also dropped his bike taking Peter Clark and Andre van Vollenstee with him. Whyte was taken to hospital where he was later cleared of any serious injury. Clark and van Vollenstee also retired to the pits. Turn 2 was cleared so fast by the marshals that it was not necessary for the race to be stopped this time round.
As they came around after completing the first lap it was Van Breda leading the race with Gous in hot pursuit in second place. Searing down on him was Gareth Bezuidenhout looking for a gap to pass. A little further back was Grune in fourth closing the gap between the two directly in front of him. Gous maintained his second spot until lap 7 when he got caught behind a backmarker. This time round it would be Bezuidenhout taking full advantage of the situation by passing Gous through turn 3. Having learned from his bad experience in race 1 Grune followed the faster guy in front and also shot past Gous.
On the penultimate lap Grune also passed Bezuidenhout for second overall. But this would come too late as van Breda ensured a gap of over a second as leader of the race to take the overall win in race 2 and a solid performance for the day. Gous finished in a disappointing yet respectable fourth position behind third placed man Gareth Bezuidenhout.
Behind the front runners the next battle was between Singh and Ganapathy. Further afield saw yet another group of bikes led by Henk Schuiling in their own battle. Also in the mix was a hard charging Bontekoning putting in the one consistent lap after the other as he passed the others to make up for the turn 2 incident. He would eventually make his way up to a comfortable fifth overall position. This left Singh and Ganapathy to fight for sixth overall. It was Ganapathy that eventually got past Singh for this position and Singh finishing in seventh overall.
During all this action Schuiling was put under more pressure by a determined Alan Ryan and Jannie Odendaal (Lesavert). To keep them on their toes they were followed closely by Rodney McLachlan, Jonty Collard (Pappa’z Ovens) and Greg Bezuidenhout. This time round it was Ryan that pipped Schuiling for eight overall with only 0.050 of a second separating the two across the line!
That left Odendaal to finish in tenth overall in race 2 after passing McLachlan and Collard. McLachlan finished in eleventh overall with Collard and Greg Bezuidenhout following him closely over the line for twelve and thirteenth respectively. Wayne Spicer (Wellness Group) would finish in fourteenth and Ian Harwood (TRP Distributors/ Berik) would complete the top fifteen finishers.
Top 10 finishers overall in Race 2
A solid performance by van Breda saw him take the overall win for the day
Pos
No.
Class
Name
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
41
1
22
43
16
77
12
21
69
14
A
B
A
A
B
A
B
C
B
B
Graeme van Breda
Sven Grune
Gareth Bezuidenhout
Jaco Gous
Brian Bontekoning
Appanna Ganapathy
Sanjiv Singh
Alan Ryan
Henk Schuiling
Jannie Odendaal
Final Results:
Class A
Pos.
No.
Name
1
2
3
41
22
43
Graeme van Breda
Gareth Bezuidenhout
Jaco Gous
Season newcomers Themba and Seate was caught up in their own battle
Class B
Pos.
No.
Name
1
2
3
1
16
12
Sven Grune
Brian Bontekoning
Sanjiv Singh
Class C
Pos.
No.
Name
1
2
3
21
42
23
Alan Ryan
Rodney McLachlan
JB Schoeman
The next round of the championship will head to the popular motorcycle racing circuit of Red Star Raceway just east of Delmas on 29 April 2017.
The Red Square Kawasaki ZX-10R Masters Cup is a one make racing series featuring standard Kawasaki ZX-10R Superbikes and one make tyres namely Bridgestone. Remaining one of the largest and most successful motorcycle racing categories in South Africa it is classed as a National Challenge and divided into three classes: Masters for riders 35 to 42 years of age, Veterans for riders 43 to 50 years of age and Senior Veterans for rider 51 years of age and up. For more information on the Red Square Kawasaki ZX-10R Masters Cup visit their website: zx10cup.co.za
For media enquiries and high resolution photographs please contact Paul Blackburn from RacePics.co.za – Cell: 082 900 6443 and Email:paul@racepics.co.za
