By Dave Abrahams
The annual All Bike Race Day at the Killarney circuit north of Cape Town is exactly what its name suggests - a festival of racing and classic parades just for bikers, including the only Breakfast Run Grand Prix of the year for riders who have never held a competition licence, and the only opportunity for Western Cape enthusiasts to see litre-class machines making pit-stops.
The highlight of the 2013 edition, run on the Day of Reconciliation Monday 16 December, was a one-hour race for bikes of 400cc and bigger, ridden by one or two riders, with a mandatory splash-and-dash pit-stop in the middle.
Newly crowned Regional champion Ronald Slamet put the Mike Hopkins ZX-10R he was to share with former title-holder Malcolm Rapson on pole for the Le Mans start, with World Superstock rider David 'McFlash' McFadden on the Kawasaki ZX-6R that took him to the 2011 SA Supersport title, veteran Roland Wingeier (Kawasaki ZX-10R) and Tyran Simon on the Simon brothers' ZX-10R lining up behind him.
BLINDING START
But when the flag dropped it was Oliver Henderson on Lee Erasmus' Tracking Hardware Suzuki GSX-R750 that came off eighth position in a blinder of a start to lead the field down to the first corner. By the end of lap one, however, normal service had been resumed, with Slamet leading from McFadden, Simon, Henderson and 2013 Powersport champion Warren 'Starfish' Guantario on the Calberg ER6.
McFadden knew he could stay with - but not challenge - Slamet's bigger machine so he tucked in and bided his time, while Simon settled into a solid third. Chris Williams (riding solo on his Suzuki GSX-R750) rapidly moved up from a poor start to slot into fourth, setting the pattern for the rest of the race as Guantario and Henderson jockeyed for fifth while Wingeier, (also solo) moved steadily up through the field after a deliberately conservative start.
McFLASH ON THE CHARGE
After the pit stops Rapson, unfamiliar with the Mike Hopkins ZX-10R's reversed gearshift, was at a disadvantage and McFadden closed in for the kill. The final 20 minutes were electrifying as McFadden consistently outbraked the heavier litre-class bike into the tighter corners, only to lose out on the straights.
The two bikes swopped places at least twice every lap; at one point the gap was down to 0.109sec until, on the final tour, Rapson managed to put a backmarker between them going into the fast, double-apex Malmesbury Sweep. Then he dived past two more going into the final corner, further delaying McFadden and handing Rapson the win by 1.8 seconds - after an hour of flat-out racing!
The Simon ZX-10R came home two laps down, followed by Williams and Erasmus; Wingeier held a steady seventh until the Kawasaki's engine warning light came on just three laps from the end, due to a faulty tilt switch, and it cut out without warning.
Calberg team principal Carl Liebenberg misjudged the ER6's fuel consumption and it ran out of fuel in the final moments after 41 laps - but nobody else completed their 42nd lap until after the flag came down so Guantario and Liebenberg were still classified fifth.
UNLIMITED SUPERBIKES
The premier-class sprint races came down to two superb three-way battles between Slamet, McFadden and Rapson, on his own, more conventional ZX-10R. South Africa's fastest accountant pulled a rocket start from second on the grid to lead the field for almost two laps at the beginning of Race 1, only to be blitzed into Turn 5 on the second time around by the new champion.
Slamet then moved steadily away, posting the fastest lap of the day (1min12.374) on lap four, to win by 6.46 seconds from Rapson and McFadden, with Zane Simon (DMR ZX-10R) a long way adrift in fourth and Andre Calvert (Kawasaki ZX-6R) fifth, 25 seconds off the pace.
Four seconds later Tyran Simon (DMR ZX-10R), Mike Wilhelmi (Fast Fence ZX-10R), Shaun de Jager (Honda CBR1000RR) and Jacques Brits (BMW S1000RR) finished in that order in less than a second.
RACE 2
Slamet got the hole shot in the second race, from McFadden and Rapson, but the 2011 champion powered past McFlash on lap two and ambushed the 'Red Baron' on lap three to take the lead - as did McFadden, relegating the No.1 rider in the Western Cape to third.
That lit a fire under Slamet, who upped the pace by about a second a lap to come home nearly six seconds clear, while McFadden and Rapson put up a splendid dice for second that ended with Rapson 2.2 seconds ahead when it mattered, well clear of Zane Simon, Calvert, Wilhelmi and De Jager.
But the closest finish of the race came when Brits beat Alex van den Berg (Honda CBR600) for eighth by just 0.027sec.
POWERSPORTS/CLASSICS
With Suzuki SV650 pilot Greame Green sidelined by a broken clavicle, this should have been a Warren Guantario benefit. This was the case in Race 1, as Jonny Towers of RST bikewear, winner of the 8 Hours endurance race for 150cc motorcycles two days earlier, was forced out of the race after two laps when his ex-Tevor Westman Kawasaki ER6 developed a misfire.
Guantario then walked way to win by almost six seconds from Wessel Kruger (Kawasaki ZX-12R), Jannie Stander (Galvatech ZX-10R), Lee Erasmus (Suzuki GSX-R750) and Bronte Heinrich (Ducati 996 SPS).
Race 2, however, delivered a surprise as Stander and Kruger powered past Guantario on the opening lap. Guantario immediately struck back, relegating Stander to third on lap three, and spent the rest of the race outbraking the bigger machine into almost every corner, only to be outgunned on the way out.
But he refused to give up, finishing only 0.813sec adrift - with the Kruger muscle-bike just half a second behind him, followed by Lee Erasmus (Tracking Hardware GSX-R750) and Heinrich.
BREAKFAST RUN GRAND PRIX
Arrie Swanepoel's beautifully prepared BMW S1000RR, which has seen a lot of track day action at Killarney, took both legs of the Breakfast Run Grand Prix, kept honest in Race 1 by Ivan Iford (Yamaha R1), Dominique Alrove (Suzuki GSX-R750) and Jacques Ackermann, who put in a phenomenal late charge on his Yamaha R1 to finish just 0.055sec behind Swanepoel.
Top tuner Francois Breedt, owner of RaceBase, borrowed the PJ One ZX-10R from customer David Bolding for the day and was running fourth in the early stages, but dropped back to finish seventh behind Shamier Alexander (Yamaha R6) and David Endicott (Triumph 675 Daytona).
In Race 2 Swanepoel showed that he'd got the hang of this racing thing, knocking a full two seconds off his lap times and romping away to win by almost eight seconds - despite Ackermann starting his late charge on lap three!
Fiford and a rapidly-improving Breedt finished in that order, just 0.197sec apart after a last-lap showdown for third.
CBR 150 CHALLENGE
Jonny Towers, riding the same RST CBR150 that had won the 8 Hours two days earlier, dominated the first race for these little giant-killers, qualifying 1.5 seconds faster than anybody else and pulling away to win by 10 seconds from Alex van den Berg and Tony Sterianos, who put up the dice of the day to finish just 14 thousandths of a second apart after swopping places on almost every lap.
Raymond Alexander, Tyron Koen and Ayden van Rooijen put up similar battle for fourth, finishing in that order in less than a second.
Sterianos, however, found another second a lap for Race 2, blitzed Towers on lap two and held him at bay until the final lap, coming home just 0.206sec adrift with Van den Berg training home third eight seconds later, followed by Van Rooijen and Alexander.
PARADES, MEMORIALS AND PRIVATE DEBATES
The day began with a parade of historic racing motorcycles - including a handful of snarling two-strokes from the golden era of Grand Prix racing, 1980's musclebikes and an arguably inappropriate but nonetheless ultra-rare and very impressive Honda CX500 Turbo.
Event sponsor Mike Hopkins Motorcycles had invited all Triumph riders to take part in a parade during the lunch break, which soon became a private debate between Jenni Abrahams on a 900 Sprint Sport and John Parker's 900 Thruxton as to who could complete the five parade laps first, the result of which was so close that we are waiting for the results of the photo finish.
This was followed by a memorial lap in honour of Riyaath Reynolds, 12, who died in a racing accident at Turn 5 during the 2010 All Bike Race Day. The riders stopped for an emotional-heavy moment of silence at the spot before rumbling back to the pits.