Once a year each racing discipline at Cape Town’s Killarney circuit gets a bye – if not there would be more races on the programme than could be run in a day! – and this Saturday it’s the turn of the Superbikes, which puts the Clubmans motorcycles in the spotlight for once, in particular one of the closest-fought and most exciting championships you’ll see anywhere.
Don’t let the name fool you; Powersport racing isn’t for heavyweight musclebikes – it’s about agile midweight machines with no more than 45-50kW, carving each other up into and out of every corner, and the races are so close that very often they are decided by who’s latest on the brakes into the final corner.
It’s open to three widely varied categories: 250cc two-strokes, 400cc four-cylinder four-strokes and, more recently, 650cc four-stroke twins - and the twins are setting the pace this season.
At the previous meeting, the opening round of the 2013 series, Warren ‘Starfish’ Guantario on the Total Control SV650 beat teenage hotshot Hayden Jonas’ similar Suzuki by eight tenths of a second in Race 1 (and that was actually the biggest gap between them all day!) after swopping the lead on almost every lap.
In Race 2, however, Jonas got the better of a thrilling showdown to win by 0.086 sec (that’s about half the width of a wheel).
CALBERG TWINS
But they won’t have things all their own way. Father-and-son team Carl and Andrew Liebenberg ran the new Calberg ER6 parallel twins in anger for the first time at the previous meeting, with the bikes essentially still in street trim. Nevertheless, Carl pulled off a third and a fifth, while Andrew finished sixth and eighth respectively in the day’s two races.
A satisfied Liebenberg Sr said afterwards, “Now we know what we need to do,” and if previous performances in the F800 Class are anything to go by, the bikes will be very much more competitive this weekend.
However, if there’s a dark horse to keep an eye on, it’s the experienced John Pienaar, out for the first time on a rare (and potentially very quick) Honda NSR250 SP prepared by WOA Racing.
CLUBMANS
In the absence of Dean Heinrich, who aced the Clubmans Class in both races last time out, this category will be settled between Wessel Kruger (Honda CBR600 F3), Hylton Ball (BMW F800) and Mandy Peake on the Fast by Fran VTR1000.
Ms Peake has set some impressive lap times this year but has been battling to launch the big V-twin (not uncommon with this model). If she gets a good start, however, she could show the boys the way home.
VINTAGE SUPERBIKES
There are two surprise entries in the Vintage Superbike class this weekend. Class stalwart Tony Jones’ Cagiva Alazzurra won’t be ready so he’ll be out there on an ultra-rare Ducati 1000cc Paul Smart Replica - and it’s worth the price of admission just to see (and hear) this near-legendary machine in full flight, while 1990’s contender Peter Beldekeno returns after a long absence, aboard a Suzuki GSX-R750 Pre-Sling.