BoxerCup SA Race Report
East London Wesbank Super Series Triton Express All Bike Race Day
Thursday's practice started with much enthusiasm. Everyone was eager to get on to the track after the cancelled Polokwane race.
The weather was perfect and set the scene for some great racing on Saturday.
It was decided that BoxerCup would race with the m Cubed Racing, Battle of the Twins (Botts). The main reason for this was to accommodate the ZX10 Masters cup. The ZX 10 Masters cup ended up not racing on Saturday, which was just as well as the programme was very tight and had not really allowed for any incidents happening on the day.
The wind was howling on Friday and gave a very interesting dynamic to racing on the fastest track in the country, otherwise it was another perfect day in East London.
Friday's practice sessions saw Polokwane rider Wian Erasmus, Lyndhurst Motorrad, on a BMW R1100S, posting the fastest times in the BoxerCup, followed closely by Lowveld rider, Danie Stassen, SJW Motors, on a BMW R1200S. In hot pursuit was another Polokwane rider, Eric Robinson, Fast Bikes followed by Pretoria riders, Quintin van Wyk, SJW Motors and Henk Schuiling, Air Systems.
The BoxerCup times represented respectable 14th to 23rd out of the then field of 32, made up of Ducatis and Aprillias.
Qualifying
Qualifying saw Danie Stassen take pole for BoxerCup and a very respectable 11th place on the grid, followed by Wian Erasmus and Quintin van Wyk, 13th and 14th place respectively on the grid. That was followed by Eric Robinson in 18th, Henk Schuiling in 22nd, Lowveld rider Chris Marais, MEPS, 24th, Polokwane rider Benoist Ollivier, Silicon Smelters, 26th, Cape Town rider Tony Sparg, Auto Atlantic Motorrad / Aqua Clear, 30th. Polokwane rider Martello van Tonder, Martello Civils, had to settle starting from the back of the grid due to being penalised for his race number not being visible.
Some riders had some fun going off the track onto the grass as they tried to get to grips with this fast track, but fortunately no damage done.
Race 1
The start of the first race saw a lot of riders not getting off the mark as they would have wanted to, posing a hair raising scenario for some of the riders that had to avoid the stallers. East London's grid is extremely narrow and makes for a very close side by side start.
Spectators were treaded to some very close racing indeed between the Beemers, Ducatis and Aprillias. The Boxers often out braking their rivals and out cornering the Italian bikes. The BMWs are on par with the air cooled Ducatis but have a serious power disadvantage compared to the rest of the Italian bikes.
Chris Marais nearly had a close encounter of the Ducati kind when Peter Bosch's bike came back across the track after Peter went off the track at Rifle. Sean Olfsen passed Chris only to slam into the riderless bike, taking himself out in the process.
The boxers normally hit the rev limiter in 6th gear at Rifle at a speed of about 235 km/h. Chris was shaken but not stirred. The safety car came out and everyone followed the safety car for 3 laps while medics attended to Peter and Sean and the rack was cleaned, before racing could commence.
The first race saw Danie Stassen in the lead of the boxers and 10th in the Botts, Wian 2nd and 14th respectively, Quintin 3rd and 18th, Henk Schuiling 4th and 19th, Martello fighting his way from the back of the grid to a 5th and 20th, Benoist Ollivier 6th and 21st, Chris Marais 7th and 22nd, Tony Sparg 8th and 25th, and Christo Coetzee, SJW Motors, 9th and 28th. Eric had to settle watching the race when his bike encountered fuel pump problems in the first lap.
Race 2
The start of the second race was even more hectic than the first and saw more stalled riders, start line accidents, narrow escapes and some riders going of the track at Potters, another reason why balls are required for potters. Spectators were once again treaded to some of the most awesome racing of the day.
The first BoxerCup positions were once again taken by the trio of Danie, Wian and Quintin in 11th, 12th and 14th respectively followed by Eric, 18th, who's bike was repaired between races with a helping hand of Henk, Martello 19th, Benoist 21st, Henk 22nd whose bike suffered a broken rear sub frame mounting but managed to finish the race, Chris 23rd, Tony 25th, and Christo 27th. BoxerCup results not too shabby in the total field of 35 Botts and BoxerCup bikes.
Overall
Over results were Danie, Wian, Quintin, Martello, Benoist, Henk, Chris, Tony, Christo and Eric. Both Botts and BoxerCup racers agreed that everyone had interesting exciting racing and had a lot of fun and enjoyment from pitting the German bikes to the Italian bikes.
TV Coverage
Remember to catch all the action on Trackside SuperSport 2 on Thursday evening and on 2Wheels SuperSport 2 on Monday evening.
Come watch the next exciting BoxerCup racing at Zwartkops on July 28.
Championship scoring will be posted on www.myracing.co.za website later in the week.
Have an ass kickin awesome week
Henk
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