Carel du Toit Benefit Race 8 Sept 2007

Boxers pummel EL circuit

By RODNEY HILES

AS part of the Carel du Toit Benefit inaugural motorcycle rally in East London at the weekend, the BMW Boxer Cup Championship Series was invited to participate.

Boxer Cup co-ordinator Henk Schuiling saw it as a great opportunity to slip in an extra championship round and to enjoy the thrill of the East London circuit again.

In addition, local competitors were invited to participate and add to the enjoyment, while current National Superbike Championship leader Arushen Moodley and national 600cc rider, Kyle Vianello, both from Port Elizabeth, joined the fun.

Boxer Cup is a single model championship competition in which all competitors are on similar BMW 2-cylinder motorcycles and they are generally no match for multi-cylinder Japanese machines.
However, in the right hands, the slower BMWs can be highly competitive as was seen on Saturday.
There was never a doubt that Moodley, Jayson Lamb, Chris van Vuuren and others would outclass the BMs, but 23-year-old Danie Stassen from Nelspruit made life difficult for locals Pierre le Roux and Shane Hempel on 1000cc Kawasakis as well as Vianello and Robert Morf on their 600s.
Stassen made his BMW do tricks many top riders only dream of.

Further back the battle for 9th place had its own competition with BMW riders Quinton van Wyk, Wian Erasmus, Eric Robinson and Aran van Niekerk keeping rally-participants and other spectators on their feet with scary side-by-side tactics into corners.

Positions changed and it was impossible to predict the final outcome. However, Van Wyk triumphed in heat 1, ahead of Erasmus and Robinson. Le Roux squeezed in ahead of Stassen, followed by Vianello, Hempel and Morf.

Van Vuuren did not make it to heat 2, which was again dominated by the devastatingly quick Moodley, followed by Lamb, then a very determined Vianello who pushed in ahead of Stassen, but this time with Hempel close behind the fast BMW rider.

Le Roux had to settle for 6th, ahead of Morf, but the BMW brigade fighting for 8th place again produced breathtaking action with spectacular consequences.

First Chris Marais turned on the gas too soon exiting Beacon Bend onto the Main Straight on lap 3, and dumped his machine on the outside of the corner. But he was soon back in the saddle and lost only four seconds.

Then came the “off” of the day when, on the final lap, a determined Van Wyk took his front tyre beyond its adhesion limit in the Sweep, slid off the circuit and struck the tyre-wall behind Water World, which in turn propelled the bike another 30 metres along the embankment while losing its seat, fairings and fuel tank. Van Wyk emerged with a sore thumb and a small grass-burn on the back of his neck.

Celebrations continued long into the night after a combined prize-giving for competitors and rallyists who all joined in the spirit of the fund-raiser, making it an event worth remembering and also ensuring it grows into an annual spectacular.