Boxers give Thunderbikes a run for their money!

Zwartkops 29/09/2007 Pro Tour Race Day

Zwartkops was once again a hive of activity over the weekend with the Pro Tour Cars, ZX10 Cup, Thunderbikes and BoxerCup racing.

This was the first race meeting for BoxerCup at Zwartkops since the track resurfacing. The track is still smooth but grip levels are up, this was reflected in the lap times of bikes in both the ZX10 Cup, Thunderbikes and BoxerCup. Wian Erasmus did a best lap time of 1'09.8" in race 1 proving that grip levels were quite acceptable. Once again the BoxerCup riders had a lot of fun. Due to Thursday's downpours and some rain on Friday, most thought that we would end up having wet races, but the Universe was kind and gave us great weather for racing.

Qualifying
Qualifying saw 1100 Championship leader, Wian Erasmus, Lyndhurst Motorrad, on a BMW R1100S, giving the Superbikes and 600 cc bikes a run for their money by placing himself 6th on the grid of 24 bikes. Danie Stassen, SJW Motors, placed himself 10th on the grid with the BMW 1200S, hot on his heels was Quintin van Wyk, SJW Motors, on a R1100S in 12 position.

Race1
Race 1 saw Quintin van Wyk with a brief jump start, stopping and ending up with a bad start. Racing was exciting with all the boxers giving the much faster Thunderbikes a hard time. Wian Erasmus managed a very respectable 8th position, Danie Stassen in 10th, Quintin van Wyk in 11th, BoxerCup organiser Henk Schuiling, Air Systems, in 13th and Chris Marais, Meps Fencing, in 17th. In the BoxerCup results it was Wian Erasmus, Danie Stassen, Quintin van Wyk, Henk Schuiling, Chris Marais and Christo Coetzee, SJW Motors on a R1200S in 6th place.

Race 2
Everyone was doing about a second slower in the second race for some or other reason. Never the less, spectators got value for their money with some daring passes with the late braking and fast cornering boxers. Danie Stassen and Wian Erasmus gave some very exciting spectator value by changing the lead, often a few times per lap and the more experienced Wian, eventually beating Danie to the finish line with some very late braking on turn 8 before the pit straight.

On the shorter twisty tracks like Zwartkops the 1200 does not have the same advantage as on the longer faster tracks like Kyalami, Phakisa and East London and Wian took full advantage of this.

Wian managed 7th and Danie 8th place in the Thunderbikes with Quintin van Wyk 10th, Henk Schuiling 13th, Chris Marais 17th and Christo in 22 place.

All racers agreed that it was a lot of fun and excitement with the boxers giving the Thunderbikes more than they bargained on.

Championship Standings
In the 1100 Club Championship standings Wian Erasmus leads with 290 points and is set to take the Ultimate Riders Championship as well, Quintin van Wyk 2nd with 226 points and Henk Schuiling with 183 points. Danie Stassen leads the 1200 Club Championship with 270 points. If the series is scored based on finishing position irrespective of bike then Wian leads with 290 points, Danie with 241 points, Quintin with 190 points and Henk with 162 points.

Next Race
There's been a lot of track and race shuffling due to races being cancelled because of track surfaces. A solution to this was found to include BoxerCup with other race groups. This has led to a lot of exhilarating racing with Ducatis, Hondas, Suzukis and a lot of other makes in Botts and Thunderbikes. The next BoxerCup race is on the 13th of October at Kyalami and racing with Regional racing in the Botts class.

2008
BoxerCup will be doing a name change for next year to accommodate the new BMW F800S. This is bound to bring back a lot of the old riders and spectacular dices. The envisaged format would be a separate F800S series in the Cape and a separate F800S and R1100S series on the reef. 4 or 5 races will be combined between the Cape Town boys and the reef riders, many of which come from Polokwane and Nelspruit to declare a National Club Champion in the F800S class. More information will be posted on www.myracing.co.za in the next few weeks.