WPMC – KILLARNEY POWER SERIES 1

After ten years it has become customary to introduce the regional race meetings at Killarney International Raceway as another round of the Wingfield Motors Power Series.

Oom Johnny van Niekerk was an institution in Western Province Motorsport. A founder member of the Cape Helldrivers, sponsor of more drivers than even he could remember and the face of regional racing for the past decade. A big man with an even bigger heart ……………..
Traditionally racing in February is associated with extremely warm temperatures and the 3 February 2024 Festival of Speed certainly started the racing season on familiar terms. The Laude Classic Cars, Kaltron Supercars and Kaltron Fine Cars opening their championship accounts in association with the visiting Historic Grand Prix Car Association.

Pirelli V8 Masters 2×8 Laps
Memories of a tap and spin festival at Goodwood Showgrounds manifested itself before the V8 Masters reached Hoals Hoek for the first time as they seemed intent on removing the opposition rather than racing them.

Sean Moore, 73 Ziegler Logistics APV347is, said thank you and set off on a comfortable cruise to victory followed home by an undercover Fabio Tafani, driving the 29 Campos Transport APV347is of Rui Campos and Allister Brown in the 22 NAC Helicopters APV347is. Marcel Angel fourth in a somewhat shorter 14 Autohaus Angel APV347is and Menno Parsons fifth.

Do not believe Owen Ashley intended a colourful field being an all sorts of body panels on the normally “clean” APV347is entries but compliments to Richard Quixley and his team for managing to get everyone ready for the second heat.

Marcel Angel beating Sean Moore home by 0.517sec with Allister Brown third and Jason Ibbotson fourth. Fabi Tafani fifth and Brandon Dean sixth. A scrappy effort from the Masters but Sean Moore would have enjoyed overall victory from Marcel Angel and Allister Brown with Fabio Tafani, Menno Parson and Brandon Dean completing the top six.

MGA Racing Clubmans – Classics – Breakfast Run MC 2×9 Laps
Piers Canute found himself in a two heat fight with Tyla Webber that saw them split by a scant 0.340 past the chequered flag after nine laps in heat one with Paul Rulu third, a returning Wessel Kruger fourth, JP Schemers fifth and Willem Louw sixth. Greg Waddington exiting proceedings in Turn two on the opening lap.

Race two once saw Piers and Tyla resume their tussle for the lead but after having just won the first heat Tyla started the second race too eagerly and found himself 30 seconds slower when André Grewe waved the flag after anther entertaining nine laps.
Wessel Kruger has not raced since 2018 and with JP Schemers now racing with his favourite number 63 he opted for 163 and certainly showed that he had lost none of his ability by bringing his Classic SBK Angry teddy Bear Racing Suzuki Slingshot home second with JP Schemers third. Willem Louw fourth, a disappointed Tyla Webber fifth and a very lively Lubabalo Ntisana sixth.
Overall MGA Racing Clubman victory going to Piers Canute, 77 Project 60 Yamaha R6, with Wessel Kruger 2nd aboard his MGA Racing Classic SBK 163 Suzuki Slingshot and in third JP Schemers on his 63 Bad Bee Racing Honda CBR 1000 RR. Tyla Webber fourth on the 76 Danie Maritz Racing Suzuki GSXR 750, Willem Louw fifth aboard his 86 Kawasaki ZX6R and sixth going to Paul Rulu on his 15 Quick P.O.S. Kawasaki ZX10R. Ryan Smuts taking MGA Racing Breakfast Run honours on his 30 Honda CBR 1000.

Le Joubert Sport & GT Cars 2×10 Laps
Dawie Joubert continues to develop his unique Rembrandt Racing 18S Lotus Exige – Ferrari 488 Lotari and though he only qualified third on the grid consistency paid off and an overall victory was achieved. Dayne Angel celebrating his return to racing with a fighting second in the 51S Autohaus Angel Ferrari 488 GT3 and the neat looking 7A Porsche 992 GT3 Cup of Noël Greyling nabbing third on debut.

Charl Visser impressive enroute to fourth in his 33A Charl Electrical Engineering Porsche GT3 3.8 and André Brink fifth in his mean looking 48B Porsche GT3 Cup 3.8. The top six completed by Connor Kilbride in his wild 42C BMW E30. Renzo Torrente taking the class D victory in his 86D ATM Chiptuning BMW M4 GT4.

Encouraging to see 21 teams qualifying and a number of new combinations joining. Oliver Hintenaus certainly looking at home in his well prepared and well driven 76C Coastal BMW M3 3.2 and hopefully Richard de Roos will soon be three wheeling his 44D Porsche 911 3.8 around Killarney.

Steve Humble set the quickest time during qualifying but the 91A Harp Motorsport Pilbeam MP91 LMP2 was not making sweet music whilst Francis Carruthers tried his hand at Rally X with the 69A Harp Motorsport Pilbeam MP84 3.5 in Interceptor. Vance Kearney also discovered that the 17D VW Nash MV W3 becomes a very effective sand scoop in Fastron.

Superbikes – SBK Challenge – Masters – 600cc MC 2×9 Laps
Kewyn Snyman continued his dominance aboard the 19 Missile Motorcycles Honda CBR1000 at the head of the Superbike category but the fight for second made this the highlight of the day as Slade van Niekerk, A.J.Venter, Malcolm Rapson and Tristin Pienaar, Ronald Slamet and Jayson Linaker gave it their all.

Greg Waddington and the Lekka Racing Yamaha R1 ended their day with a not so lekka accident into Castrol on the opening lap and then the 68 RSRA Kawasaki ZX10R of Ronald Slamet faded whilst A.J.Venter just pipped Slade van Niekerk to second spot. Blink and you missed Tristin Pienaar and Malcolm Rapson past the flag with Jayson Linaker following.

Heat two was more of the same with Kewyn Snyman leading Slade van Niekerk, A.J.Venter. Tristin Pienaar, Ronald Slamet, Jason Linaker and a tiring Malcolm Rapson across the finish line. The most entertaining category of regional racing sadly still the only not sporting a title sponsorship?

Overall the Superbike winner was Kewyn Snyman (19 Missile Motorcycles Honda CBR1000RR) with Slade van Niekerk (111 Project 60 Kawasaki ZX10R) second and A.J.Venter (39 Vault Markets Kawasaki ZX10R) third, just 0.31sec separating these two after 18 laps of fantastic racing!

Tristin Pienaar (50 BMW S1000RR) fought a hard battle aboard a very lively machine to nab fourth with Malcolm Rapson the first Master home aboard his 46 Racebase Suzuki GSXR1000 in fifth. Malcolm had everything on the ground through Fastron, boots, elbows, knees and if there were more laps he would have tried helmet too! Jason Linaker shorting a few horses on his 93 RST Honda CBR1000? Brilliant racing!

Hilton Redelinghuys took the Superbike Challenge category with Wayne Arendse (33 The JJ Smith Trust Kawasaki ZX10R) second, Gerhard Vrey (21 SAC Kawaasaki ZX10R) third and Jonathan Schwerin (67 Project 60 Kawasaki ZX10R) fourth. Leighton Thomas (55 Unbuntu Movers Kawasaki ZX10R) fifth and Daniel Frost (28 CHW Designs Honda CBR 1000) a cautious sixth.

Mike Hunter cleaned up in the 600cc category with a fine ride aboard his 37 LLG Properties Kawasaki ZX6R with Samkelo Liwani second on his 49 Yamaha YZF6.

Batt Tech STC 650 – SSP 300 MC 2×9 Laps
Jamie Hall owned the Batt Tech STC 650 category aboard his MGA Racing Kawasaki ER650 with Matthew van Niekerk (92 Bulldog racing Suzuki SV650) and Braddon Hutchings (74 HSC Racing Kawasaki ER650) disputing second place. Keegan Wasserfall (89 Full Send Racing Kawasaki ER65) quietly riding to fourth overall and Abdul Essack (2 Suzuki SV650) fifth.

Adrian Solomon (4 The Pool King Kawasaki Ninja 400) still the man to beat in the Batt Tech SSP300 category with Raymond Alexander (11 Rayden Cycles Kawasaki Ninja 300) in hot pursuit. Abigail Bosson (51 Ateka Yamaha YZF R3) third and Mitch Robinson (71 Mag Workshop Kawasaki Ninja 400) fourth. Mitch had to start last on the grid in both heats after his bike was found to be two kilograms too light! Mario ferreira traded his big class BMW for a 44 Promar Projects KTM 390 RC and finished fifth on debut.

API Property Group GTi Challenge 2×8 Laps
Rubbing is racing and it is still very much present in the Api Property Group GTi Challenge where class A saw Marco Busi claim the first heat from Nathan Victor, Dillon Joubert, Jeandré Marais, Ian Kapp, Schalk Geldenhuys, Clinton Bezuidenhout and Jurie Swart. The order indicating that contact was made along the way.

Heat two was more of the same with Jurie Swart taking first from Marco Busi, Nathan Victor, Clinton Bezuidenhout, Dillon Joubert, Jeandré Marais, Ian Kapp and Schalk Geldenhuys.

Overall Marco Busi (41A Simtech Motorsport VW Polo 6) just beating Nathan Victor (71A Summit Racing VW Polo 6) with Dillon Joubert (44A Tacksteel VW Polo 6) third, Clinton Bezuidenhout (57A Progress Precision Engineering VW Polo 6) fourth, Jeandré Marais (95A Summit Racing VW Polo 6) fifth and Ian Kapp (65A Hydracor Hydraulics VW Polo 6) in sixth spot. Jurie Swart (39A Alpine Autohaus VW Polo 6) and Schalk Geldenhuys (10A G&A Motorsport VW Polo 6) taking the biggest hits on the day whilst Kai van Zyl (34 Origen Oil VW Polo 6) never made it past qualifying.

Ryan van Eden (28B RVE Digital Marketing VW Polo 6) took class B from Zaki Hendricks (7A Wheelworx Mag VW Polo 6) and John-Henri Vaughan (32B VW Polo). Mario Roux (17B Automar Automotive Selling VW Polo) fourth with Daniel Sandenbergh (49B Eikestad Panelbeaters VW Polo) fifth and Marc Thompson (81B VW Polo) sixth.

Dylan van Eden (55C Century Karting VW Golf MkI) winning class C from Dario Busi (62C Automan Fitment Centre VW Golf MkI) with Zac Laden (64C Angri VW Golf MkI) third, Mark Fontini (31C Goch & Cooper VW Golf MkI) fourth, Daniel Munna (33C Api Property Group VW Golf MkI) fifth and Tristan Joubert (90C Powder Coating World VW Golf MkI) sixth.

Reza Levy (45C Jive VW Golf MkI) certainly the most spectacular retirement when he nearly flipped over his departing right rear wheel into Hoals Hoek.

Formula Libre 2×10 Laps
Dee-Jay Booysen (20S Dico FVW Reynard) was made to work for his victory by Storm Lanfear (27S Mantellis FVW Reynard). The FVee category entertaining with Zane Amundsen (30 Alpha Precision Lantis) 0.65sec ahead of Kelly Fletcher (22 Dolphin Racing Team Forza) after twenty laps. Donovan Ramsay 995 Kerston Foods Sting) third and 15 year old “Driver of the Day” Joshua Smit (83 S&S Racing Rhema) fourth. Cyril Somerville (61 Liqui Moly Rhema) fifth and James Beaumont (8 iSquared Technologies Forza) sixth.

Thermo Fires Clubman Saloons 2×8 Laps
Kyle Visser (337X Charl Electrical Engineering VW Polo 6) claimed overall victory on debut with Steven Heydenrych (10A Autopro Nissan Skyline) second and the one and only Jess Huggett (70A Rico Barlow Racing VW Jetta) third. Jaco Lambert (29X VW Polo) claiming fourth from Baby Jacobs (42X Executive Decisions BMW M3) and JP Share (102B Bester Tegniese Dienste BMW E36) sixth.

Oliver Hintenaus (76A Coastal BMW E36 M3 3.2) was in fine form, only to record a 1min 20.710 time in Heat one which saw him disqualified from the result and effectively banned from racing until Round 5. Steven Heydenrych almost following suit with a best time of 1min21.189. Both would be welcome additions to Sports & GT where they can run wide open?

Gary Smith won class C in his 68C Truckport Logistics BMW 530 whilst Dexter Bruce claimed class D in his 143D A&K Auto BMW E36. Evert du Toit winning class E in his mighty 651E New Engineering Ford Falcon whilst his New Engineering team mate 64A Michael le Sueur tried three wheeling his Golf home. Adam Omar winning class F in his 24F VW Golf Citi.

Summary
Pleasant weather and encouraging entries in each category started the year on a positive note. The Superbikes stealing the show with a brilliant tussle for second spot whilst the Masters made the GTi Challenge seem tame on the day. Oliver Hintenaus the most impressive driver on the day? Open to debate as there were some impressive efforts in most categories.

Published by: Patrick Vermaak

MSA Publishes media releases from a host of different sources on our website as a service to the sport. It is not practically possible to vet/approve every release that is published. Some news items and articles are written by correspondents and do not necessarily represent MSA’s views.