Summarize

Port Elizabeth race fans were treated to a shot of pure power and speed when an action packed double-header first and second round South African National Motorcycle Drag Racing Championship went down at the Aldo Scribante Race Track on Saturday. The bikes were backed by the opening round of Eastern Province Car Drag Racing Championship.

The quickest machines were the wild SS Superbike Shootout motorcycles with no limit on engine and chassis modifications except that the motorcycles need to be no less than 150mm longer than their standard kin. Benoni rider Zafar Hoosen proved the man to beat there, getting his Suzuki down to a most impressive 8.769 second run to take the day from Keith Moonsamy’s BMW by all of 0.078 seconds.

SA champion Reece Robertson ended third on his Suzuki GSX-R with another sub-9-second run ahead of Abbas Brenner’s Suzuki, Jay-R van Wyk riding a Suzuki, Stuart Smith’s BMW and Dayaan Padayachey’s Suzuki.

George O’Keefe ran the quickest time in the SB Superbike Elimination class for modified machines racing on a stock wheelbase with a 9.667 second run riding his Suzuki, 0.025 seconds clear of SA champion Pieter de la Rey on his BMW S1000 RR. Alister Bloy was third on a Kawasaki ZX10 with BMW duo Byron and Jevon Johnson next up ahead of Stephen Lottering’s Kawasaki 600 and Irvine Brunders on a BMW.

The national bikes were backed up by a healthy field of local car entries with the quickest competitors challenging to break the 10-second barrier. Herman Mostert came closest with a 10.280 second run in his mad 1980 box Toyota Corolla 2JZ with Brendon Parsons’ current model Audi TT RS next up at 10.427 seconds and Craig Lawrence third at 10.776 seconds in his Porsche.

Several drivers ran 11-second quarters, with the quickest of those being Yazir Hart (Golf) in an 11.257 second run, Clayton Daniels (Audi S3) at 11.297 seconds and Nazeem Sirkhotte (Honda V-Tec) at 11.497 seconds. Class winners included Nezam Losper (Golf 1), Yazir Hart, Donovan Volsloo (Scirocco), JP Peens (Polo), Nazeem Sirkhotte, Aran Mayne (Civic), Brendon Parsons, Mile Lewis (Escort V6), Jacques Klaase (Jaguar), Craig Lawrence and Herman Mostert.

Race action returns to Aldo Scribante with the second round of the Eastern Province regional and AMSC Club races Saturday 9 March.