A star is born at Zwartkops thriller

Published Mar 5, 2012

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The WesBank Super Series got off to a stirring start at the Zwartkops Raceway near Pretoria at the weekend, with red-blooded action in all seven national championship classes and the arrival of a new rising star.

If there was a 'Man of the Meeting' award it would certainly go to young Cape Town rider Dave 'McFlash' McFadden. McFadden, the reigning SA Supersport champion, went out in the unlimited SA Superbike class for the fist time on a privateer Kawasaki ZX-10R and completely overshadowed double champion Greg Gildenhuys, on the works BMW S1000RR, and the and the rest of the field, to take an emphatic double victory and walk way with a perfect 50 points from the first round of the season.

SUPERBIKES

McFadden, now under the wing of former multiple SA champion Greg Dreyer, completely dominated both heats, while Chris Leeson, also a former Supersport champion and out for the first time on a Ducati Panigale, relegated Gildenhuys to third in Race 1.

The roles were reversed in the second outing, as Gildenhuys came in ahead of Leeson. McFadden has, however, thrown down the gauntlet to the rest of the Superbike brigade.

SUPERSPORT

Predictions that the Supersport championship would this season be dominated by the works Honda squad looked to be spot on as they filled the podium places in both heats with Clinton Seller, second to McFadden in the 2011 championship, also scoring a double.

In Race 1 Seller led home teenager Brent Harran and veteran Lance Isaacs who went from first to third on the final lap. Race 2 saw Isaacs second behind Seller with another teenager, Cam Petersen, taking third.

PRODUCTION CARS

It was also a good day for the BMW team in the premier Class A of the Production Car series as Etienne van der Linde marked his return to full-time racing with a win, a second and a fourth. Team mate Anthony Taylor went one better with a win, a second and third.

Van der Linde and reigning champion Michael Stephen (Audi) shared wins in the two back-to-back eight-lap sprints that preceded a 16 lapper which brought the curtain down on the days racing. Over the longer distance Taylor led home early leader van der Linde who finished the race with rear bodywork dangling from the BMW after an altercation with Stephen.

Van der Linde just managed to hold off Tschops Sipuka, in the second Audi. Hennie Groenewald (Subaru) who was on the podium in both sprint races, finished fourth ahead of Melvill Priest, having his first outing in a new Audi.

The Class T battles produced three different winners with former champion Graeme Nathan (VW Golf6) and Gennaro Bonafede (VW Golf6) winning the sprint races. Reigning champion Gary Formato (Ford Focus) then got in on the act to win the final race as both Nathan and Bonafede ran into problems.

Debutants Jaques Joubert (VW Golf GTI) and Devin Roberston (Mini) eeach scored a podium finish. Joubert followed Bonafede home in Race 2 and Robertson plugged away in the final race to finish third behind Formato and team mate Shaun Duminy.

V8 SUPERCARS

Two V8 Supercar races that produced plenty of muscular racing were dominated by two young Auby brothers and a hugely experienced former South African champion. Marc Auby (Ford Falcon) took the first race ahead of brother Jimmy, the reigning GT1 Class champion, and old timer Ben Morgenrood in another Falcon.

Race 2 - from an inverted grid - saw Morgenrood lead from around half distance in the 12-lap race. The Randfontein car dealer was gradually hauled in by a third Auby brother, Brandon, the 2010 champion, and brother Marc to set up an exciting finish.

Brandon got past Morgenrood on the penultimate lap and Marc muscled his way into second place on the final lap. Two thirds gave Morgenrood a solid start to the season with two other veterans in Franco di Matteo (Jaguar) and Steve Smith (Ford Mustang) fourth and fifth in Race 2.

GT2 Class honours were shared by former champion Roelf du Plessis, in a Jaguar, and Patrick Seddon in a Chev Lumina. Du Plessis took Race 1, ahead of 2010 champion Des Gutzeit (Ford Mustang) and Seddon, but the Lumina driver hit back in Race 2 to take the win ahead of du Plessis, who started from the back of the grid, with Gutzeit third.

VW CUP

A little South African motorsport history was made when 15-year-old Kelvin van der Linde won the second VW Cup race; it was the youngster's maiden national win as he followed father Shaun and grandfather Hennie, who are both former SA champions, into the record books.

Earlier in the day van der Linde was elevated to second place behind Bryan Morgan with Robyn Kruger taking her maiden podium, after the trio each moved up a spot when reigning champion Devin Robertson was docked three places after a coming together with Jordan Pepper.

It appeared a harsh decision but race officials decided Robertson had “inadvertently precipitated an incident which could have been avoided” - and in fact it was only the “inadvertent” part of the equation that saved Robertson from exclusion.

FORMULA VW

The two Formula VW heats produced identical podium finishes as former Formula Ford champion Robert Wolk twice finished ahead of Simon Moss and reigning champion Jayde Kruger.

The Midas Formula 1600 wins were shared by Mygle drivers Werner Scholz and James Temple, but the outstanding result of Race 2 was a third place for 65-year-old Rick Morris behind Temple and reigning champion Mathew Merton each in a Mygale.

RESULTS

PRODUCTION CARS - RACE 1

CLASS A

1 M Stephen (Audi)

2 H Groenewald (Subaru)

3 A Taylor (BMW)

CLASS T

1 G Nathan (VW Golf6)

2 G Bonafede (VW Golf6)

3 G Formato (Ford Focus)

RACE 2 - CLASS A

1 E vd Linde (BMW)

2 A Taylor (BMW)

3 H Groenewald (Subaru)

CLASS T

1 G Bonafede (VW Golf6)

2 J Joubert (VW Golf6)

3 G Formato (Ford Focus)

RACE 3 - Class A

1 A Taylor (BMW)

2 E van der Linde (BMW)

3 T Sipuka (Audi)

CLASS T

1 G Formato (Ford Focus)

2 S Duminy (Ford Focus)

3 D Robertson (MINI).

V8 SUPERCARS

RACE 1 - GT1 CLASS

1 M Auby (Ford Falcon)

2 J Auby (Ford Falcon)

3 B Morgenrood (Ford Falcon)

GT2 CLASS

1 R du Plessis (Jaguar)

2 D Gutzeit (Ford Mustang)

3 P Seddon ( Chev Lumina).

RACE 2 - GT1 CLASS

1 B Auby (Ford Falcon)

2 M Auby (Ford Falcon)

3 B Morgenrood (Ford Falcon)

GT2 CLASS

1 P Seddon (Lumina)

2 R du Plessis (Jaguar)

3 D Gutzeit (Ford Mustang)

ENGEN VW CUP - RACE 1

1 B Morgan (VW Polo)

2 K vd Linde (VW Polo)

3 R Kruger (VW Polo).

RACE 2

1 K vd Linde (VW Polo)

2 J Kruger (VW Polo)

3 B Morgan (VW Polo).

FORMULA VW - RACE 1

R Wolk (Formula VW)

S Moss (Formula VW)

J Kruger (Formula VW).

RACE 2

1 R Wolk (Formula VW)

2 S Moss (Formula VW)

3 J Kruger (Formula VW).

FORMULA MIDAS 1600 - RACE 1

1 W Scholtz (Mygale)

2 J Temple (Mygale)

3 J Campos (Mygale).

RACE 2

1 J Temple (Mygale)

2 M Merton (Mygale)

3 R Morris (Mygale).

SA SUPERBIKES - RACE 1

1 D McFadden (Kawasaki)

2 C Leeson (Ducati)

3 G Gildenhuys (BMW).

RACE 2

1 D McFadden (Kawasaki)

2 G Gildenhuys (BMW)

3 C Leeson (Ducati).

SA SUPERSPORT - RACE 1

1 C Seller (Honda)

2 B Harran (Honda)

3 L Isaacs (Honda).

RACE 2

1 C Seller (Honda)

2 L Isaacs (Honda)

3 C Petersen (Honda

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