Welkom, Free State - After scoring no points thanks to a crash at the season opening SuperGP Champions Trophy round, defending champion Clint Seller got his 2016 back on track with a pair of wins at Phakisa on Saturday.
The NeoLife Africa Yamaha R1 rider took pole by half a second from Mathew Scholtz (ETR Yamaha R1), with Nicolas Grobler (Golden Mile Estate BMW S1000RR) completing the front row of the grid. Veteran Lance Isaacs (LIR BMW S1000RR) headed the second row with the Autohaus Towing Kawasaki ZX10Rs of Greg Gildenhuys and Brent Harran alongside him.
When the flag dropped for the first SuperGP heat of the day Seller immediately took the lead which he held until the flag. Scholtz pushed as hard as he could but had no answer to the reigning champ. Behind the leading duo, Isaacs and Michael White (Consortium Shipping Yamaha R1) were involved in a race-long battle for the final podium position. Isaacs just managed to hold on, crossing the line just a couple of bike lengths to the good. Gildenhuys won the Kawasaki contest taking fifth place ahead of Harran in sixth.
RACE TWO
In race two Scholtz arrived on the grid missing a knee slider that had come off during the warm-up lap. While the slider was easily replaced, it ended his race in a most unfortunate fashion. As usual it was Seller and Scholtz at the front on the opening lap but Scholtz managed to find the missing knee slider with his front wheel and crashed out leaving Seller with an easy second victory. White got a great start and, with Scholtz out, had an untroubled run to second. The fight for the final podium position was a nine-way struggle that saw the lead swap almost every lap. Isaacs eventually emerged on top taking third from Daryn Upton (Turnskill Engineering BMW S1000RR), Dean Vos (Trolan Bikes Kawasaki ZX10R) and Gildenhuys.
TITLE FIGHT HEATS UP
Seller’s double win, combined with Scholtz’s second race misfortune, narrows the gap at the top of the championship log. Scholtz still leads but with a much reduced margin. White’s consistency sees him move up to second ahead of Isaacs with Seller not far off in fourth.
Both races in SuperMasters category, run in conjunction with the SuperGP heats, went the way of Isaacs. Jade Gutzeit (Dezzi Raceway Yamaha R1) took second on both occasions while Damion Purificati (Amalgam Welding Shop Kawasaki ZX10R) just managed to keep Justin Gillesen (LIR BMW S1000RR) behind him in both heats, the gap less than a couple of bike lengths each time.
SUPER600 CLASS
In the Super600 category, Steven Odendaal (Petra Yamaha R6) led race one from start to finish. Adolf Boshoff (NeoLife Africa Yamaha R6) was on his back wheel the whole way but just could not find a way through. Boshoff turned the tables on Odendaal in race 2 despite making a mistake that dropped him to second for a while. He fought back and regained the lead, going on to win by almost 2 seconds.
Aiden Liebenberg won the first SuperJunior category heat for identical KTM RC390 machines, from Tyreece Robert and Camron Hackart. Heat two also went the way of Liebenberg with Dominic Doyle and Tyreece Robert second and third.
The next round of the SuperGP Champions Trophy takes place at Zwartkops Raceway in Pretoria on April 30.