Race report and photos by Deon vdl photography.
The final round of the MRSSA was held at Redstar last weekend. It was great seeing so many people coming together to make the last race of the year an awesome experience.
A bright sunny highveld day with lots of sunshine, smiles and great dices!
All results as per Speedhive.
150cc & 250cc. Combined report.
Heat 1.
After their qualifying round the front row riders had a difference of less than a second from each other. The fastest time was set by #21 Arno Erasmus giving him pole position. Next to him was #69 Tyler Morgan and #110 Bohlale Mafokate. Erasmus was on another level as he powered his little Honda to a comfortable 1st place. A three way battle for second took centre stage. #22 Cayden Robert, Mafokate and Morgan had a good old fashion dice to the chequered flag. All three bikes crossed side by side with Robert taking 2nd, Mafokate in 3rd and Morgan placing in 4th.
Heat 2.
Feeding off race one Erasmus kept his momentum going as he made a clean break to the front. Keeping a cool head and not putting a foot wrong Erasmus got his perfect day. The three riders behind him were chopping and changing positions, in the end Morgan left the other two behind and took 2nd place, Robert placed 3rd with Mafokate in 4th.
Overall Results.
150cc
1st #21 Arno Erasmus
2nd #22 Cayden Robert
3rd #69 Tyler Morgan
250cc
1st #12 Rikus van der Merwe
Classics. Combined report.
Heat 1.
Taking up the front row of the grid was #29 Sakkie Pottas on pole, #14 Lionel Black and #91 Fergal McAdam.
Pottas had a great start and took the lead. It was a clean start to the race as they exited turn one and the race was on. Pottas opened the gap and rode his way to the win, Black took 2nd place with McAdam 3rd. There was some good racing further down the line.
#46 Marlo Ferreira and #59 Gary Edwards had a go and the same went for #174 Ewoud Pienaar and #07 Etienne Louw. Ferriera won the battle for 5th with Edwards following in 6th place. The race between Louw and Edwards was extremely close with Edwards crossing the line in 7th just 0.001 sec ahead of Louw in 8th.
Heat 2.
Once again Pottas flew off the line and made a break for it, with a pace just too fast for the rest of the pack he cruised all the way to victory. Things were quite close in the battle for second place as Black and McAdam came charging towards the finish line.
Black grabbed 2nd with McAdam in a very close 3rd place.
New Era rider #68 Nicolas Jonck took a comfortable 4th place. Edwards and Ferreira crossed the line neck to neck with Edwards clinching 5th and Ferreira next to him in 6th place.
Overall Results by Class.
F1 (Bikes 1984 – 1989).
1st #29 Sakkie Pottas Suzuki
2nd #59 Gary Edwards Suzuki
3rd #28 Mark van Belkum Suzuki
F2 (Bikes 1976 – 1983).
1st #91 Fergal McAdam Honda
2nd #41 Dylan Pinkerton Suzuki
3rd #07 Etienne Louw Kawasaki
F3 (750cc bikes 2 & 4-stroke up to 1989).
1st #14 Lionel Black Suzuki
2nd #46 Marlo Ferreira Suzuki
3rd #174 Ewoud Pienaar Suzuki
New Era (bikes no older than 1999).
1st #68 Nicolas Jonck Yamaha
SAMRA NSF100 Hondas.
Heat 1.
With qualifying done the front row was as follows:
#110 Bohlale Mafokate, #43 Amohelang Phiri and #22 Blake Robert.
From early on Mafokate started pulling away. He rode a good race to claim the win. Phiri with some good riding of his own took 2nd with Robert taking 3rd.
The Wilson siblings always produce some proper battles against one another and this day was no different. Emily passed Oliver a few laps in and kept her brother at bay to take 4th with Oliver not far behind in 5th.
Heat 2.
Mafokate once again made a bee-line for the finish, and did so in style as he took his second win for the day. Phiri and Robert had a good go for second place, with Phiri just managing to grab 2nd with Robert taking 3rd.
Again a sibling rivalry was taking place, this time with Oliver up in front… but when they crossed the line it was Emily that stole 4th place with Oliver right there in 5th.
Overall Results.
1st #110 Bohlale Mafokate
2nd #43 Amohelang Phiri
3rd #22 Blake Robert
SBK600, RSR Core 600 Cup & RSR Beginner 600 Cup. Combined report.
Heat 1.
This was one of the smaller classes for the day.
Launching off the line and into the lead was #27 Tristan Potgieter. He stayed there until he crossed the line for the win. #23 Reinard Nel had a great run to take 2nd and he was followed by #60 Martyn Parry in 3rd place.
Heat 2.
The second race was a copy of the first, Potgieter taking up the front and rode his way to 1st place, Nel made no mistakes as he took an easy 2nd and Parry placed 3rd.
Overall Results.
SBK600.
1st #27 Triston Potgieter Triumph
RSR Core 600 Cup.
1st #23 Reinard Nel Honda
2nd #60 Martyn Parry Honda
3rd #11 Aiden Karastamatis Honda
RSR Beginner 600 Cup.
1st #981 Sylas Karastamatis Honda
RSR 400cc cup, RSR 300cc cup & Sub500. Combined report.
Heat 1.
With a great qualifying run #20 Tyler Richardson stood proudly on pole position. He was accompanied by #26 Oratilwe Phiri and #106 Jhandre Fourie.
Richardson kept a close race line as he pushed hard and made his way to 1st place, Phiri came through with 2nd and Fourie took the 3rd spot.
#74 Tristan Henning had a big crash but, luckily he is fine and his bike, not so much.
Heat 2.
The top three riders kept things the same as they remained in the same positions as they started in.
Richardson took 2 for 2 winning both, Phiri finished in 2nd and Fourie claimed 3rd place.
Overall Results.
Sub500.
st #20 Tyler Richardson Kawasaki
2nd #26 Oratilwe Phiri Kawasaki
3rd #74 Tristan Henning
RSR 400cc cup.
1st #106 Jhandre Fourie Kawasaki
2nd #17 Jarrod Geypen Kawasaki
RSR 300cc cup.
1st #89 Robert Jonck Jnr
2nd #168 Steffan Grandmaison
OSBK Premiere, RSR Core 1000 Cup, OSBK Novice & RSR Beginner 1000 Cup. Combined report.
Heat 1.
The biggest group of the day saw 24 riders on the grid.
#45 Tyron Piper, #110 Jordan King and #11 Christo Pienaar filled the front row.
There was some real elbow scraping going on throughout the entire pack and two big battles for first and the other a battle for third.
Piper and King came down the final straight side by side and crossed the line, it was too close to call, the results had Piper in 1st place by 0.004 sec with King in 2nd. Then to make things even more exciting #72x Humzah Vally and Pienaar’s were even closer.
Vally took 3rd 0.003 sec ahead of Pienaar in 4th.
Heat 2.
After the first heat, King wasn’t very happy with his result and he pushed harder in the last race of the year. He started to open a gap and didn’t look back as he took a big win.
There was nobody to challenge Piper and he placed 2nd. This time Vally didn’t have one rider to battle, he had two riders looking to take third away from him.
The three riders had no breathing room as they approached the line… Vally clinched 3rd place with #19 Siya Tshabalala in 4th and #6 Malcolm Govender taking 5th.
That was some good, close racing.
Overall Results.
OSBK Novice.
1st #6 Malcolm Govendor BMW
2nd #21 Arno Erasmus
3rd #13 Aadil Adam BMW
RSR Beginner 1000 Cup.
1st #97 Ronald Wall Honda
OSBK Premiere.
1st #110 Jordan King Yamaha
2nd #45 Tyron Piper BMW
3rd #72x Humzah Vally Suzuki
RSR Core 1000 Cup.
1st #97Clinton Pearson
2nd #7 Piers Canute Yamaha
3rd #999 Nikki Karastamatis
BOTTs & Masters. Combined report.
Heat 1.
The riders took their spots on the grid.
Taking pole was #24 Loodre Spangenberg, #43 Jaco Gous and #9 Marius Marais stood beside him. From the very moment the lights went out Spangenberg and Gous duked it out, this lasted until they crossed the line 0.300 sec apart, Spangenberg took the win with Gous in 2nd place and Marais placed 3rd.
Heat 2.
An unfortunate technical difficulty with the timing brought an early end to heat 2 and the riders decided that one heat was enough.
Overall Results.
BOTTs
1st #24 Loodre Spangenberg Ducati
2nd #46 Alan Hulscher Ducati
3rd #45 Leon Horn Ducati
Masters.
1st #43 Jaco Gous Suzuki
2nd #9 Marius Marais Kawasaki
3rd #27 Ryan Futter Kawasaki
SBK1000 & SBK600.
Heat 1.
#028 Adolf Boshoff has had a great year of racing and he was not done yet. From the get-go Boshoff took the lead and there was no way anybody was going to take it from him, he made sure of that when he took the win.
#18 Themba Khumalo and #88 Damion Purificati on the other hand had an epic battle all through the race. A close finish had Khumalo in 2nd and Purificati in 3rd.
Heat 2.
The lights went out on the very last race of the year and what a race it was!
Purificati was challenging Boshoff for the win and Khumalo was also not letting up.
It was another photo finish as Boshoff and Purificati came flying towards the line. Boshoff took the win by just over 0.1 seconds with Purificati in 2nd place and Khumalo in 3rd.
Overall Results.
SBK1000.
1st #028 Adolf Boshoff Honda (2024 SBK1000 Champion)
2nd #88 Damion Purificati BMW.
3rd #18 Themba Khumalo Ducati.
SBK600.
1st #171 Taigh Janse van Rensburg Yamaha.
2nd #57 Diego De Ponte Yamaha.
3rd #93 Leungo Gaorekwe Honda.
What a way to end the MRSSA racing year.
Luckily there is still some motorcycle racing to be enjoyed this year but, as MRSSA goes, we will see you next year.
