Photos and Article by Deon van der Linde
RSR Club Series Round 4.
We made our way to Delmas to the popular Red Star Raceway for their Round 4 of the RSR Club Series. It was a little sad to know that this was the last Club race of the year but, once the bikes engine started to roar throughout the pits, that sadness was overwhelmed by a need for racing. Once the riders made their way to the track the fans and spectators made their way to the pavilions and viewing points all filled with excitement.Â
Classics:
It is always such an amazing sight to see all the classic bikes heading out onto the track as they have the first shot at qualifying.
In the F1 class #67 James Barson took his Suzuki around the track fastest with a time of 2:08.790 putting him firmly in pole position. He was followed by #21 Douw Coetzee and #57 Paul Jacobs on the front line.Â
Barson pulled out all the stops as he made sure to finish his perfect day by winning both heats to take 1st overall.Â
A battle between Coetzee and Jacobs had them taking second and third.
 #321 Kevin Kemp took 4th and #47 Dean Kemp 5th for the day.Â
The F2 class had #71 Michael McSkimming too fast for the pack as he qualified 1st and stayed there in both heats, taking the win for the day. #7 Etienne Louw came in 2nd place followed by #337 Lee Dutton.Â
#73 Hanri Oberholzer on her sexy Suzuki took the win in the F3 class.Â
Watching the CRSA guys out on track racing gets us looking forward to the Classic TT races next year where we will have our local riders go head to head with some of the most talented international riders the UK has to offer. Big names like Michael Dunlop, Steve Parish, Robert Burns, John McGuiness and more are coming down. The first race will take place in East London on Saturday the 27th of January and race 2 will be at Kyalami on the 3rd of February. Trust us when we say you really don’t want to miss out on these events, the clash between S.A and the UK is something spectacular.
Up next was the SSP400 & SUB 400 & 400 Masters.Â
The SSP 400 class saw the three riders cross the line in qualifying, all within a second of each other with #20 Tyler Richardson taking pole, #40 Nicloe Fourie in 2nd and #26 Oratilwe Phiri 3rd.Â
That’s the way it stayed throughout the day.Â
Richardson had his hands full trying to fend off Fourie and Phiri but still managed to take the overall win. in sub 400, we saw #21 Arno Erasmus taking an easy pole position but he had some trouble in heat 1 and did not make it to heat 2.
#106 Jaundre Fourie capitalized on Erasmus’ misfortune and dominated the rest of the day to take 1st place. #69 Tyler Morgan rode his way to 2nd and #89 Robert Jonck Jnr took his spot in 3rd. #69x Neil Heslip got himself on the top step of the 400 Masters.
It was time for the SAMRA NSF100’s to take center stage.
It was #11 Bohlale Mafokate who stole the show in qualifying with a great time of 1:08.505.Â
Standing next to him on the front line was #22 Blake Robert and # 34 Matthew Rees. We saw some amazing racing from the young Academy riders and epic fighting. At the end of the day Mafokate was victorious taking the top spot from Robert 2nd, #45 Amohelang Phiri in 3rd place.Â
#34 Rees fought hard for 4th, with #75 Oliver Wilson getting faster every time he hits the track in 5th. After some great riding and an even greater battle #43 Daniel Rees and #93 Emily Wilson both finished the day with 19 points each.
The more experienced riders took to the track next.
In the Masters class out on top was #9 Marius Marais with pole, #82 Henk Kruger and #811 Robert Ferreira filling the top three slots. Marais had a hard time with Kruger as neither of them was going to give.
Marais won Heat 1 but a very close call saw Kruger take the win in heat 2 by only 0.205sec. Kruger took the top step on the podium with Marais 2nd and Ferreira stepping on 3rd.
#74 Jacques Schutte took 4th.Â
Grand Masters:
#45 Leon Horn was the quickest rider in the Grand Masters class with #42 Paul Cuthbert and #39 Andre Venter following shortly after. Horn was just too fast as he powered his way to a perfect day and an overall win. Venter and Cuthbert slugged it out for 2nd place and it was Venter who hit harder to find himself on the 2nd step with Cuthbert 3rd. #14 Lionel black 4th, #24 Ian Harwood 5th, #231 Shaun Pietersen 6th and #22 Christo Niemand in 7th place.
The 150cc & 250cc’s rolled out and it was the 150cc class that stunned the crowd with a fast pace qualifier.
The top three riders had a deficit of just 0.594sec and it was #26 Oratilwe Phiri on pole, #22 Cayden Robert and #20 Tyler Richardson who filled the front row.Â
It was a hard time for the riders as lady luck was not kind and saw the 2 Heat racing day with many bumps in the road.Â
At the end of the day it was #20 Richardson 1st overall, #77 Mueez Jassat 2nd and #21 Arno Erasmus 3rd. #26 Phiri and #22 Robert made up the top five riders in their class.
 #45 Sylas Karastamtis in the 250cc class kept #43 Matthew Rees and #12 Zenzy Mafokate behind, not just for qualifying but for both races, to take the overall win for the day.Â
#34 Rees went on to take 2nd place with Mafokate 3rd followed by #93 Aamir Mahomed 4th. #72 Guy Wilson won his class in the 150cc Masters.
Beginners and Core 600/1000ccs had their shot at qualifying.Â
In the Core 1000 class #42 Tristan Cuthbert had the best time, #42A Gareth Laverick 2nd best and #11 Christo Pienaar 3rd.Â
It was Pienaar that won both races taking the overall win, #97 Jameel Daya who came 3rd in Heat 1 and a 2nd in Heat 2 walked away with silver followed shortly by #14 Marthinus Lowings in 3rd.Â
To fill the top five #88 Sean Stephenson 4th and #69 Cyril Spence 5th.Â
Core 600 Class had #981 Damien Karastamatis 1st in qualifying had a good run with a 2nd and a 1st in the two races clinching overall victory #23 Reinard Nel with a 1st and a 2nd got to share the podium on the 2nd step, #111 Aiden Karastamatis 3rd and #60 Martyn Parry 4th.Â
The Beginners 1000 Cup was won by #99 Daniel le Grange.
The Premier Cup was the final entertainment for the day, a nail biting thriller with the top four riders on the grid with a difference of only 0.631sec.Â
Heat 2 was just as intense with three riders crossing the finish line 0.790sec apart.Â
The riders gave it their all, showing the fans exactly what racing is all about.
it was a great finale with #42 Tristan Cuthbert 1st, #42A Gareth Laverick 2nd #10 Pron Parasaramen 3rd, #7 Luca Bertolini 4th and rounding up top 5 was #68 Nicholas Jonck.Â
#41 Clinton Fourie won the Premier 600 Cup.
That’s it for ‘23, we cannot wait to see all the guys and girls back on track in 2024.Â
Keep an eye out for next year’s calendar and we will see each other again.  Â
