Words and photos by Deon vdl Photography.
Extra photo credit: Jen Venter.
We made our way out to Vereeniging Kart Circuit to watch this family racing series, a series for the youth development up to the old ballies. An incredibly important series especially for the kids. The only racing in and around Gauteng where kids from the age of 4 can get on a bike, take to the track and maybe become the next big name on the international circuits.
The day was great with even better racing action. We had some awesome nail biting action as the young and old gave all they had. We also got to witness true sportsmanship on and off the track. It is so cool seeing competitors helping each other out in the pits and then putting their game faces on when they make their way to the grid. If something goes wrong with one of the riders on the circuit there is always a helping hand from another rider when the race is over.
Clubmans.
As always, the first class out for the day started off with their 10-minute qualifying round. It was #69 Tyler Morgan who took the pole position by only 0.101sec over #33 Mitch Mortimer. #33 Mortimer came back and won Heat 1 with a big gap before #69 Morgan crossed the line in 2nd and #168 Steffan Grandmaison 3rd in the C2 class. C1 had #110 Bohlale Mafokete taking the win over #69 Henk Schuiling in 2nd place. Heat 2 saw Mortimer exit the Clubmans class for the rest of the day. Morgan took full advantage of this and made it work in his favour. Tyler Morgan ran away from the pack with his closest competitor finishing over 35 sec behind him. Morgan 1st, #168 Steffan Grandmaison 2nd and #69x Neil Heslip 3rd. C1 saw #110 “Little Man” Mafokate 1st and #69 Schuiling 2nd. Heat 3 saw the same results as the previous Heat, C2- Morgan 1st, Grandmaison 2nd and Heslip 3rd. Same in the C1 class Mafoke 1st and Schuiling 2nd.
Overall:
C1
1st #110 Bohlale Mafokate
2nd #69 Henk Schuiling
C2
1st #69 Tyler Morgan
2nd #168 Steffan Grandmaison
3rd #69x Neil Heslip
Novice & PW50.
This is where the kids start their racing lives from the age of 4 years old on the Yamaha PW50’s.
It was great to see young #07 Emma Green came back this year to challenge the boys in the Novice class. After the two classes riding together completed their qualifier it was #17 Liam Bronkhorst who took pole. Heat 1 had both the PW50 boys taking the 2 top spots. #17 Liam Bronkhorst won this race by 11sec followed by #52 Declan Schoeman 2nd. #4 James Nijmeijer riding like a champ took 1st place in the Novice class. #143 Tsepo Mafokate 2nd and #117 Jack Green 3rd. Heat 2 had Bronkhorst taking a convincing win and Schoeman 2nd. Nijmeijer crossed 0.255sec in front of Declan but still won the race for his class, Mafokate 2nd and Green 3rd. Heat 3 saw a different Schoeman as he took the fight to Bronkhorst the whole race with him over taking the #17 bike on the last corner and Declan won the race by 0.479sec and Bronkhorst 2nd. The Novice riders kept consistent, Nijmeijer 1st, Mafokate 2nd and Green 3rd.
Overall:
Novice
1st #4 James Nijmeijer
2nd #143 Tsebo Mafokate
3rd #117 Jack Green
PW50
1st #17 Liam Bronkhorst
2nd #52 Declan Schoeman
SM2.
A very close qualifier as the top 3 riders crossed the line within 0.440sec apart. #187 Matthew Schultz taking pole #21 Arno Erasmus and #33 Mitch Mortimer filling the front row. Heat 1 had us on our toes as Mortimer and Erasmus went head to head with Mortimer winning the race by 0.543sec Erasmus 2nd and #17 Tom Maritz 3rd. Heat 2 saw Mortimer took a little spill and had Arno win by over 9sec, Mitch got back on the bike and still managed to get 2nd place with #7 Riekert Erasmus in 3rd. The last heat Mortimer powered his #33 machine to his second win for the day, Erasmus 2nd and Maritz 3rd.
Overall:
1st #33 Mitch Mortimer
2nd #21 Arno Erasmus
3rd #17 Tom Maritz
SM Junior 65 & 85cc.
In the 85cc Class #99 Adam Naidoo ran unopposed, took pole position and won all 3 Heats. The 65cc class had #11x Luca Bergover qualify 0.805sec faster than #711 Tristan Swart. Heat 1 got intense as there was at time a four-way battle between the riders. Things stayed very close up until the last lap around the last turn when #40 Lorenzo de Ponte clipped #711 Tristan Swart’s rear wheel taking them both out. #11x Luca Bergover won the race followed shortly by the reigning champ #1 Keaton de Jager in 2nd and #22 Blake Robert 3rd. Heat 2 had some more drama as the #1 bike was suddenly missing and left the race wide open for Bergover to take another win, #22 Blake 2nd and #134 Joe Louw 3rd. Bergover was too much for the other racers as he took his third 1st place for the day, Robert in 2nd and Louw 3rd.
Overall:
85cc
1st #99 Adam Naidoo
65cc
1st #11x Luca Bergover
2nd #22 Blake Robert
3rd #134 Joe Louw
SM Masters & Grand Masters.
The toppies class wasn’t the biggest class of the day as only five riders made their way to the qualifying round and stayed that way throughout the day. Overall, we saw the starting grid front row separated by 1.034sec with #43 Quinton van Wyk on pole position then #17 Tom Maritz and # 25 Wian Erasmus. The Grand Master Maritz dominated all three heats, taking 1st overall. Behind him was a friendship battle between van Wyk and Erasmus that made for great entertainment and personally gave me a few good chuckles as I could hear them laughing almost every time they came past me. Then at the back we had #23 Terrence Chowles and #258 Vaugn Bronkhorst also battling it out with Chowles ending with two 2nd places and a 3rd and Bronkhorst with two 3rd spots and a 2nd place.
Overall:
Masters
1st #43 Quinton van Wyk
2nd #23 Terrence Chowles
3rd #258 Vaughn Bronkhorst
Grand Masters
1st #17 Tom Maritz
2nd #25 Wian Erasmus
150 Cup & 150 Seniors.
All-out war happened in these two classes as they took it to the max from the moment they entered the track for qualifying. This also saw the fastest four riders with a time difference of under a second apart. In the 150 Cup Heat 1 saw an all-out brawl with a three-way battle with #41 Jason van Breda beating #77 Mueez Jassat to the flag by 0.199sec and #99 Adam Naidoo taking 3rd. The Senior class had the multiple S.A champion rider #6 Clinton Seller take a big win, #26 Oratilwe Phiri 2nd and #57 Diego de Ponte 3rd.
In heat 2 #77 Jassat lost it in a one corner and tucked the front wheel right in front of King Prize rider #93 Leungo Gaorekwe who stood no chance and rode right over him. Both went down. Both riders were okay, Gaorekwe’s bike was badly damaged and that put an end to his day.
The race was red flagged, Tyler Morgan gave Jassat a lift back to the pits, Morgan joined the grid and the race was on again. #41 van Breda placing 1st, #99 Naidoo 2nd and #69 Tyler Morgan came in 3rd. #6 Seller took top spot, #26 Phiri 2nd and #57 de Ponte 3rd.
The final Heat saw van Breda take his 3rd win for the day, the #77 bike was fixed and was back on track taking Mueez to 2nd place and Naidoo 3rd.
Seller made it a perfect day as he placed 1st, Phiri 2nd again with #22 Cayden Robert 3rd.
Overall:
150 Cup
1st #41 Jason van Breda
2nd #99 Adam Naidoo
3rd #69 Tyler Morgan
150 Seniors
1st #6 Clinton Seller
2nd #26 Oratilwe Phiri
3rd #57 Diego de Ponte
SM Junior 50cc.
This is the class where the Novice and PW50 kids will go to as they get older and progress.
This class also had #135 Jessica Oosthuizen representing all the girls out there with her 2nd time racing, she finished 6th overall with improved lap times with every heat. Well done Jessica and keep on pushing. #26 Ethan de Freitas started Heat 1 on pole position. #550 Marnitz Otten gave him a go early on in the races but de Freitas too fast for his Team mate took 1st spot, #550 otten 2nd and #27 Kiros Taliotes 3rd. Heat 2 saw Otten again taking the lead before the #26 bike passed him and Ethan took another win, Otten 2nd and #11 Zander du Toit 3rd. #26 de Freitas pushing harder than the rest to celebrate his perfect day, #550 Otten making it three 2nd places for the day and #11 Zander du Toit 3rd.
Overall:
1st #26 Ethan de Freitas
2nd #550 Marnitz Otten
3rd #11 Zander du Toit
SM 1 & SM1S.
Always keep the best for last, and waiting till the end was most definitely worth it. Holy Cow, now that was entertainment!
This class is for the big dogs, the fastest riders out there with their crazy ability to slide into the corners and power out.
The SM1 class took the front row after qualifying just 0.881sec apart. #13 Ryan van Nieuwkerk topped the charts followed by #171 Taigh Janse van Rensburg and #1 Aston Nesbitt.
In Heat 1, van Nieuwkerk hit the ground and was back on his bike faster than he fell off. He made up good ground and still took 4th place.
#171 Janse van Rensburg took 1st place, #57 Diego de Ponte 2nd and #1 Aston Nesbitt 3rd.
In Heat 2, Janse van Rensburg got the holeshot and stayed in front with van Nieuwkerk on his tail pipe all the way to the final corner and the #13 bike of Ryan took the flag by 0.2229sec Janse van Rensburg 2nd and #1 Nesbitt 3rd.
The all out action had the crowds jumping up and down all the way to the end of heat 3 as the young #13 Ryan van Nieuwkerk pulled off another win, Janse van Rensburg 2nd and #1 Aston Nesbitt 3rd.
The SM1S class saw the Weterman twins stepping up from SM2 to compete in this class. We are waiting for #18 Hunter Dreyer to come back from the injury he picked up racing at Kyalami. Until then #30 Ruben Weterman won all three races with his brother #31 Luan Weterman on his heels in 2nd.
Overall:
SM1
1st #171 Taigh Janse van Rensburg
2nd #13 Ryan van Nieuwkerk
3rd #1 Aston Nesbitt
SM1S
1st #30 Ruben Weterman
2nd #31 Luan Weterman
Wow now that was a day of racing.
By the way, SASCS’ oldest rider is Mr. Niel Heslip who rides in the Clubmans class at the age of 81 years young. How cool is that!
Something for all to consider.
The racing scene in South Africa is struggling and needs as much love and support as possible.
Round 1 was almost postponed due to the lack of funds and sponsorship. So, the SASCS family would like to please ask anyone that is willing to help the series throughout the year to please help out.
RideFast and the series will give credit to the sponsors.
The series is designed to help develop the kids that want to go out and try riding on a race track that is fully licensed and controlled by professional marshals, race control and medics. This is an MSA affiliated series.
If the SASCS fails there is no other place for kids to go and race road bikes.
Any help will be much appreciated.
SASCS. Feed the Progression.
The girls racing in the SASCS Series.
A special thanks to everyone that chipped in to made Round 1 happen.
Jackie & Louis de Ponte – Vereeniging Kart Circuit – Mibern Medi-Call – Advanced Motorcycle Components – Whitey Oosthuizen – One Nine Auto – LB Bikes – Delux Chemicals – OBC – EDF Racing – Neil Heslip – Terrence Chowles – Willem Otten – Mike Taliotes – John Geypen and All the riders who pledged.
Thank You!
Until we meet at the track again, take care.
For any inquiries please contact:
Michaela Vorster – michaelav6@gmail.com or 076 364 5223
