Story & photos by Deon vdl.
The start of the 2024 ZX10 series was held at the family friendly Redstar Raceway. A day that the whole family enjoyed. laughter, fun and most importantly, fierce action.
It was a seriously great outing!
The start of the ZX10R Masters cup, volume up.
2024 has 48 riders nationally for the year. With numbers like that, this is going to be one of the most epic seasons to date.
Round 1 had a whopping 33 entries going into the day but only saw 32 on the grid for the start.
This year, the series turns 18 years old, which makes it the longest running single make/model race in South Africa.
It’s an Interprovincial Challenge as it brings together riders from all over the country and happens in four provinces through the year.
The series is open to anyone, male or female from the age of 35 years and is divided into three classes:
Masters – 35 to 39 years of age on 1st January
Grand Master – 40 to 50 years of age on 1st January
Veterans – 51 years of age and up before 1st January.
This allows the riders to race their own age group as well as a combined Championship.
The series is for Kawasaki ZX10R models only, from 2011 to newest and riders may only run standard sealed motors.
Standard shocks with minor changes such as oil and springs are allowed.
Aftermarket, rear sets, aftermarket levers, sprockets and 520 chains are allowed.
With rules like these is what makes the series such a huge success for there is no such thing as what we call cheque book racing. The same rules apply to all the riders.
This year see’s multiple national champ Clinton Seller back on the #11 Kawasaki that he raced in Nationals back in 2015.
The riders took to the track for qualifying with Seller setting the pace for the day’s racing early on as he took pole position with #39 AJ Venter and #821 Damion Purificati filling the first row.
Race 1:
With 32 bikes on the grid revving their engines getting ready, the fans standing next to the track wall could feel the excitement rumbling from their feet all the way up their spines.
It is something to witness as the lights change, a bombardment of superbikes off the line….
Venter took the attack to Seller as soon as the lights went out, but Seller kept his head in the game and quickly closed the gap.
The #11 bike crossed the line first as he won by over 12sec.
But make no mistake, there were plenty of Ding-Dongs between other riders. It was an excellent opening salvo for the series.
The results as per class,
Maters.
1st #11 Clinton Seller
2nd #39 AJ Venter
3rd #821 Damion Purificati
Grand Masters.
1st #1 Graeme van Breda
2nd #117 David Veringa
3rd #77 Appanna Ganapathy
Vets.
1st #93 Teddy Brooke
2nd #65 Stewie Christie
3rd #69 Henk Schuiling
Race 2:
The second race was even more fierce as racers went at each other like Honey Badgers. Everywhere you looked on the track there were packs of three and even more riders out for a good old bare-knuckle brawl. While this was happening, Seller did what he did in the previous race and made his way out to the front again taking the win. Damn, if Seller was out to prove a point? He sure did.
That was only Round 1 and there is still a lot of racing to come.
The results as per class,
Masters.
1st #11 Clinton Seller
2nd #39 AJ Venter
3rd #821 Damion Purificati
Grand Masters.
1st #1 Graeme van Breda
2nd #117 David Veringa
3rd #2 Mark Newland
Vets.
1st #42 Jason Lamb
2nd #93 Teddy Brooke
3rd #69 Henk Schuiling
Overall results per class and top 5 of the combined Championship:
Masters.
1st #11 Clinton Seller
2nd #39 AJ Venter
3rd #821 Damion Purificati
Grand Masters.
1st #1 Greame van Breda
2nd #117 David Veringa
3rd #77 Appanna Ganapathy
Vets.
1st #93 Teddy Brooke
2nd #69 Henk Schuiling
3rd #65 Stewie Christie
Combined Championship.
1st #11 Clinton Seller
2nd #39 AJ Venter
3rd #821 Damion Purificati
4th #60 Trevor Westman
5th #4 Hein Mcmahon
Let’s see if all the masters riders will stay in the top 5 or whether one of the other riders will pinch a spot. There’s still a lot of racing to come.
Until we see each other track side again, cheers.
