EmTek Racing News - 2004

02/10/2004 - Zwartkops penultimate round

Saturday 2nd October 2004 - THE HEAT IS ON

Held in scorching heat, the penultimate round of the Regional racing held on Saturday at Zwartkops, the records tumbled yet again. This theme seems to just carry on from round to round at each of the tracks visited. We at EmTek Racing can put this down to two things a) Tyre technology is flowing through to the Club/Regional racer at a faster pace than anticipated which in turn will flow through to the street rider and b) the skills levels and competition levels has escalated to serious proportions.

This has had the effect of raising the profile and professionalism of the Regional rider to be almost comparable to some of the National Superbike race teams.

ZWARTKOPS NOT ON! - On a slightly more negative note it seems as if each and every race track is vying to be the most spectator unfriendly venue in South Africa (with the exception of East London and Phakisa). At the Regional racing level where a lot of family members and friends come to support their non-rewarded fathers and sons - parking has all of a sudden become a major problem. Family members had to park outside the pit area and carry our tools, spares and other essential items to the pits. This is totally absurd especially in view of the fact that they had to pay the same entry fee as a National race of R40. This is totally unacceptable and should this practice of trying to be un-spectator friendly then I will request that my family and friends that come to support me rather wait at home and I will sms the results through. So lets see, if there are 150 entrants and each has at least one family member/supporter then Zwartkops could lose at least 150 paying spectators.

Please guys GET WITH THE PROGRAM and be spectator friendly especially for parking.

Check out the Results page and the Lap Records page for more information on each rider and class and how the records are tumbling.

BOTTS - Heat 1

After a scintilating qualifying the riders lined up for Heat 1 all resplendid in their shining armour. Mike Dickenson had a brilliant start from the back of the grid and was in the leading bunch by the end of lap 1. New comer Ronnie also had a blinding start and was in position 3 by lap 5. Unfortunately he pushed too hard for the lead and managed to land up with the marshall on the second last lap. However his luck was with him as the race was red flagged on lap 9 and went back a lap, so he was included in the results as a 3rd.

Gilbert and his usual suspects Philip and Julienn had a great ding-dong battle all the way to the end. There was a bit of confusion as the time keepers had our positions a bit mixed up due to the red flag situation.

Andy did his usual stunt and waited for breakfast to be served and then set out to prove that he can ride faster then anyone by catching up to the back markers by lap 7. However this is normally a bit late no matter how good a rider you are - but we all suspect that the Honda SP1 has a hidden agenda and refuses to get off the line like a sulking boy.

Gil finally managed a 1.06.4 (a previous best of 1.07.6 was achieved at the last race)

Andy managed a 1.09.4 (a previous best of 1.09.8 was achieved last year)

BOTTS - Heat 2

As in heat 1 some of the top riders had to start at the back of the grid due to various gremlins. Peter Swanepoel was one of them. He took 2 laps to get to the leading bunch of 5 riders and eventually pipped Gilbert to the post on the last lap for 4th place. Again newcomer to the BOTT's Ronnie decided that a trick 998RS has a better shape if lying on its side and threw his bike away again on the last lap and again in the same corner - just to make sure that the marshalls were still there. This time however lady luck was not on his side and he was given a 15th place.

This time Gilbert had a better second heat (at last managed a "wheelie" all the way down the front straight) and managed to maintain his times as in the first heat - this is all due to the fact that he is going to gym and getting himself fit.

Again Andy waited for the invitation to pull off to come in from the FIA in France and quitely started his breakfast run in style. However once he realised that he was part of the race track the Honda and Andy woke up and he started blitzing the backmarkers again - talk about making hard work for yourself. Andy also managed to crack his best time ever at Zwartkops and is a sign of better things to come for Pietersburg. We just have to come up with an action plan for the start - like showing him the last lap sign from lap 3 onwards.

OTHER

The Superbikes and 600cc Silver Cup again produced some spectacular racing with the usual suspects going flat out from the start. In the Superbike class Gavin managed to push his Kawasaki to its limits and cross the line in first with young Ryan hot on his heels. New contender Bradley Stark had the misfortune of not having his tyre warmers on and unwittingly tried to crack the lap record on cold tyres (a la Chris Vermuelen style high-side). For Heat 2 Bradley again started flat out but had a mechanical failure that resulted in copious amounts of oil to be distributed to his boot and then to his tyre. He decided to be sensible and not spew any more oil and retired by lap 2. Gavin went on to win a double and fine style. Jaco Roux made a welcome return to Superbikes on his well turned out JUMP Kawasaki ZX10. We wish him well for the rest of the season and for next season.

The 600cc spectacle also saw Darryn Upton and Clinton Sellar fight it out for honours with each bagging a win. These are two up and coming riders with a bright future and will surely follow in Sheridan Morais's foot steps.

Final Round to be held in Pietersburg on the 30th October 2004.

Be there or be square.