Classic high-octane action on cards at fast track
Thrills galore bound to get adrenaline pumping
An absolutely thrilling day of motorcycling action is all set for the East London Grand Prix Track on Saturday as the South Africa Classic TT gears up for its second round.
The first round was hosted at the track last weekend and threw up a few surprises, however much is expected from this year’s action as for the first time in the circuit’s history, the action will be battled out in reverse.
“Some of the guys are really looking forward to be going the other way round, while a few of them are a bit intimidated because no one has ever been round there before, so I think it is going to throw up some surprises,” admitted Border Motorsport PR Dave Kirkman.
“We are excited to see what sort of speeds the guys will get on the main straight which is now with the pits on the left heading towards beacon, because they will be accelerating all the way up from Cocabanas, through Potters and will be reaching top speed just before they brake for beacon.
“So it is going to be quite spectacular to watch them slowing down and braking for beacon.”
In the past weekend’s action it was SA’s Noel Haarhoff who really impressed, outpacing the more fancied overseas riders, while AJ Venter pushed him all the way in both races. In other divisions, top honours went to Johan Vrieger, John Quinn, Brent Harron, Thomas Brown, Graigen Nel and David Chatton.
“It was very exciting because a lot of the guys had never been at our track before, so just talking to them afterwards, many of them said they didn't realise the circuit was this fast,” explained Kirkman.
“So even though most of them are extremely experienced riders, a couple of them got caught out on one or two of the corners, nothing serious fortunately, but they were quite surprised it was as quick as it is.
“We had some really good races between local SA guys like Noel Harhoff, racing against a couple of the guys from Scotland and Ireland and he managed to beat them all, so I think round two is really going to be primed for the overseas guys to show what they are made of and I think Mr Harhoff is going to have a bit of a hard time.
“But the good thing though is that going the opposite way around the circuit, for the first time, is going to be a massive equaliser for everybody and I think it is going to be really special.”
It is all geared up to be a cracking second round on Saturday and with the foreign contingent having been shown up this past weekend they will be eager to show some flames.
It will also be an interesting look at how the track is tackled in reverse and should it go well could become a regular occurrence.
“If this weekend works out well, I was chatting to Andrew Karshagen our chairman, and we will definitely run events in the opposite direction frequently, especially when we got big events on.”
We are excited to see what sort of speeds we will get