05/07/08 - Johannesburg, Saturday – As he has been wont to do this season Sheridan Morais was again the star turn at round six of the WesBank Super Series national meeting at Kyalami today.
Provisional results saw Morais, the 2006 South African champion, produce a polished display to pick up yet another double win – his fifth of the season - in the CitiBike Superbike event. Morais (Emtek Racing Kawasaki) has now won 11 of the 12 races run so far in the championship and, as matters stand, they can start engraving his name on this year’s trophy.
The opening heat saw Morais recover from a slow start to hunt down early race leader Clinton Seller on the Nashua Mobile/Daikin Yamaha. Once he was ahead there was to be no catching Morais, and he cruised in ahead of Seller and reigning champion Arushen Moodley on the Dynamic Express Suzuki.
The second heat was restarted after a red flag with Seller among the victims of early race drama. After the restart Morais did all that was necessary to hold off Moodley with another former champion, Zimbabwean Shaun Whyte, third on the second Nashua Mobile/Daikin Yamaha.
On the CitiBike Supersport front a rising young star and a seasoned campaigner shared the spoils. The opening heat saw youngster Dane Hellyer (Kyocera Kawasaki), the runaway championship leader, cruise home ahead of veteran Graeme van Breda (Springs Suzuki) and Capetonian Graeme Green on the Leatt Yamaha.
Heat two saw van Breda and Hellyer, who led for most of the race, swap roles with the veteran Springs rider scoring his first win of the season. Green was again third with Lance Isaacs (Pretoria North Toyota Suzuki), another veteran, in fourth place ahead of Dylan White on the White Aluminium Yamaha.
Both Bridgestone Production Car heats produced their fair share of drama with the wins going to Etienne van der Linde in the Afrox BMW 330i, and Johan Fourie in the Indy Oil Audi A4. Van der Linde took the first race ahead of a rejuvenated Marco da Cunha (SAM Racing Tubular Tech Nissan 350Z) and former champion Anthony Taylor in the second Afrox BMW.
Both BMWs were in the wars in race two which started with a partially inverted grid based on race one results. Fourie gradually hunted down early race leader Michael Stephen in the Xtreme Team Audi A4 and muscled his way into the lead two laps from the end.
Former champion Leeroy Poulter, who started in 11th place, profited from the high attrition rate to work his way into third. Another good drive from da Cunha took him into fourth place ahead of Mellvill Priest in the MiKar/Lenovo Audi.
Current championship leader Graeme Nathan (Kaye Eddie Seat Cupra) and reigning champion Iain Pepper, in the PG Glass VW Golf GTi, shared the wins in the highly competitive Class T. In heat one Nathan came in ahead of multiple former champion Gary Formato, in the Nado’s Ford Racing Focus ST, and the veteran Pepper.
Formato crashed out of race two with Pepper leading home Reghardt Roets and Nathan. It was an encouraging result for Roets in his first outing in the Bizhub Opel OPC.
Class B saw another veteran, Ben Morgenrood, score a double in the Mazda Motorsport RX8. Danie van Niekerk (Stanger Auto Ford Focus) and Kosie Swanepoel (Barnett’’s Toyota RunX) were second and third in race one with Swanepoel and Shaun Pike (Tosco Racing Toyota RunX) on the race two podium.
Runaway championship leader Hennie Groenewald (Team Timken Chev Lumina) was also a double winner but was a little fortunate in race two. Groenewald and team-mate Robert Briggs, in the Team Timken Jaguar, totally dominated race one. The pair were around 18 seconds ahead of third placed Deon Auby in the Meta Forge Jaguar.
The inverted grid system saw Groenewald start race two from 13th place on the grid. The veteran Auby was a place or two ahead of him on the grid and by lap three Groenewald was up to third.
Two laps later Groenewald was second but was unable to catch the veteran Auby, who was racing against two of his sons, for what looked to be a memorable win. Another veteran, 65-year-old Willie Hepburn, was third with Jaco Correia (Liqui Moly Chev Corvette) and Franco di Matteo (Optima Batteries) fourth and fifth.
Then officialdom stepped in and Auby was docked 60 seconds and Correia 30 seconds for jump starts. That gave the win to Groenewald ahead of Hepburn and di Matteo.
Correia’s penalty was then scrapped and Auby’s reduced to 30 seconds. The revised results left Groenewald, Hepburn and Correia in the first three places with Auby eventually classified seventh.
Two talented young drivers in Gavin Cronje (Jonah capital FVW) and Cristiano Morgado (Morgado Plant FVW) shared the spoils in the fledgling Formula VW event. Cronje was in charge of race one when he made a costly mistake three laps from the end to hand the win to Morgado, with Jayde Kruger (Wap Alto/Time Freight FVW) and Michael Stephen (Terry Moss Racing/Southern Sun FVW) in second and third.
Cronje made no mistake in race two and never gave Morgado a look in. Cronje cruised home ahead of Morgado with Wesley Orr (SAM Racing Tubular Tech FVW) in third place. The first three are all former Rotax Max kart world champions.
The Engen VW Cup wins were shared by Jared Mortimer (Emerald Casino VW Polo) and seasoned Miguel Pasqualli in the Xtreme Team VW Polo. Two second places, however, saw teenager Gennaro Bonafede (Champion/Ferodo VW Polo) cement his position at the top of the championship table.
Results:
Formula VW: Race 1 – 1 C Morgado (FVW); 2 J Kruger (FVW); 3 M Stephen (FVW); 4 W Orr (FVW); 5 G Connelly (FVW). Race 2 – 1 G Conje (FVW); 2 C Morgado (FVW); 3 W Orr (FVW); 4 J Kruger (FVW); 5 P da Cunha (FVW).
Engen VW Cup: Race 1 – 1 G Bonafede (VW Polo); 2 B Morgan (VW Polo); 3 M Singh (VW Polo); 4 B Hodges (VW Polo); 5 R Johnson (VW Polo). Race 2 – M Pasqualli (VW Polo); 2 G Bonafede (VW Polo); 3 B Morgan (VW Polo); 4 J Mortimer (VW Polo); 5 R Johnson (VW Polo).
Bridgestone Production Cars: Race 1 – 1 E van der Linde (BMW 330i); 2 M da Cunha (Nissan 350Z); 3 A Taylor (BMW 330i); 4 M Priest (Audi A4); 5 S Watson-Smith (Audi A4). Class A – E van der Linde (BMW 330i); Class T – G Nathan (Seat Cupra); Class B – B Morgenrood (Mazda RX8). Race 2 – 1 J Fourie (Audi A4); 2 M Stephen (Audi A4); 3 L Poulter (Nissan 350Z); 4 M da Cunha (Nissan 350Z); 5 M Piest (Audi A4). Class A – J Fourie(Audi A4); Class T – I Pepper (VW Golf GTi); Class B – B Morgenrood (Mazda RX8).
Wesbank V8 Supercars: Race 1 - 1 H Groenwald (Chev Lumina); 2 R Briggs (Jaguar); 3 D Auby (Jaguar); 4 M Auby (Jaguar); 5 W Hepburn (Chev Corvette). Race 2 – 1 D Auby (Jaguar); 2 H Groenewald (Chev Lumina); 3 W Hepburn (Chev Corvette); 4 J Correia (Chev Corvette); 5 F di Matteo (Jaguar).
CitiBike Supersport: Race 1 – 1 D Hellyer (Kawasaki); 2 G van Breda (Suzuki); 3 G Green (Yamaha); 4 D White (Yamaha); 5 L Isaacs (Suzuki). Race 2 – 1 G van Breda (Suzuki); 2 D Hellyer (Kawasaki); 3 G Green (Yamaha); 4 L Isaacs (Suzuki); D White (Yamaha).
CitiBike Superbikes: Race 1 – S Morais (Kawasaki); 2 C Seller (Yamaha); 3 A Moodley (Suzuki); 4 R Portman (Suzuki); 5 G Gildenhuys (Honda). Race 2 – 1 S Morais (Kawasaki); 2 A Moodley (Suzuki); 3 S Whyte (Yamaha); 4 C Leeson (Kawasaki); 5 T de Lange (Yamaha).