Brent Harran missed qualifying and SuperPole when electrical gremlins got into his RD Racing Odin Powersport Kawasaki ZX10R but his pit crew solved the problems and he rewarded them with two race wins in the third round of the 2015 DEOD SuperGP Champions Trophy held at the Killarney Circuit in Cape Town on 17 May.
After missing out on pole position for the first time in SuperGP last time out at Zwartkops, it was back to normal for the Clint Seller when he put his new NeoLife Africa Yamaha R1 on pole position just seven hundredths of a second quicker than the similar EmTek Racing Nashua machine of Mathew Scholtz. Lance Isaacs (Black Swan Racing / BMW Motorrad S1000RR) was next with another Capetonian, Andrew Calvert (KC Transport Rentals Kawasaki ZX10R), in fourth. Nicholas Kershaw (Tsunami Beach Bar / BMW Motorrad S1000RR) and Garrick Vlok (Diamond Coring / Pre-Empt BMW S1000RR).
A number of local Superbike riders had joined the SuperM field and, although they were starting a row behind the SuperGP grid, the Kawasaki ZX10Rs of Davis McFadden (Race Prep Motorcycles / Stunt SA) and Ronald Slamet (Novel Ford / IS Freight) were expected to work their way through to the head of the combined race.
The big winner from the start was Harran who moved up to be part of the leading trio with Scholtz and Isaacs. The BMWs of Vlok and Kershaw had a very short race, both ending up in the kitty litter at the outside of the first turn leaving their riders to watch proceedings from the side of the track. Seller’s new Yamaha picked up an electrical malfunction and he pitted which dropped him to the back of the field. He did manage to continue and limit the damage to his championship aspirations by scoring some points for his eventual sixth place.
While the three-way battle at the head of the field continued McFadden and Slamet were working their way through to the head of the field. Three quarters of the way though the race Harran went down hard in turn 4. Concerned officials called for a medical vehicle, which left the riders expecting a red flag. They slowed, but when the race was not stopped, they resumed racing. When the chequered flag came out after 15 laps Isaacs was leading from Scholtz and Calvert but, after a hearing by the stewards, it was decided to declare the result after 11 laps which was before the medical car took to the circuit.
This gave the win to Harran with Scholtz in second and Isaacs third. Calvert was classified fourth with the second EmTek Racing Nashua Yamaha R1 of Brandon Goode in fifth.
McFadden took the SuperM win from Slamet with Trevor Westman (Mad Macs Racing Kawasaki ZX10R) in third. Aran van Niekerk (Sunoco Race Fuels BMW S1000RR) and David Bolding (PJ One Oil Kawasaki ZX10R) made it a Cape Town clean sweep of the top five positions with Beau Levey (Motos KTM RC8) completing the top six.
In race two it was again a three-way battle at the head of the field, this time between Harran, Seller and Scholtz. All of them led at some stage but it was Harran that was in front when it mattered, taking victory from Seller by just six hundredths of a second. Scholtz started losing grip in his tyres and settled for third. Isaacs, who was running with the leaders at the start of the race, slowly dropped back down the field suffering with brake problems. He eventually finished sixth behind Goode and Calvert.
An off-track excursion by Slamet early on in the race meant there was not going to be a repeat of his first race SuperM duel with McFadden who got past all the SuperGP riders on his way to the chequered flag. Westman and van Niekerk completed the podium. Bolding just managed to hold off a recovering Slamet to take fourth with Jacques Ackerman in sixth.