Tough road ahead for Harran to defend his Michelin Super Motard crown
Round six of the championship will be hosted at the Zwartkops Raceway in Pretoria on August 19.
Sunward Park biking star Brent Harran’s chances of defending his Michelin Super Motard crown were dealt a big blow following a hapless outing during round five of the Michelin Super Motard Championship series at the iDube Raceway in Pietermaritzburg.
Harran came into the round with a three-point lead over closest rival Greg Gildenhuys, whom he overtook on the leaderboard at a recent event following a stuttering start to the championship.
The 24-year-old rider now has to do it again following a forgetful round which left him 32 points adrift of Gildenhuys, who reassumed the lead on the overall series table.
Harran said: “I came into the round with a three-point lead after taking five of the six available wins in the previous two rounds of the championship.
“Morning qualifying went well on Saturday and I managed to put the Rehab Racing/MVC Marketing Husqvarna on pole position.
“Unfortunately due to some political unrest going on in the background of our championship regarding rules, or the lack thereof to be precise, I was given a five-place grid penalty and was made to start from 6th on the grid in race one.
“I had a terrible start in the first race and fell down to seventh. By lap three I was back up to fourth. Flustered from all the drama going on off of the track, I was a bit too aggressive and tried to pass two riders in one corner to get myself up into second.
“The back wheel locked up due to braking too hard and late and my bike cut out. I managed to get it started again and make my way from 8th, back up to 4th by the end of the race,” he explained.
The hard luck continued, however.
“Race two I had a terrible start once again, losing two positions going into turn one. I soon got myself up to fourth and started chasing down the leading three riders who were all bunched together.
“Unfortunately once again I let the pressure and anger of the whole situation get to me and made a costly mistake on lap three when I crashed out of the race on one of the fastest corners on the track.
“I managed to pick the bike up and get it going again but was in stone last (21st) with seven laps to go. With a hard push to the end, I managed to work my way up to 9th to the finish line.
“The third race went a lot better. I tried to calm myself down a bit and just get decent points for the championship. I got a good start from ninth on the grid, by the third last lap of the race I was in third and fighting for the win in a group of four riders.
“I tried to make a move for second on Greg Gildenhuys on the second last lap but unfortunately was just not close enough and ended up finishing in third.
“It was an extremely frustrating weekend, coming in with a three-point lead and now face a deficit of 32 points to the championship leader but we had fought back from a similar gap after round two.
“So with some hard work, a bit of luck, and hopefully no more political interruptions off of the track, I’m sure that we can claw back the gap and try and get ourselves back within striking range of the championship lead before the last round.”
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