Peter de la Rey, a drag racer from Malvern East, took part in the South African National Drag Racing Championship throughout the year.
The race is a seven round series and De la Rey said he had a good year, but faced a few challenges along the way.
“The last race of the season was basically between myself and a Cape Town competitor and, after having a comfortable lead (45 points) after five rounds, the powers-that-be ‘reset’ the points by dividing them by five and my lead evaporated to nine points,” he explained.
“In the sixth round I battled with a set-up problem on the bike and qualified eighth and, although I was the runner-up, with a snatching clutch, I found myself eight points behind after the meeting.
“That meant if I wanted to win the championship I needed to qualify in the top three and win the event.”
The glitches he experienced didn’t cause him to give up or slack, but rather gave him momentum to push forward and much harder.
“After a bad first round run I managed second on the grid and proceeded to win the event,” he said.
De la Rey is sponsored by BMW.
“This was my fourth year on a BMW after 25 years with Yamaha, I am excited to get my new 2015 BMW S1000RR and am already starting to prepare for 2015,” he said.
It was a great year for the local biker as he won most of the races he entered.
“I have completed my racing season for the year, and have had a great season winning the South African National Championship for a third time in four years on a BMW S1000RR, as well as winning the regional and club championships,” explained de la Rey.
“It was a really tough year, with winner takes all at the last event, but I am glad I managed to win.”
