The past weekend offered much South African motorsport and South Africans in motorsport

MOTO3: Darryn Binder second at brilliant Aragon

South Africa’s Darryn Binder ended second in a hard-fought and as always brilliant Moto3 race at Motorland Aragon, Spain on Sunday.

Binder started 11th and was soon involved in a splendid eight-bike battle for the lead. He duked it out for most of the race with a group including Jaimie Masia, Raul Fernandez, Romano Fenati and Jamie McPhee.

Sitting fifth at the start of the final tour, CIP Green KTM rider Darryn muscled his way to second at the line. He only just missed out on stealing the lead back from delighted race winner Masia.

Brother Brad Binder came in a close 11th and best of the KTMs in the MotoGP. It was a day that clearly did not suit the Austrian machines, but Brad nonetheless made steady progress and picked off several rivals to climb from 19th.
Alex Rins held off a charging Alex Marquez’ Honda to win. Rins’ third-placed Suzuki teammate Joan Mir moved into the world championship lead.

World Supersport: Odendaal stars at Estoril

Another South African two-wheel hero, Steven Odendaal, crowned a fine debut world Supersport season aboard his EAB Ten Kate Racing Yamaha.

He was fifth on Saturday and ended a hard-fought fourth at Estoril’s finale. Odendaal was within a second of race winner Lucas Mahias behind Andrea Locatelli and Raffaele de Rosa at the flag. He ended fifth in his rookie championship season.

Also at Estoril, Jonathan Rea wrapped up his sixth consecutive World Superbike title for Kawasaki.
Yamaha rider Toprak Razgatlioglu won both races.

SA Rally: Botterill’s dominant double

Guy Botterill and Simon Vacy-Lyle’s Gazoo Toyota Etios took a second and a half a kilometre out of their closest rivals to take a commanding win on Friday’s NTT Delmas SA National.

The first round of the weekends double header counted as a championship rally in its own right.

Chris Coertse and Greg Godrich in a Hyundai i20 and Johan Strauss and Elzaan Venter’s Subaru Impreza STi were next home. JJ Potgieter and Tommy du Toit took NRC 2 in their Fiesta.

Teenage former world karting champion Jayden Els and Armand du Toit took NRC 3 and regional honours.
Botterill and Lyle totally dominated Saturday.

Theuns Joubert and Carl Peskin’s Toyota Yaris and Coertse and Godrich were next up.

NRC2 leaders AC Potgieter and Rikus Fourie’s VW Polo and Potgieter and du Toit’s Ford Fiesta followed.
Els and du Toit’s VW Polo did the NRC3 double in their VW Polo Cup as they also won the regional class.

Rotax Max: Locals demolish opposition in Cape National

The 2020 South African National Rotax Max Challenge Karting championship wrapped up at Killarney in Cape Town on Saturday.

Local drivers did the Cape proud with a dominant display on their home circuit.

Jurie Swart won three DD2 heats to take the day as fellow Capetonian Sebastian Boyd did enough to clinch the title from KZN, star Rob Whiting.

Both drivers earned tickets to January’s Rotax Max Grand Finals in January.

Pretoria driver Nicholas Verheul had already wrapped up the over-30s DD2 Masters title but still took three heat wins to clinch the Cape victory too.

Local lads Tate Bishop and Charl Visser shared out the Senior Max win with KZN driver Shrien Naidoo as the double winner on the day.

Bishop took the SA title and the Senior tickets to Portugal’s ‘Olympics of Karting’.

Cape Town’s 2019 SA Troy Dolinschek upset the under-15 Junior Max form book with a dominant four-win victory for the day over Jozi lad, Muhammad Wally and KZN kid, Troy Snyman as Wally took the title and the Grand Final Junior ticket.

Another Cape kid, Joaquin de Oliveira stormed to four straight under-13 Mini Max wins over KZN lad, Troy Snyman and Reza Levy. Jozi’s Ghazi Motlekar won the championship.

Local Reese Koorzen came out on top of a close three-way fight to take under-11 Micro Max for the day over Jozi visitors, Mohammed Moerat, and Caleb Odendaal, who took the championship to claim that ticket to Portugal.
Jack Moore won two brilliant races in a magnificent day of baby Bambino racing to take the day from race 3 winner Rafael da Silva and final heat victor, MJ Thekiso.

Caleb Moss ended up fourth to take SA’s youngest 2020 racing championship.

Rok Kart: Alibhai stars in world finals

Three South Africans meanwhile raced in Saturday’s Rok Kart World Finals in Italy. Aqui Alibhai starred, making up eight places to an excellent eighth in the Senior Rok Final. KC Ensor-Smith ended 28th and Luviwe Sambudla 30th in the Mini Rok Final. Nik Roos ended fifth in the Junior Rok Trophy consolation race, while Ethan Lennon retired from the Mini Trophy.

SACC Moto: Swanepoel takes 2020 title

KZN local Brett Swanepoel delivered a stunning double victory to take the 2020 SA Cross-country Motorcycle Championship at Mid-Illovo over the weekend. He took overall victory on Saturday before repeating the feat on Sunday.

The Pepson Plastics Husqvarna 250cc OR2 rider came home a minute and a half clear of KZN compatriot Bradley Cox’s 200cc OR3 Brother Leader Tread KTM on Saturday. Another OR2 lad Davin Cocker was third on his Pepson Husqvarna.

Charan Moore took Moto1 honours on a KTM and Matthew Wilson’s Husqvarna High School. Wade Blaauw won Seniors and Wayne Farmer took Masters honours.

Sunday’s finale counted as a separate national round. 

Swanepoel upped the ante to take the win from OR2 rival Jarryd Coetzee by over two minutes. OR3 winner Bradley Cox was third to wrap up that class title ahead of open class OR1 winner Calvin Hume. OR3 runner-up Cocker was next home from OR2 trio Ian Rall, Taki Bogiages and Gareth Cole. 

Charan Moore followed next, he was second in class to wrap up the OR1 title. Matthew Wilson once again took High School, as did Wade Blaauw Seniors and Wayne Farmer Masters honours. Brett Swanepoel took the overall title from Jarryd Coetzee. Bradley Cox, Charan Moore and Davin Cocker.

ADAC GT: Tough weekend for Kelvin, Jordan

Moving abroad, South African Kelvin van der Linde and Patric Niederhauser’s came from 24th to eighth to score vital ADAC GT Masters points in Austria on Saturday. 

That kept the Audi R8 LMS duo in the championship lead in a race won by Henric Skoog and Nick Yelloly’s BMW. Kelvin and Patric ended eighth again in the second race.

They, however, slipped to a close title second behind Porsche pair Michael Ammermüller and Christian Engelhart, who ended second behind race 2 winners Erik Johansson and Jens Klingmann’s BMW. 

Jordan Pepper and rookie Constantin Schöll ended 20th in race 1. Their HRT Bentley Continental GT3 was taken out of race 2 in an early incident.

DTM: Mixed results for Aberdein, Sheldon

Capetonian Jonathan Aberdein was a fine fourth and the top BMW finisher in Saturday’s Zolder DTM race. Aberdein was once again in the top five early in race 2 but retired after colliding with the Audis of Fabio Scherer and Robin Frijns.

Sheldon van der Linde came home 14th after a troubled first race, after a drive-through penalty.

He then kept out of trouble to pick up some valuable points in seventh in the second race. Audi driver Rene Rast won race 1 to take the championship lead and then cemented his newfound advantage with a dominant win in Sunday’s double-safety car crash fest.

WORLD RX: Kristofferson in a Hansen sandwich

Peugeot star Timmy Hansen won Sunday’s Catalan World Rallycross. He held off VW’s championship leader Johan Kristoffersson to become the fourth 2020 World RX winner.

Kevin Hansen was third in another Peugeot as Kristoffersson extended his title lead.

Source: info@motorsportmedia.co.za