SuperGP Trophy set for blast-off

The first Free State SuperGP will usher in a new era for national championship motorcycle racing, with a brand new sponsor, new race categories and Sunday racing.

The championship will have eight rounds with the final round, back at Phakisa in October, forming part of the South African round of the FIM Superbike World Championship.

Race weekends will be run along similar lines to the World Superbike Championship.

There will be practice and qualifying on Saturday and racing on Sunday.

Super GP, a unique South African category for 1 000cc entry-level evo rules machines with limited modifications, will be the headline category.

The support categories will include Super600, a new entry level evo category; Super600, which is equivalent to the current Supersport category for modified machines; Superbikes, the existing category for modified 1 000 cc machines; SuperMasters, for SuperGP riders aged over 35 on 1 000 cc bikes; and SuperTwins, which will cater for 1 000 to 1 200 cc twin-cylinder modified machines.

All categories will enjoy national championship status except for SuperTwins, which will be a national challenge series.

Both reigning SA Superbike and Supersport champions will be seen in action this weekend.

2013 Superbike champion Clint Seller (PS Race! Kawasaki ZX10RR) will head the entries in the SuperGP category, while Supersport champion Cameron Peterson (Emtek Yamaha R6) will contest the Super600 category alongside team-mate Dean Vos.

A four-bike Emtek Yamaha team will include Robert Portman and Nicholas van der Walt, who will contest the SuperGP category on Yamaha R1 machines.

The PS Race! Kawasaki team will also be represented on the SuperGP grid by Dylan White and in Super600 by Anthony Shelly and Stephen Odendaal, both aboard Kawasaki ZX6RRs.

Supersport title holder Cameron Petersen (PS Yamaha) will be the man to beat in the premier 600cc class. Pictures: Motorpics.