adminGary Kirk Sports Correspondent
THERE were plenty of thrills and spills to keep both spectators and competitors entertained as Sables Motor Club hosted the first round of the Zimbabwe National Motor Racing Championships at Donnybrook Raceway in Harare on Sunday.
Great racing produced unexpected winners in nearly every class, with a few established stars realising that they will not have everything their own way this year.
First to hit the track, unfortunately quite literally, were the Superbikes with past champion Uli Meiners making his comeback to racing on his venerable Ducati 916. DeWalt racing’s Phil Archenoul used his drag racing experience to blast away from the start, but by the end of the first lap Meiners had caught and passed the Suzuki.
Unfortunately rookie Brian Westland slid from his Yamaha in the esses and the race was stopped while medical crews attended to the stricken rider. The restart went the same way as the first, Archenoul powering ahead, only to be passed by the more nimble Ducati.
Bulawayo rider Ian Gutherless threatened to join the dice for the lead on his big Kawasaki, but found Clive Mawson’s Bimota on his tail which diverted his attention enough to let the lead pair break away. Archenoul eventually won the close encounter ahead of Meiners and Gutherless, with Tim Schultz and Steve Vos chasing Mawson to the flag.
The second Superbike race saw the appearance on the grid of multiple champion Shaun Whyte, but armed only with a 250cc Megelli he was hopelessly out-gunned.
Again Archenoul led from the start but this time he kept his head down and did not let Meiners get close.
Gutherless was third ahead of Mawson, with the amazing little Megelli of Whyte nipping at the 1000cc machine’s heels. Les Carlsson was rewarded for his late night bike rebuild with 6th position ahead of Richard Exton’s Honda.
The final Superbike race was held as a handicap event, with the faster riders held on the start line. Gutherless roared through the field to win, with lady rider Bianca Shultz making it a Bulawayo one two on her Yamaha. Meiners managed to come through for third, giving him the overall win for the day as an incorrect tyre choice left Archenoul unable to catch the pack.
The sports car grid had a shake-up in qualifying as Barney Rogers used some extra wide slick tyres to harness the power of his rotary-powered silver bullet and claim pole position. Teenager Cole Bond, who had been officially recognised as 2013’s fastest driver at a ZMSF function the night before, was next to Rogers on the front row, with the Yamaha powered racers of Richard Robinson and Eric Heard filling the second row.
Heard was in trouble from the rolling start though, as the blue Super 7 rolled to a halt with electrical problems, leaving Robinson to chase the raucous pair at the front. However, Bond spun the Swift sponsored machine on the 4th lap, and remained stranded on the kerbing for the remaining laps leaving Rogers to take an untroubled win ahead of Robinson.
In the 1600cc section, Gary Kirk capitalised on a good start to win the class, while former karting champ Chris Bluett had his hands full, fending off the father and son duo of John and Brett Cameron for second place.
When schoolboy star Fanie van der Linde joined this dice, things got really busy, the four speeding cars even managing to avoid a guinea fowl which strayed onto the track at one point. The Camerons managed to duff up Bluett by the end of the race, with Brett claiming second behind Kirk, as Bluett only just beat van der Linde to the line.
The second sports car race saw Bond determined to exact revenge on Rogers, but despite a faster lap time he had to settle for second, the two wins giving Rogers a clear early lead in the National Championship.
Online Reporter