Motoring Reporter
Clint Seller (Portable Shade Race! Kawasaki ZX10) took all the honours in the third round of the Monster Energy SuperGP Championship at Cape Town’s Killarney circuit on Sunday, despite Namibian born Ronald Slamet being a hot favourite for the race.
After taking the fastest pole position in the qualifying session on the Saturday, when he pipped Seller by just 12 hundredths of a second, Slamet (Novel Ford/Mike Hopkins Kawasaki ZX10R) just missed out on taking the SuperPole honours.
Then, in two exciting races that had an appreciative Cape Town crowd on its feet, Seller had to fight off an inspired Brent Harran (Mantella Trading Kawasaki ZX10) on both occasions. Harran was doing all he could to get past Seller on the final lap, which they started nose-to-tail, but the championship leader was having nothing of it and hung on to win a race he celebrated in style with wheelies and elaborate tyre burn-outs.
Earlier, in their first 16-lap encounter, Harran had looked to be the likely winner in the closing laps, moving up from fourth to actually take the lead with two laps to go, before he clipped a curb with his knee and was almost high-sided off his bike. It was to prove to be a mistake that almost certainly cost him the win.
Seller has now won five of the six races held so far and enjoys a 14-point lead over Harran (125-111) in the championship
Slamet was unable to match his promising Saturday performance with a good result on Sunday and was penalised 30 seconds for a jump start to race one and also suffered loss of drive as the race progressed, eventually being classified ninth. He recovered quite well to take fourth place in race two, 18 seconds behind the winner, and moved up to fourth in the championship with 58 points.
The born and bred Namibian, who is studying in the Cape has been participating in the regional and national superbike series. Flying the flag for Namibia, he is a firm favourite to win it this year.
The next round of the championship is at the East London Grand Prix Circuit in the Eastern Cape on June 15. (GAS Sports)