1610 RF final

MORE SA RIDERS
SHINE OVERSEAS
Young SA riders making a name for
themselves in various championships
Over in the UK, Jordan Weaving took another step
towards becoming 2016 British Superstock 600cc
champion by picking up his 4th win of the season at the
recent round held at Donington Park. He now has a 21
point lead in the overall standings.
Also taking part in the Donington Park race meeting
was Capetonian riders Brandan Staffen and Jared
Schultz, both competing in the British KTM RC390
Cup. It was the first time racing in the UK for both riders
and they did not disappoint. In the three races on the
day, Staffen picked up a DNF in race one, crashing out
of the race in turn one after starting from 3rd on the
grid. He then gathered himself to go on and win the
following two races. An incredible effort from the young
Cape Town rider.
Jared Schultz picked up a 7th in race one, a hard
fought 4th in race two and crashed out of race three
whilst in 2nd position.
Both riders put on an incredible display and did their
country proud!
Troy Bezuidenhout, the 16 year old South African who
now lives in Spain, produced the ride of his young
career to date in the European Junior Cup (EJC) race
at the Laustizring in Germany racing to a maiden
podium (3rd position) after an impressive race from
start to finish. Qualifying 5th, which equalled his best
performance of the year over a single timed lap, Troy
rode superbly on the drying track challenging for the
lead early on after some impressive overtakes.
RideFast Magazine supported rider Byron Bester
picked up his best result in EJC with a 9th place finish,
while lady rider, Zante Otto, in her first EJC race picked
up an impressive 21st out of 34 riders.
WHY THE SWITCH TO
YAMAHA MICHAEL?
Van der Mark moves to Pata Yamaha for
2017 and tells why.
Michael van der Mark will head
into his third WorldSBK season in
2017. After dominantly winning the
World Supersport title with Honda
and the Ten Kate team in 2014, he
stepped up to the premier class
with the goal of learning in Year
1 and winning the title in Year 2.
Things may not have panned out
quite like that, but the Rotterdam
man has already become the first
Dutch rider to clinch a pole position
and podium finish; in fact, he has to
date finished on the rostrum no less
than eight times.
For Year 3, the Gouda-born rider
(who will turn 24 in October) embarks
on a whole new adventure as he
jumps ship to the Pata Yamaha
Official WorldSBK Team. Why the
move? He spares five minutes for
WorldBSK.com to let us know…
Michael, congratulations
on your new deal. Why the
change?
I had a few options this year. One
of them was Honda – they made
me a good offer to stay. But I had
the feeling I wanted to win and that
I needed a new adventure. I’ve
been in my current team for some
time and my idea was to start again
somewhere else and gain some
new experience.
I had a couple of options, which I
was really happy to have, but at the
end of the day I believe in Yamaha
and I believe it could be a really
competitive bike. They’ve proven
this year that they are making big
progress. It was a tough decision
to leave Honda and Ten Kate, but
for me this is a new adventure and I
just felt like I needed it.
So, you are happy with your
decision…
I’m really happy with my decision.
I’ve had an amazing time with Ten
Kate and Honda but I’m really
happy with this new adventure.
It’s a completely different machine
(the Yamaha YZF-R1) and, if I see it
on-track now, it looks really good.
Also, the progress they are making
is really promising for the future and
I believe that, for their second year
in World Superbike, they will be
much stronger.
What is the Michael van der
Mark target?
My goal is to win and fight for the
championship. This year we do
have a good bike, but we missed
out a little bit. We have had some
good results but, like every rider,
I want to win. I’m pretty sure that
next year I will have a bike with
which I can win.
RIDEFAST MAGAZINE OCTOBER 2016 23