1701 RF final

Allan-Jon (AJ) Venter
Number: 39
Born: 23/03/1988
From: Johannesburg
Bike: Topgun Racing Honda (Isle of Man
TT) CF Racing Team Yamaha R1 (Macau
Grand Prix) Hygenica Yamaha R1
AJ Venter first started riding at the age
of three. His first bike was a Yamaha PW.
He first started racing 60cc Karts. In 2002
Venter won his first championship as he
rode his way to nine victories out of twelve
races, taking the Northern Regions 50cc
title with two races to still to go. 2003 saw
him win the title again while also racing in
the 125 class where he finished second
overall. In 2003, after the move up to
600’s, Venter went on to win the regional
championship and finished second in the
nationals on board a Yamaha R6. In 2006
he moved up to the 1000cc class and got
his first test of International racing in the
British SuperStock Championship. 2008
saw AJ race a full season in the British
SuperStock 600 on board a Triumph 675,
finishing fourth overall in the championship.
He continued to ride in the British
championship however in the SuperSport
class. In 2013 AJ Venter made his Isle of
Man TT debut. He has since raced at four
more Isle of Man TT’s with a best result of
fourteenth. Venter has also raced in another
prestigious road race, the Macau Grand
Prix where he has achieved a best result of
fifteenth in 2014.
2016
AJ has competed on the international road
racing circuit for a number of years and
he continued to do so in 2016. He raced
at the Isle of Man for the fourth time and
achieved some good results. On board
a 2013 Honda CBR1000RR, AJ finished
thirty-eighth in a time of 01:54:42.392, and
an average speed of 118.413, in the RST
Superbike TT. He then went on to compete
in the SuperSport class and achieved a
top thirty result. He finished twenty-ninth
in a time of 01:18:28.959, and averaged
speed of 115.378. This on board a 2009
Honda CBR600RR. In the second of the
SuperSport races, despite bettering his time
and average speed, he would finish fortieth.
The top result of the TT for Venter came in
the TT Zero. He finished fifth, five seconds
off John McGuiness in fourth. That would
unfortunately be it for Venter at the 2016
Isle of Man TT. He would end the TT with a
DNF in the senior TT. It however did not end
there. AJ recently went off to Macau for the
famous Macau Grand Prix. AJ impressed
further at Macau finishing in eighteenth in a
field of the world’s best road racers.
Locally, AJ competed in the SuperGP
nationals. He ended the season inside the
top ten of the Championship after a strong
showing in the final round at Red Star
Raceway, picking up fifth place in the final
race of the season. AJ’s best result of the
season coming in round 3 at Killarney where
he picked up a third place.
Writing this article, researching and
keeping an eye on what our South
African riders are doing has taught me a
lot. Not only about the rider’s individual
performances, but also just how much
goes in to a single race weekend. Not to
mention the amount of blood, sweat and
tears goes in to building a career in racing.
I have grown to respect each and every
rider and each person that is involved
in developing their careers. The riders,
parents, other family, friends, the teams they
are a part of, all dedicate and sacrifice so
much to get them to the level they are at.
Dorren Lourerio’s dad, Armando, mentioned
something that his son told him that stuck
with him, and stuck with me as well. Dorren
told him that; “ when you race in South
Africa, there are hardly any fans to support
you besides for your friends and family. You
are the arch rival of every other team and
rider. Overseas those very same people
become your fans and you want nothing
more than to make them proud and not
to disappoint them.” He acknowledged
that there are so many talented riders in
South Africa that are fast, faster than he
is. He hopes that, because he has been
given the kind of opportunity that many of
them don’t get, he can make those riders
proud, and he will do his best in order to do
so. I think that ever single rider that I have
mentioned in this article will feel the same
way Dorren does. It’s not easy for our local
riders to make the impact that all these
riders are making. That’s the very reason I’m
writing this article, because they deserve
the recognition and they need our support!
Congratulations to all the riders for their
tremendous efforts this season! We wish
you all the best for the season to come!
RIDEFAST MAGAZINE JANUARY 2017 55