1701 RF final

The Powerflow team of Dick Bate,
Donald Craig, Ayden van Rooijen and
multiple former SA champion Greg Dreyer
were within a lap of the leaders until lap 24,
when Dreyer hit part of a fallen bike and slit
the front tyre. He got the bike back to the
pits unscathed for a frantic tyre change, but
it cost the team 10 laps and dropped them
halfway down the order.
An hour later, the RST riders had reeled
off 143 laps to the 140 of the OCC squad
– but they’d been slapped with a five-lap
penalty for overtaking under a yellow flag
and, officially, OCC was in the lead, with
the Van Bros bikes third and fourth. The
Hi-Tech CBR150 of Dorren Loureiro, Chris
Wright and former National star Robbie
Portman from Gauteng was up to fifth,
ahead of the Ellis brothers, Michael and
David – the only two-man team in the race
– aboard the Weskus Verkoelers CBR150.
Erin Lane was on track to become the
first girl to finish an 8 Hour in the top five
when she clashed with a slower rider in the
Pits Esses and went down hard; she was
able to ride a second stint later, but at the
cost of much discomfort, and the Fast Lane
team finished well down the order.
Ten minutes into the third hour Mark van
der Walt crashed the Van Bros family bike
out of third, injuring his left ankle too badly
to ride further, and costing the team a long
pit stop to repair the bike; they rejoined in
23rd position, 36 laps down and never got
back into contention.
Close formation
With three hours gone, RST were a scant
three laps ahead of the second Van Bros
crew and the Hi Tech squad, who were not
only on the same lap but just 12 seconds
apart, with the ASAP World CBR150
of William Friend, Brandon Staffen and
Luca Coccioni, the Ellis brothers and the
Rayder Racing CBR150 of Gareth Dawson,
Raymond Alexander, Renier de Lange and
Chris Deppe in close formation, one lap
further down.
RIDEFAST MAGAZINE JANUARY 2017 57