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SO GOOD IT FEELS LIKE YOU’RE CHEATING<br />
DUNLOP TYRES – PROUDLY BROUGHT TO YOU BY HENDERSON RACING PRODUCTS<br />
DUCATI V4 RACER<br />
OUR FIRST OFFICIAL RACEDAY ON THE PANIGALE V4 RACER.<br />
The day had finally come for<br />
us to race our new Ducati SA/<br />
World of Motorcycles V4 racer.<br />
As you can see by the pics, it<br />
was not dolled up in its normal<br />
flash red Ducati colours, but<br />
rather a plain white kit. This<br />
was due to a slight oopsy daisy<br />
we had a few weeks prior with<br />
the bike, which needed a lot of<br />
attention and time from master<br />
tech Zoki to be made race ready.<br />
He managed to pull it off<br />
and rolling it out on the Friday<br />
practice for the first time<br />
we noticed one or two small<br />
gremlins that were quickly<br />
sorted out by Zoki. The rest<br />
of Friday practice went really<br />
well with both myself and my<br />
bro setting really good times<br />
and finding a setup we were<br />
both comfortable with. For<br />
the <strong>2020</strong> season we would<br />
once again be racing the same<br />
bike on the same tyres so we<br />
needed tyres that could last<br />
but more importantly gave us<br />
enough grip to be competitive.<br />
Dunlop SA came on board and<br />
supported us with their D213<br />
Pro4 compound, the perfect<br />
solution for both grip and<br />
longevity. We found out on the<br />
Friday practice that they were<br />
perfect as both grip and wear<br />
were perfect.<br />
Come Saturday race day<br />
myself, my brother, and<br />
our Ducati V4 1100 race<br />
machine were ready. Shaun<br />
will be racing in the BOTTS<br />
championship for the season<br />
looking to wrap up his first big<br />
bike title while I will be taking<br />
on the ultra-competitive SBK<br />
1000cc class. Why not take<br />
on the BOTTS and make my<br />
younger brother deal with the<br />
SBK racers? Simple really, I<br />
don’t have the stomach or liver<br />
to handle the alcohol abuse<br />
I would get from the BOTTS<br />
guys. I have done a BOTTS race<br />
before and let’s just say my<br />
liver is still not talking to me.<br />
So, I decided to throw my<br />
brother into the fun, exciting,<br />
party hard BOTTS class and<br />
what an introduction it turned<br />
out to be for him and our new<br />
Ducati racer. With a big belly<br />
full of nerves, Shaun managed<br />
to put the bike on pole position<br />
for both races. He then had<br />
probably the worst start I<br />
have ever seen from any<br />
racer in race one and found<br />
himself back in about 1990.<br />
He managed to fight his way<br />
through the field and onto the<br />
back end of early race leader<br />
Brian Bontekoning. The twobattled<br />
hard for a few laps and<br />
Shaun made the perfect move<br />
heading into the final lap. Brian<br />
pushed him all the way to the<br />
final turn where Shaun just<br />
managed to squeeze him out,<br />
taking the win by a mere 0.198.<br />
Both riders set their fastest<br />
laps of the race on the last lap,<br />
Brian on a 1,58.426 just slightly<br />
quicker than Shaun’s 1,58.524.<br />
Race two was a bit easier<br />
for Shaun with the absence of<br />
Brian after his big crash in the<br />
Masters race. Again, Shaun got<br />
a terrible start but this time only<br />
found himself back in 1995. He<br />
again fought through the field<br />
and once he got to the front<br />
consolidated his lead on what<br />
was a slightly underperforming<br />
Ducati. The gear position<br />
sensor had failed meaning the<br />
electronics were a bit out of<br />
sync, which did make the bike<br />
a bit harder to ride but Shaun<br />
managed to hold onto the win<br />
and picked up all 50 points on<br />
offer for the day and now takes a<br />
solid lead into round two in PE, a<br />
track he has only ridden on once<br />
a very long time ago so it’s not<br />
going to be easy down there.<br />
As for me, it was a very<br />
busy weekend as not only was<br />
I racing but was also handling<br />
commentary for the track<br />
and the live to Facebook feed<br />
courtesy of Raceday TV. The<br />
coverage was amazing and big<br />
thanks to Keith Botha and the<br />
rest of the team from Raceday<br />
TV for the amazing coverage<br />
and to all the sponsors who<br />
came on board. Go check out<br />
the coverage on the Raceday<br />
TV FB page or on their YouTube<br />
channel.<br />
I managed to set a good<br />
qualifying time of 1,57.9, which<br />
saw me down in 10th place<br />
on the combined 600cc and<br />
1000cc grid. The start of the<br />
first heat was frantic with<br />
handlebar bashing a plenty<br />
heading into a cement dust<br />
filled turn one. In the race<br />
before us, one of the Classsic<br />
bikes put some oil down so<br />
track conditions were not<br />
ideal for us hard charging<br />
testosterone filled maniacs.<br />
I managed to sneak in with<br />
the leading group out front<br />
and was feeling very racy<br />
on our then spot on feeling<br />
Ducati machine with Dunlop<br />
D213 tyres fitted. My feeling<br />
would quickly be interrupted<br />
as the race was stopped due<br />
to a big crash from Tyrone<br />
Piper heading into the tight<br />
90 degree left hander. The<br />
decision was then made to<br />
move the first heat to after the<br />
Supersport 300 race two as to<br />
try and help clean up the track.<br />
My race one re-start was<br />
shocking as I was not present<br />
in the meeting where it was<br />
decided to use a flag start due<br />
to load shedding. So, there I<br />
was on the line waiting for<br />
the lights to go on-and-off<br />
88 RIDEFAST MAGAZINE MARCH <strong>2020</strong>
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