The first round of the 2020 regional Power Series at Killarney International Raceway on Saturday March 7 delivered superb motor racing in a new format, including a number of surprises from new faces and new machines.
Danie van Niekerk qualified on pole for the Mike’s Place Clubmans Saloons but had to give his best in Race 1, coming home third on the road behind Brennon Green (Weskaap Bakwerke Golf 5) and Nieyaaz Modack’s BMW – only to be penalised 20 seconds for overtaking under a yellow flag, which dropped him down to 17th and promoted Clint Rennard (G&A Promotions Golf 2L) into third.
Wayne Wilson in the DTM Helderberg Maxima topped Class B, Ederees Achmat (EA Performance M3) led Class C, Noel Stander won Class D in a Volkswagen Polo, Dwayne Bernard took Class E in the GR5 Degreaser BMW E46 and Class F honours went to Dewald Theron in the Delcon Golf Mk1.
Van Niekerk’s run of bad luck continued in Race 2, as he ran two seconds off his qualifying pace in ninth overall until he went out on lap six, while Green, Modack, Michael le Sueur (New Engineering Golf 1), Rennard, Mansoor Parker (BMW E30), Rafick Pather (LVT’s BMW E46) and Cody Alberts (Stylesy/GT Graphix BMW 330) made the running at the sharp end of the field, finishing in that order with 4.346 seconds covering all seven at the line.
Craig Jarvis and the Maui Motorhomes Ginetta G57 walked away with the first Sports & GT race until Jarvis dropped a wheel over the edge of the circuit coming out of Fastron Corner on lap eight and broke a driveshaft.
That handed the lead to Dawie Joubert’s giant killer Honda-powered Lotus Exige, with Steve Humble’s Opel Mallock Mk14B hot on his tailpipes.
Humble made his move on the very last lap, outbraking the Exige to take the win by 1.56 seconds, with Josh Broome, out for the first time at Killarney in the “twin Hayabusa” RBR/Spitfire Furniture Radical SRB, a distant third.
Gary Kieswetter (Advanced Packaging Porsche GT3 RS) led Class B in fifth overall, Louis de Jager’s Lola T212 was the top Class C finisher and Ray Farnham took Class D in his two-litre Opel-powered Birkin 7.
Steve Humble’s Harp Motorsport crew replaced the Ginetta’s driveshaft in two hours flat, ready for Race 2.
Jarvis made no mistakes and led from lights to flag, to win by 9.203 seconds from Joubert, Humble and Broome, with Kieswetter, De Jager and Farnham leading their respective classes again.
Kewyn Snyman (Kawasaki ZX10R) laid down his marker for the 2020 RST Suzuki South Superbike series title in his first ever outing on a litre-class machine with a superb clean sweep of pole position, the fastest lap in each race and two race wins.
