Sunny South Africa

Boxer Cup and 3Hr Endurance

Time for business again after touring round Eastern Transvaal on the BMW K1200R that Bavarian Motorcycles were kind enough to loan me.

I’d clocked up 3500km on the 1200R, enough to run-in the motor ready for the 3hr endurance race.
It was going to be a busy race day, two Boxer cup races and the 3hr endurance race.

Spent practice day lapping on Bavarian’s super-bike Boxer and my Boxer cup bike getting them setup ready for qualifying, only had handful of laps on the 1200R as I was confident of the settings.

Qualified the 1200R on the grid for the 3hr with a lap time of 107.9 which is a good time round Zwarkopps when pole on in the Boxer cup was 109.0.

I wasn’t quite so comfortable on the Boxer, just needed more laps on it really, qualified that in 6th position!

Not used to starting a race without tyre warmers so took it easy in race-1 on the Boxer for the first two laps. Made my way through the field to 4th position when Braam Smitt crashed taking Wian Erasmus with him, promoted to 2nd I was quick to take advantage for the lead.

Unfortunately Braam remounted with a broken engine casing leaving oil all round Zwarkopps racing line.
On approach to the hairpin oil flags were out, took it steady thinking I was ok accelerating towards turn two when yep the Boxer was suddenly horizontal. Fortunately no injuries and race was red-flagged, result was declared on the last full lap completed giving me 2nd position.

Race-2 was much the same, had just caught the front three with five laps to go, as I approached the hairpin the oil flags were out again. It’s a fast approach, 4th gear brake hard and back to 2nd. As my fingers touched the brake lever I was slammed to the ground, this one hurt and off I went to the medical centre. Two guys behind me went down in the same place, found myself dodging what looked like two beach whales coming towards me!

No injuries just a massive love bite on my right hip, luckily there’s not much feeling there as I’ve killed most of the fat tissue on both hips over the years making them quite numb!

I was fit enough to take over from Wian Erasmus for my one hour stint in the 3hr. Tyres were past there best but made up some good time and really enjoyed myself. Track felt slippery but same for everybody. The brakes are mega on the 1200R but the pads were wearing very fast. Team didn’t change them for Braam Smitt’s final hour so he had to ride accordingly costing us valuable time. Finished the race in 11th position, could have been so much better but hey….. Maybe next year!