Former South African Supersport champion Greg Gildenhuys (BMW Motorrad Motorsport S1000RR) has worked hard to establish his lead in the national Superbike championship and will be a difficult man to beat in round four at Phakisa Freeway in the Free State on Saturday (June 4).
After rounds at Kyalami in March and Killarney and Aldo Scribante in April, the 21-year-old from Boskruin in Gauteng has amassed 126 points and is a comfortable 25 ahead of nearest challenger Chris Leeson. Third on 90 points is former champion Sheridan Morais.
Although Morais will be away testing for the World Superstock championship this weekend, Gildenhuys will still have his hands full, particularly with a resurgent Leeson. The Kawasaki rider, who had not finished higher than third in the previous four races, won both races in Port Elizabeth five weeks ago in something of an upset that saw Gildenhuys finish second and third after messing up both starts.
He has been battling to get to grips with the new BMW’s launch control and gave away at least nine places from the start to the first corner in both races.
Thanks to his abundant riding talent and the powerful BMW, he was able to catch the leaders within a few laps, but there were just not enough laps to make up the deficit and he had to settle for an unfamiliar second and a third.
“I’ve been practising my starts and will be making a big effort to get away smoothly at the start this weekend,” said Gildenhuys. “I really can’t afford to give away so many places on the opening lap and then have to fight so hard to make up the lost ground. The competition’s way too strong and getting stronger with each round.”
The last time the Superbikes were at Phakisa, in round five in August last year, the bike races were cancelled because of what were deemed to be dangerous track conditions. However, a consolation Superpole was arranged for the fans and Gildenhuys took full advantage to blitz the opposition with a sensational winning time of 1 min 35,99 sec on his privately-entered Autohaus Towing BMW S1000RR, more than six tenths of a second faster than the next best rider and well inside the Phakisa lap record.
The track has been upgraded since then and this weekend’s action should see the usual practice on Friday followed by qualifying and two races on Saturday which more than likely will be the best of the day in a full WesBank Super Series programme.
Four other BMW S1000RR riders have been making their presence felt this season and all are currently in the top 10 in the championship. Nicolas Grobler (Jonway BMW) is fifth, Jonathan Willcox (Willcox Consulting BMW) is sixth, impressive Superbike rookie James Egan Thundersport/Ryder Motorrad BMW) is seventh after only competing in the last two rounds, and Steven Coetzer (Casamia Biscuits BMW) is eighth.
