By Roger McCleery
GLOBAL MOTORSPORT OVERVIEW
International
motorsport
Russia did itself proud with the running of the inaugural
GP in the Winter Olympic town of Sochi on the Black Sea.
B
ernie Ecclestone stuck to his
guns even after the FIM (M/C
Body) cancelled a round of
the Superbikes in Moscow because
of the political problems in that neck
of the woods. Despite pressure from
two-bit politicians who should stay
out of sport, it carried on and ran the
Formula 1 event.
What a credit to the country. A pristine
5km plus circuit, wonderful facilities and
a PR coup by getting along President
Putin to hand out the winning trophy to
Lewis Hamilton on the podium. Stand
by for other countries to follow suit and
push their politicians onto the podium
for worldwide exposure.
The GP itself was fairly dramatic with
the Mercedes Benz pair of Hamilton
and Rosberg accomplishing a first for
Mercedes Benz – the manufacturers
Championship. With three rounds to
go – Texas, Brazil and Abu Dhabi,
chalk in Lewis Hamilton for the World
Championship. He has already got his
hand on one handle of the trophy. He is
really quick in the race-winning car Merc
has given him.
With Vettel off to Ferrari, Alonso is
rumoured to be going to McLaren who
will be using Honda engines in 2015.
Kvyat, the young Russian, is joining
Ricciardo at Red Bull, who have also
lost the services of world championship
winning car designer, Adrian Newey,
who is tired of the restrictive regulations
in the sport.
Mark Webber when asked why Vettel
is not shaping this year said, “He is
probably driving my old car.”
Best motorsport bar none in the world
is the MotoGP in all three classes –
1000’s, Moto2 (600s) and Moto3 (250s).
Nothing beats the spectacle of the best
riders on the planet cranked over to
62° rubbing their elbows and knees on
the road and kerbing at 300kmh. Marc
Marques started it. Now they all ride this
way on their Pirelli tyres if they are to be
effective.
Lorenzo took his second win this year for
Yamaha in the Japanese Grand Prix at
Motegi with Marques on his tail.
This gave Marques his second premier
MotoGP title in a row. He is the youngest
rider at 21 ever to have done this.
Previously Mike Hailwood at 23 held the
record. In fact Hailwood, the greatest,
won four titles in a row – ’62, ’63, ’64,
and ’65.
South Africa’s Brad Binder (18) in the
Moto3 class riding an Indian Mahindra
GP250 bike, was leading at one stage at
Motegi. He came home 3rd in the dash
to the line. He is swopping to an Austrian
KTM next year.
Kelvin van der Linde clinched the GT
Masters Championship at Hockenheim
with his partner Rene Rast racing an R8
Audi.
That is two championships in a row for
the 18 year old matric student – 2013
Volkswagen Sirocco Cup and now this
GT Masters. He plans to keep racing in
the sports car formula in 2015.
Jonathan Wing (17) – a paraplegic
competitor from Hilton in KZN, went to
Essay in France. Racing in atrocious
conditions he won the CIK World
HandiKart World title. He now joins
14 other South Africans who have won
world karting titles.
Jordan Pepper (18) won the FIA
Institute Young Drivers Excellency
Academy Africa Award against sixteen
other drivers from twelve African
nations. That is beside his 2014 VW
Sirocco title he took in Germany with
one round to go.
On the home front Chris Visser, badly
injured in the Ford Ranger at the
2014 Dakar, made a come-back to
competitive racing and promptly won
the Vryburg 450 Donaldson CrossCountry National event in his Atlas
Copco Ford.
Just after winning the Toyota Dealer
National Rally in Cape Town - for his
first ever national win – Giniel de Villiers
went to Morocco to test his Imperial
Castrol Honda for the 2015 Dakar.
He won a stage and finished high up
in the others. Iveco Trucks’ top driver,
Gerhard de Rooy, the Dutch Dakar
winner top driver in 2012 who also there
and took the Truck Challenge.
Cape Town’s Dave McFadden (Kawasaki)
riding in the World SuperStock
Championship lies 5th in this class with
one round to go.
Jayde Kruger, our South African Formula
Ford and FGTI Single Seater Champion,
won the Dunlop British Formula Ford
Championship at Brands Hatch in
October.
He says he now wants to race something
with a roof over his head for a change.
We are constantly showing off our talent
overseas. Makes us proud.
| Wheels in Action
98
november 2014
Frenchman Sebastian Ogier
(Volkswagen) has just Spanish
and Welsh rounds of the
World Rally Championship to
go to pull off his first world
title. His team-mate, Latvala,
is just 27 points behind him
and pushing. It’s a great
watch on TV.