aBr November 2014 | Page 100

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.