The SuperGP Champions Trophy returns to the track after the winter break when the fifth round of the 2016 season takes place at Red Star Raceway in Mpumalanga on Saturday, 30 July.
SuperGP championship leader Mathew Scholtz (ETR Nashua Yamaha R1) spent the winter break in America competing in the MotoAmerica Superstock 1000 championship where he scored four consecutive podium finishes. He will be looking to continue that run of form at Red Star where he won both races at the opening round of this year’s championship.
While Scholtz has a 47-point lead at the top of the championship log he cannot rest on his laurels. Michael White has got to grips with his Consortium Shipping Yamaha R1 and, while he hasn’t stood on the top step of the podium yet this season, it is surely only a matter of time before he takes his first premier class victory.
Defending champion Clint Seller is in third place. The Neolife Yamaha R1 rider has been very quick this season but a number of DNFs have left him 57 points off the leader. After a difficult start to the season, Greg Gildenhuys has got the Kreepy Krauly Kawasaki ZX10-R performing like he wants it and three podium finishes in the last two rounds have moved him up to fourth on the log, just eight points behind Seller.
In the SuperMasters Interprovincial Challenge Lance Isaacs (LIR Motorrad BMW S1000RR) has won every race this season and has a comfortable lead in the championship. Damon Purificati (Amalgam Welding Shop Kawasaki ZX10-R) is his closest challenger with Justin Gillesen (LIR Motorrad BMW S1000RR), who missed the last round due to injury, in third place.
Steven Odendaal (Petra Yamaha R6) missed the last round of the Super600 championship in Cape Town as he was competing in the FIM CEV Moto2 European Championship where he leads the title chase. Odendaal’s absence allowed Adolf Boshoff (Neolife Yamaha R6) to open up a 50-point gap at the top of the championship log.
Blaze Baker (Uncle Andy Racing Suzuki GSXR 600) has his best outing of the season in Cape Town and will be looking to build on that performance. There is a gaggle of riders behind the leading trio on the log, any of whom could be in the mix at Red Star. They include Nicole van Aswegen (Women in Motorsport Triumph 675), Alex van den Berg (Kawasaki ZX6) and Kewyn Snyman (Inex Construction Kawasaki ZX6).
Capetonian Brandon Staffen Leads the way in the SuperJunior championship from Aiden Liebenberg and Tyreece Robert. Dominic Doyle, CJ Hackart and Luca Coccioni complete the top six. Based on their performances so far this season, any the top six plus Jared Schultz could be on the Red Star podium.
The national categories will be supported by a full program of regional championship events including, for the first time, the Red Square Kawasaki ZX10R Masters Cup. Practice and qualifying take place on Friday, 29 July with racing getting underway at 09h30 on Saturday, 30 July.
As is the case at all SuperGP Champions Trophy events, there is a charity component to the race meeting. The Tin Run Tour helps charities in the area of the circuit with donations of tinned food. Spectators who arrive before 10h00 on race day will be granted free admission to the circuit in exchange for a tin of food.