Race Report Rd #1 P.E. – Portable Shade PS Honda
The first round of the Wesbank Super Series was held on Saturday 7 March 2009 Aldo Scribante Circuit, just outside Port Elizabeth. It was the first outing for the newly formed Portable Shade PS Honda Racing Team under the guidance and management of Brad Anassis. It was a daunting experience for the team as it is one of the largest manufactured supported teams on the grid in 2009, with no fewer than 5 Honda motorcycles contesting in both the Superbikes and Supersport categories. The team certainly brought a professional approach feel to the paddock as it had blend of both past champions and talented young developing riders.
Qualifying:
The team had very little time to prepare the bikes prior to P.E. and with conditions very difficult and blustery windy on Friday it was difficult for them to find an ideal set up for the qualifying on Saturday morning. However, despite all these adverse factors enough information was relayed to the crew chief – Alfie Swanepoel and the Suspension guru – Martin Paetzold that the team managed to have creditable qualifying positions on the grid. Jacques Peskens qualified 2nd on the Supersport grid and James Egan 6th with Janine Mitchell in 21st position. The Superbike category saw Lance Isaacs qualify in 7th position and Nicolas Grobler in 10th.
Supersport 600
Race 1:
Supersport – In this very competitive class, PS Honda riders had a fairly successful opening round with Jacques Peskens having a ding dong battle with another Honda rider Eddy Alberts who eventually managed to pip Peskens to the line by 100th of a second. Overall for heat #1 Jacques eventually finishing 4th and James Egan 7th with Janine Mitchell finishing in 19th position.
Race 2:
After the nervous start by all riders, they were hoping for a better result in Race 2. A great start by Jacques Peskens, James Egan & Janine Mitchell saw them in a much better position than in Race 1, but some daring moves by other competitors saw Jacques having to go wide in the hairpin which put him out of contention having too much to make up on the front runners. James managed to avoid the daring moves and worked his way up the field. At the end of the race it was James who finished in 5th position and Jacques in 6th. Janine had some interesting and potentially dangerous happenings in front of her when two riders collided in front of her, but fortunate for her she managed to get through and end in 18th position.
Superbike 1000
Race 1:
Even though the team had high hopes in this class Lance Isaacs and Nicolas Grobler needed more time to get to understand the bikes. The lack of practice laps on the new bike proved to be the teams undoing and both Lance and Nicolas ended up in a very creditable 7th and 10th place respectively and only 600th of a second of pole position. A very good performance considering the little time the team has had with the bike.
Race 2:
Lance Isaacs had a brilliant start and saw him competing for the top 3 positions early on in the race. The team had done a fantastic job between races to find the ideal set up for both bikes. However, he could not hold onto this position and eventually ended up finishing 6th. Nicolas Grobler also had a consistent race getting to know his new bike and finished in a better position than the Race 1 by finishing in 9th position – also an improvement on Race 1.
Quotes:
Alfie Swanepoel – Crew Chief.
This was our first test on the new Hondas and we had a grandstand seat. We know what to do and we will work on it in the next couple of weeks and can’t wait for everything coming together.
Lance Isaacs – I am very happy with the results for the weekend. The team achieved an awful amount on the first true test in the 09 season.Â
Nicolas Grobler – I am very happy with my first outing in P.E. having never ridden on this track before. I am still looking to improve in the next couple of races and look forward to them.Â
Jacques Peskens – All in all a good weekend. Even though we had a lot of difficulty on Friday the team worked really hard through the night and lots of improvements were made before Saturday. Looking forward to these developments coming to fruition and can’t wait to get back on the bike again.Â
James Egan – I learnt a lot this weekend on my new bike, even though we know there is still a lot of work lying ahead, the basics are good and cannot wait to race in the next couple of weeks again.
Janine Mitchell – I am extremely happy with my weekend having achieved my objective. The bike performed amazingly and I am looking forward to a great season with the PS Honda team. It’s great to be a part of such a professional tream.
Martin Paetzold – Suspension Guru
It’s the first time we have had to test the bikes back to back after Zwartkops last week. The tyre wear was great and feel that we could run an even softer compound in future races. The riders had a good feel and are confident of a good season.
Brad Anassis – Team Owner Portable Shade PS Honda
I think the first outing for the team worked great together, we all gelled easily and that’s a tall order, the event was great as the riders got to understand the new equipment, we ironed out plenty of teething problems. The whole team is getting to understand what makes the Honda tick and there is a still lot to learn about these fantastic machines. The settings are way different to what we experienced with other Japanese brands. I am very happy with what we have achieved in this short period. The riders will now be a lot more confident to push themselves harder in the forthcoming rounds and I cannot wait. I would like to thank all my sponsors for their involvement in particular Honda and Portable Shade for making this fantastic team possible. |
