Team RST unstoppable at Nine Hour Endurance

Cape Town - A bumper entry list of 40 teams and stunning weather marked the start of the 33rd annual and highly acclaimed Nine Hour Endurance race for lightweight motorcycles at Killarney International Raceway.

This years event saw the total run time increased by one hour necessitating the requirement for running lights and even more steely-eyed bravery as the final stage of the race was to run into the night with only makeshift track lighting to help the intrepid teams of between 2 and 4 riders per bike round Killarney's tight and twisting carting circuit.

As per previous events the line up included brand new and long time racers from the Cape Town area and abroad,to local and national champions and of course star riders from the Isle of Man Tourist Trophy,British Supersport/Superbikes and the 2015 FIM Superstock championship,including famous names like Bjorn Estment,David McFadden and Wayne Tessels and Hudson Kennaugh.This diversity is one of the big draw-cards which has seen the event go from strength to strength over the years as total unknowns get the chance to compete with,and against some of the country's,and indeed the worlds best.

Team RST went into the event as favorites and with a re jigged line up bringing in young Hot Shot Kewyn Snyman to join EU Stk 1000 rider and ex SA Champ David McFadden and 8 times winner Jonny Towers..

Because of the large number of entries and the limited space on track,the qualifying session was split into two groups and the results merged to inform the mid-day starting line-up with Team RST consisting of Jonny Towers,ex- Western Province superbike champ David McFadden,and young up-and-comer Kewyn Snyman on pole .

Three hours into the race Team RST had found their rhythm at the lead with Team Portable Shade's,Brent Harran,Mathew Scholtz,Wayne Tessels and Bjorn Estment trailing close and the Mad Mac's team in 3rd,and it was at this point that the race started living up to it's name when the all woman team of Bosson Performance Exhaust's Jeanette Kok-Kritzinger made contact with another bike on the straight leaving Kritzinger unconscious on the tarmac.Barely moments after,Willem Louw lost traction as he exited a corner,broad-siding the bike directly in front of Brandon Storey as he exited the turn with his head down,leaving no time to react as he t-boned Louw,destroying both bikes in spectacular fashion with Louw suffering broken bones and a trip to the hospital.

As dusk fell it had become clear that RST had once again become the team to beat as Towers,McFadden and Snyman laid down seamless laps in to the night. All Team RST riders laying laps down close to lap record with David McFadden going onto break the lap record with an amazing lap of 48.7 scs!

Many riders commented on the toughness of the evening session as the pace had hardly slowed with only a two second difference in lap times even under limited visibility and rider fatigue.Fortunately there were no more serious accidents (but many minor one's) and certainly the thinning of the pack from 40 starters to 29 finishers helped to keep the times around the 54 second mark.When the flag finally fell at 9pm the RST team had completed 613 laps against Mad Mac's 599 and Team Greased Lightning in 3rd's 582,making it nine wins in the last 11  years for Team RST.