It was the turn of the liter boys. It was all glamour and glitz with the teams showing up with custom leathers, racing livery, umbrella girls and team principals.

The BMW looking like the weapon of choice for the weekend. It was an impressive field. Jack, the defending champion, Argo who ran him close last year. Throw in the new kid on the block Gbenga and his teammate, B9 of BKG racing. One time champion – Sama was missing though.

Like the 600cc category, only the fastest ten (10) in qualifier will line up on the grid come November 24. With each racer having the track to himself during qualifiers. A shootout with the timers, a different type of racing it has to be said.

There were six (6) racing teams with eight (8) riders timed during the qualifiers. We are expecting more riders to turn up for the subsequent ones later in the year.

 

 

Even with a less than ideal track surface, the scorching heat, it was obvious Gbenga had come to warn his rivals what he was capable of on race day. His time of 2:33.06 over two (2) laps was truly breathtaking. If we divide the time to get a rough estimate of a single lap, we are looking at 1:16.58 which is over two seconds off the fastest time in the category last year. To think he had only just had a few hours on the track. Although, optimism must be tempered with caution as this played out last year with Argo blitzing the field during qualifiers and Jack eventually winning  albeit pushed to the limit.

Jack, like his idol Rossi, does not qualify well with the current format but come race day, be sure he is at the front competing full throttle.

We are expecting the time records to continue to tumble over the course of the year as riders will have tuned their bikes even more, better asphalt, more track time will inspire confidence.

We are definitely biting our finger nails in anticipation of what is to come.

Name                    Team                          Bike                     Time (2 laps combined)

Gbenga             BKG racing             BMW S1000rr                    2:33.06

Argo                   Argiotios                Aprilia RSV4                       2:38.93

JayDee              24-7 racing                                                             2:40.40

AirBenda        AirBenda racing     Suzuki GXSRR                    2:44.37

B9                      BKG racing             Honda Fireblade                2:48.14

TBanj                CC racing                BMW S1000rr                     2:51.36

Show                4eva racing                                                           2:59.04

Mustee           Torque racing          BMW S1000rr                      3:04.02

 

See 600cc qualifier report here