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East London - East London will reverberate to the sounds of high-powered motorcycles, both on and off track, when the third round of the 2018 SuperGP Champions Trophy takes place at the Grand Prix Circuit on April 27-28.
The event forms part of the Africa Bike Week which is headquartered in Buffalo City from April 26 to 29.
In the premiere SuperGP category, each of the three races held so far this season has had a different winner, leaving no clear favourite in the title race. David McFadden (RPM Centre/Stunt SA Kawasaki ZX10) leads the way after he followed two second places with a win in the final race in Cape Town.
He has a seven-point advantage over Michael White (Consortium Shipping Yamaha R1) who won the season opener at Zwartkops.
Daryn Upton (Uncle Andy Racing Suzuki GSXR 1000) has consistently finished on the podium, or just off it and lies in third place ahead of defending champion Clint Seller (King Price Extreme/Bikefin Yamaha R1), who has shown he has pace, but Lady Luck has not smiled on him yet this season.
Image: Motorpress
Championship log
Morne Geldenhuis (NCA Plant Hire/Hi-Tech Racing Yamaha R1) is next up on the championship log, but a huge crash in the second race in Cape Town leaves him side-lined for East London.
Dylan Barnard (Shop #74 Yamaha R1), Gavin Upton (Shop #74 Yamaha R1) and Karl Schultz (Suzuki GSXR1000) round out the top eight in the SuperGP title race.
Two wins at his home track have moved Capetonian Hayden Jonas (Samurai Racing Yamaha R6) to the top of the Super600 standings but Adolf Boshoff (Uncle Andy Racing Suzuki GSXR600) and Blaze Baker (King Price Extreme/Bikefin Yamaha R6) are not far behind and will be out to reduce the deficit in East London.
Jared Schultz (Uncle Andy Racing Suzuki GSXR600) seems to like the number four this season.
He lies fourth in the championship standings after finishing fourth in every Super600 race this year and will be out to move into a podium position in the Eastern Cape.
Image: Motorpress
Byron Bester (Hi-Tech Racing Kawasaki ZX6) and Brandon Staffen (AJH Cooling/Keating & Jansen Kawasaki ZX6) are separated by just a point in fifth and sixth with Aiden Liebenberg (Shop #74 / Fercor Construction Kawasaki ZX6), who has spent time in Europe preparing for his ride in the Red Bull Rookies Cup since the last round, not far behind in seventh.
Dain Nelson (TRD Motorcycles Yamaha R6) is in eighth.
Closest racing
The Super300 category has provided spectators with some of the closest racing seen on South African circuits in a long while. Kewyn Snyman (The Mag Workshop KTM390) has won three out of the for races so far this season and leads the championship race Dino Iozzo (King Price Extreme / Bikefin Honda) who has yet to finish lower than second this season.
Iozzo has spent the past couple of weekends competing in the world SuperSport300 championship and will be looking to translate that experience into more wins.
Lady rider Zante Otto (ORT-Online Yamaha R3) is next up, just ahead of Taric van der Merwe (Evolve Nutrition Yamaha R3).
The Uncle Andy Racing KTM mounted duo of Tyreece Robert and Chase Hulscher are next up, Robert in fifth, just two points ahead of Hulscher. They are followed by Deegan Claassens, the first of the Kawasaki mounted riders on the Nine Nine Racing Ninja 300. He has Clinton Fourie (NCA Plant Hire Yamaha R3) just behind him in eighth
Image: Motorpress
The national riders will be supported by a number of regional categories, making for two full days of track action with practice and qualifying, and an additional Super300 race, on Friday with a warm-up session followed by two races for each category on Saturday.
Tickets, at R100, will be available at the gate or online.