13 February 2010

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Wilmarie Janse van Rensburg – South Africa’s Speed Queen 

Wilmarie’s Feedback on the Race

One of the most exciting and most recent events was the Ladies’ first 600cc race at Zwartkops on Saturday 13 February 2010.  With over 17 ladies on the grid, it was with out a doubt on the biggest ladies’ grids and most exciting classes to watch.  The amazing thing about this class is the fact that almost 70 % of the ladies who entered, were first time racers.  The only experience that these ladies had about racing was a few basic on track riding lessons that we provided and a whole lot of emails guiding the ladies on rules, regs and endless requirements. 

Some of the ladies weren’t even able to attend any of the riding lesson sessions, but still put a brave face on and joined us for the race.  Our aim was to have fun and be safe and I think we managed both very well.  Although we had two small incidents, the ladies were back up quickly and riding again.  Maxine & Nienke found themselves visiting the very far outside of turn four at zwartkops more intensely then planned.  I have no doubt that it was a shock to the system when they realized that they crashed, but hats of to the ladies for getting right back up after this happened in qualifying and joining us on the grid for race 1. 

I have to admit, in all my years of racing, the best part of race 1 was most definitely all our brollie boys that Clinton Pienaar and his co-partners organized so quietly for us.  I’ve never actually laughed so much on the grid before, especially for Mr Phillip in his Borat suit.  As painful as it was watching him in it, I just could not find myself not staring!  It was such a shock to the system that I completely forgot to put my visor down and on my way to corner one I realized that I was in the race and my visor was still open.  Never the less, it was a good laugh and definitely helped take the edge off the tension for the ladies, especially being their first grid start ever.

I am so grateful that everyone was kept safe during this start as it can be one of the most dangerous times in a race.  Unfortunately Cassie was not able to complete the race as she had a very very big crash into turn 1.  But again, she really impressed me.  After going through all the relevant medical inspections at the hospital, she was back at the track in full spirit, joining us for prize giving. Well done ladies! You are officially racers now! Everyone deserves a trophy after Saturday

The racing was definitely something to watch for everyone. If you looked at the lap times it was myself and Michelle in the front with the quickest lap times, Nicole, Janine Mitchell and Janine Durand had similar lap times and then all the ladies seemed to have one or two ‘partners’ doing the same or similar lap times to them, creating a race within a race for everyone.  Unfortunately things went very wrong for me personally on Saturday as I had 3 rear flat tyres.  This might seem ‘impossible’, but it’s proof to be possible after 14 years.  It was very disappointing for me, because it happened in qualifying already, but we could not find a leak or puncture anywhere so made a reasonable assumption to think that the tyre did not initially settle well on the rim after it was changed the night before.  While we were waiting for race 1, the tyre pressure stayed 100% correct.  However, when I went out for race one, the tyre was good for one lap and after that went down to under 1bar, making it impossible for me chase or win. 

Fortunately, or so we thought, we found a piece of wire in the rear tyre, justifying a puncture and explaining what happened.  We changed back to the old practice tyre from Friday, thinking an old tyre is better than a flat one…but unfortunately this tyre also only lasted one lap before I had less than .5 bar left in my tyre.  This time it was clear that we had a problem with the rim with the possibility of a hairline crack, and the best I could do under the circumstances, was hang on to 5th place and bring some points home.  Kawasaki is so supportive that they’ve already helped me with a new rim so that I can start practicing as soon as possible.  It was incredibly disappointing for me, especially considering that I haven’t raced for so long and my times were right up there for podium. I really wanted to bring a win home for my sponsors Kawasaki, Full Throttle, Leatt-Brace, Sidi and Gorilla Zilla.  But there’s always the next race!

Inspite of my results, I was so pleased to see the smiles on each lady’s face.  The ladies absolutely loved every moment of it and are now becoming so competitive that each them seem to know exactly what it is they need to work on now to get quicker.  Whether it be suspension, or track time.. the challenge is on!.  The overall reception of the spectators were really very warming and supportive and I have to personally thank every lady for competing but also every person who contributed to making this lady’s class possible.  Watch this class, it’s going to become one of the most popular and competitive classes to watch in circuit racing!

A special Thank you to my sponsors:

Kawasaki SA
Full Throttle
Leatt-Brace
SIDI
Gorilla Zilla