A New Dawn

From the beginning of the weekend it was fair to say that there was a buzz in the pits about Riaan Neveling and the Honda. A powerful rider and a strong bike are a formidable pairing indeed.

The track combined with these two elements to make a perfect combination. Polokwane’s wide open fast and sweeping turns would suit Nevelings “Superbike knee down” style to a tee and we would just have to wait and see how he would get on with his new machinery.

Having only finished building the Honda CRF 450 with help from Doug Lang and the Westrand Honda crew on the Thursday morning before the race, Neveling managed to squeeze in a brief set up session at Zwartkops before loading the van and heading to Limpopo.

Practice and qualifying proved all the other riders’ fears were justified. In practice the Honda rider was consistently a full second faster than the rest and in qualifying held his gap whilst improving lap times each lap. Eventually, when the dust had settled from qualifying, the only man that could get close to Nevelings pace was defending Champion Brian Capper. Capper had not been scheduled to race here at Round 1 as he would be focused on Enduro riding this season, but a knee injury had made him change his mind last minute.

Another half second back in third was Red Yamaha’s Kyle Smythe. Smythe had made the jump up from the S3 (250cc) class along with sparring partner Grant Frerichs. At his first attempt Smythe had out qualified his older and more experienced team mate Brett Bircher who looked off pace and uncomfortable on the track. Frerichs too had not faired too badly in qualifying in fifth but Bircher was way down in seventh. Munro took his customary fourth place on the grid and Witbank KTM rider DeLira took the sixth spot.

In the racing for the first two heats the crowd were truly treated to a display of perfect riding from Neveling. He got the drop on Capper off the line and extended his lead straight away. Capper would go down in the first heat and have to chase through. Nevelings winning margin over the field in heat one and two were a master class in cool, calculated riding. His pace was even faster than in qualifying and the Chris Craft Honda never missed a beat.
In heat one he was able to go into cruise control six laps in when it was clear that he would not be caught. This would allow him to conserve his energy for the rest of the day’s two remaining races.

Last year at Cape Town Neveling had tasted victory on board new machinery and and it seemed history was repeating itself but this time he had taken two wins. The second win was the most important as it was a straight out fight. Capper followed in second but was never able to get close enough to challenge for the win. This had pumped Neveling up and he was ready for heat three and another victory more than ever.
Since the beginning of last year the S1 450 Premier class has run three heats per National event and the list of men that have taken the triple on the day is short and distinguished. Michael Kok was the first then Capper and Bircher. Riaan Neveling was one heat race win away from being the fourth rider ever to achieve this feat.

When the lights went out on heat three it was a different Brian Capper who took his only chance to beat the flying Neveling and beat him to the first turn. Neveling and the Honda slotted into second and had to chase down the orange machine in front.

What followed was one of the closest and longest battles that Super Moto in South Africa has ever seen. Capper was the king of controlling the race with Neveling switching lines and trying everything short of an ugly take down move to get in front. On the back of the circuit he was able to close right up onto the back wheel of the leader and a pass looked imminent …but it never came. It seemed like Neveling had decided if he was to pass it would be a fair pass.

He showed his final hand into the last sweeping tarmac turn near the end of the final lap. He ran in literally attached to Cappers back wheel and tried to sling shot around the outside. His commitment was amazing and as he pulled up alongside the front tyre let go. Neveling stood the bike up and rode wide. No crash but the race was done. Capper took his only win of the day with Riaan dejected in second. He gave it everything for the whole race but in the end with the track turning into a one line affair there was just no gap. He soon cheered up when the points were tallied and realized that he was holding a big bag full of points after the first round of the Nationals and had a bike that he knew could take him all the way to his first ever National Championship.

For the first time ever in his Super Moto career, Riaan Neveling heads into Round Number 2 leading on points. The next National circuit will be Cape Town, a track where Riaan took his maiden victory in 2009 and will want to keep his lead and good results flowing.

Points after Round 1:

1st Riaan Neveling – 72 – Chris Craft/Honda/Match Insurance/VZ/Liqui Moly/DMD
2nd Brian Capper – 66
3rd Kyle Smythe – 62
4th Brett Bircher – 57
5th Grant Frerichs – 52
6th Jason Munro – 49

Next Regional event that Neveling will compete in : Polokwane Sat 10th April 2010.
Next National event : Cape Town Killarney Circuit weekend of the 24/25th April 2010.

You can catch coverage from this race on Friday the 12th of March at 8pm on Rapid Motion Dirt Worx. Channel 202/206.

Riaan Neveling would like to Thanks his sponsors who helped make these results possible:
Chris Craft Panel Beaters Nelspruit, Roger at DMD, Forma Boots, Suomy Helmets, Clint from Match Insurance, Chad and Dave at Von Zipper, Melisha at Liqui Moly and Vaughn Swanepoel at Honda SA.

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