Motorbike stars wrap up busy 2019 calendars
It may be the closed the season – but that hasn't stopped two of the region's finest getting back out on their motorbikes.
Both World Superbike star Chaz Davies and MotoGP ace Tom Booth-Amos got in plenty of laps in preparation for the new campaign ahead.
Newport's Booth-Amos, 23, travelled to the home country of his South African CIP-Green Power team-mate, Darryn Binder, to take part in the IUM 9 Hour Endurance race, at the Vereeniging kart track, in Sharpeville.
Riding a Honda 150cc machine, he formed part of the Lads on Tour/RideFast Magazine team and was pushed to limit as he helped to secure second place over all against 10 other teams.
Booth-Amos was also joined by two-time South African 600cc champion Blaze Baker and former Red Bull rookies rider James Flitcroft.
One hour into the race, Lads on Tour/RideFast Magazine were out our front as Binder handed over to Moto3 team-mate Booth-Amos, who churned out fast lap after fast lap.
Team Fire were up to second with Team Massive third with eight hours remaining.
Tristan Pienaar, from Team Superbike magazine, suffered a big crash but was okay as the second hour got underway but Lads on Tour/RideFast Magazine were still out in front.
However, their lead didn't last for long as three hours in Team Fire It Up moved in front with 13-year-old superstar Chris Wright going head-to-head with Binder.
Both teams were running different strategies and with four hours gone Lads on Tour/RideFast Magazine were back at the front and had increased their lead to two laps an hour later.
However, minutes later Flitcroft crashed and had to make his way back to pits, where the team worked frantically to get a broken left rear set fixed.
Meanwhile, Team Fire it Up retook the lead and stretched their own advantage to six laps.
With two hours remaining, Team Fire It Up and Team Lads on Tour/RideFast Magazine looked fairly safe in first and second, with Air Systems Racing moving ahead of Team Master Class and Team Mad Macs in third, which was how it remained until the chequered flag.
Meanwhile, Davies, 32, from Presteigne, Mid Wales, wrapped up 2019 with two days of testing at the Jerez de la Frontera circuit, in Spain.
Making the most of ideal weather conditions, Davies and new British with Arubi.it Racing-Ducati team-mate, reigning British Superbike champio and former MotoGP star Scott Redding, focussed mainly on the bike set-up and trying out some new tyres brought by Pirelli on the Panigale V4 R.
Davies, who was ninth fastest after completing 77 laps, said: "It was a busy couple of days and all in all I’m pretty satisfied.
"We had some new parts to get through but mainly we were just trying a lot of different things to find a good base set-up.
"I think we learnt a few things, working on the rear of the bike to help the weight transfer, one goal which we improved at this track.
"Now it’ll be nice for me and the team to have a break and recharge our batteries but it doesn’t take long before you want to go racing again next season.”
The World Superbike teams and riders will next be back on track for four days of testing, from January 22 to 27, first in Jerez and then at Portimão, Portugal.
