Although the Cape scene is always humming, Bobby now and again takes the time to see what is going on in other parts of the country.
The 2018 drags season is now in full swing, with the recent bike nationals and provincial regionals for four wheels being help in Port Elizabeth.
Bobby checked in with PE regionals organiser Emraan Rasdien after the event.
Held at the Aldo Scribante Race Circuit, Emraan says the event drew a nice crowd: “We had more entrants than ever,” he says, “with about 70 cars registering on the day.”
A decent crew of Cape drivers were in the mix, and Emraan, through his business Autograph Racing, staged a dyno evening the night before. These are great get-togethers and Emraan says “it helped to create a vibe for the weekend ahead”.
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He adds: “The drags ethos is a little different to what it is in Cape Town. You must bear in mind that in PE, the money doesn’t flow too easily as it does in the bigger cities. So, we build cars from the bottom up, the guys go with what they have and enjoy it.
“If there were a motto for us, it would be ‘drags in PE is not so much about the times, but it’s about the sport of it, this is not a life or death affair, it’s good fun’. In fact, we’ve heard from the Cape guys that our events are some of the best, and that’s probably for the vibe.”
It is true that fast times usually mean that there is a big budget behind the car.
Sharief Reynolds, a renowned two-wheel dragster from Cape Town, was at PE to compete in the MSA Nationals for bikes held over two heats on the same day. There are six nationals every year, held in PE, followed by Durban and then Cape Town.
When Bobby Nitro asked him how his day went, Sharief chuckled good-naturedly, saying: “My bike blew its engine in practice. My old faithful Suzuki GSX1000, better known as Suzie, may just have seen her last sprint.
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“I won the 2012 nationals on this bike, and have been competing on it for seven years. So it will be sad to put her out to pasture, but I’m still making that decision. A new bike is costly.”
Bobby wanted to know what happened next. “Well,” says Sharief, “a local boytjie by the name of Stewart Smith, aka Rubberman, was kind enough to offer me a bike for the day. That way I could at least complete the runs and get some points in the event.”
Turns out the bike was a Kawasaki 1400, a much heavier machine than Sharief is used to. He says: “So there I am, on this huge and heavy bike that weighs a ton, and it has got a thumb shift instead of foot shift, which takes some getting used to, and I’m going straight into qualifying round on an unknown machine.”
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Bobby thought that sounded rather risky, considering that Sharief would be pushing the ‘unknown machine’ to the limit over the quarter mile, but Sharief didn’t seem at all bothered. In fact, he still managed to chalk up some points after coming third overall on the day in the SV class.
He says: “It’s early in the season, but the nationals are so tight that I couldn’t afford to miss a race.” Optimistically, he adds: “In any case, I’ll make up for it in the next one.”
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Pictures by ryan may
The turnout was good on the day, and Sharief comments on the new, younger faces arriving on the racing scene. He says: “And the women racers did really well, both Nicola Els and Bianca Smith were on the podium in SV Class.”
Apparently, he says, when you go to PE you get “drags and a bit of a track day because, once you have done your 400m run down the main straight, the only way to get back to the start line is by doing a lap of the track, so you get to lay the bike down through some of the corners.”
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Waleed Manuel was one of the Cape drivers who made the journey to the Scribante track. He says: “The day went well, we had a few hiccups with a CV joint in the beginning and a bit of rain, but still managed to race till 7pm, so we had a full day of it.”
Waleed, who brought his 2-litre 16-valve Abf Golf, says: “The PE guys were really friendly and welcoming. They helped us out a lot with a spanner here and a word there. They really went out of their way.”