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Tyring win at Swartkops
Dave Hill on Super Singles - April 20,
1985
Mike Eglington and Koos Zietsman came home first overall
in Zwartkops Yokohama Six-Hour on April 20. But the
experienced pair, riding a Yamaha RD350, at one time
faced a tough challenge from eventual super-single class
winners Kalli Coetzee and Stan van Aswegen on their
Kawasaki KX250.
Eglington and Zietsman were the pace-setters in the
575cc class, taking pole position with a time of 36.92
seconds, while Coetzee and van Aswegen secured pole for
the super-singles with a time of 37.69 seconds on a
Kawasaki KX250.
The race started two minutes late, at 10.02 and as soon
as the flag dropped it the Eglington/Zietsman Yamaha
which set a blistering pace at the head of the field
with the similar Yamaha of Cobie and Gerhard Els/Adolf
Boshoff snapping at their exhaust pipes.
At the end of the first hour Richard Friend/Clive
Spencer (Yamaha XT500) were holding off the Coetzee/Van
Aswegen Kawasaki KX250 in a struggle for supremacy of
the super-single class.
At one quarter distance the leader-board was almost
unchanged, though the Coetzee/Van Aswegen super-single
was now leading its class by a comfortable four laps
from the Friend/Spencer bike, which now lay 6th overall.
Two hours into the race the Coetzee/van Aswegen
super-single moved into 2nd place overall ahead of the
Els/Els/Boshoff RD350. They were now firmly in command
of the super-singles class, with a 7 lap advantage over
their nearest rivals, Lobb/Sanders (Honda 500R).
Then came a "whoopsee" for Zietsman at the Shoebox,
fortunately without coming off his bike.
From the halfway mark, the Coetzee/van Aswegen single
really started to apply pressure to Eglington/Zietsman
as the latter team's tyres were starting to feel the
punishment meted out to them in the opening hour.
Coetzee and van Aswegen caught up five laps on the
leaders in the space of half and hour as their bike,
being lighter, was not 'chewing' its tyres as quickly as
the race leaders.
In the last hour only two laps separated Koos Zietsman
and Stan van Aswegen who were riding the final stint for
their respective teams. Each thought that they were on
the same lap and some of the most exciting racing of the
day was seen in he last fifteen minutes. Zietsman
continually 'shut the door' on van Aswegen as they
peeled off into the corners and he used back-markers
wisely to give himself some breathing space.
Eglington and Zietsman, winners overall and of the 575cc
class, completed 560 laps at an average time of just
38.6 seconds, while super single winners Coetzee and van
Aswegen completed 558 laps at an average of 38.76
seconds. The Els/Wallace bike was third overall with the
Els/Els/Boshoff combination in 4th place. A courageous
fifth place was awarded to the very sick Yamaha of
Stanly/Jooste, whose dogged determination to complete
the race was admired by all. Second place in the
super-singles class and sixth overall, was the
Friend/Spencer XT500.
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