SHOTS FIRED. Guns blazing and without any masked intentions, the young Double Apex rider, 11-year-old Lee Singh, blasted his way into the 2019 KZNRRC 150 Championship. The first race was held at Dezzi Raceway in Port Shepstone on the 9th of March.

After qualifying in 7th place on a damp, early morning track he seared his way through the pack to finish Race 1 ahead of all the other 150s in the field and into second place overall, 20 seconds behind Shaun Joffe on a beautifully prepared 85 cm3 two-stroke machine. Singh was the fastest 150 on track posting a personal best lap time of 1 min 28,9 seconds and was the only 150 to break the 1 min 29-sec barrier.

The art of war

The front of the 150 pack was a closely contested three-way battle with Vince De Bock (#99) and Lee’s teammate (#33). Showing patience, pace and wit far beyond his years, the grade six learner lined up the 33 bike on the final corner of the last lap for a perfectly executed draft-pass on the finish straight, ending just 7/100ths of a second ahead of the 33, who was just three tenths of a second ahead of the chasing De Bock.

Race 2, shortened to just five laps due to delays and bad-light saw Joffe, once again, clearing off ahead of the chasing pack of 150s. Vince De Bock arrived in third and Lee Singh ended second, which is where he would stand on the podium picking up his first silverware for 2019.

Ambitious plans

In a chat with Double Apex after the race, Lee remarked that his focus would now be to close the gap on the 85 cm3 two-strokes. “I need to work hard on improving my riding and I’m going to spend Saturdays training on my Moto-X bike. I also need to be smoother and carry more entry speed, which is where I’m losing time to other riders. My bike feels great and I must thank Double Apex, DesignIT and Spectrum Wheels for their support and the opportunity to go racing this year.”

Round two of the KZNRRC Championship takes place on the 13 April 2019. Make sure you keep reading Double Apex to follow the adventures of our developing young athlete.

Images courtesy of Colin Windell and Graham Montanari.