{"id":76200,"date":"2014-12-15T11:04:00","date_gmt":"2014-12-15T09:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/germistoncitynews.co.za\/76200\/local-drag-racer-excels-in-race\/"},"modified":"2014-12-15T11:04:25","modified_gmt":"2014-12-15T09:04:25","slug":"local-drag-racer-excels-in-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/sports-news\/2014\/12\/15\/local-drag-racer-excels-in-race\/","title":{"rendered":"Local drag racer excels in race"},"content":{"rendered":"

Peter de la Rey, a drag racer from Malvern East, took part in the South African National Drag Racing Championship throughout the year.<\/p>\n

The race is a seven round series and De la Rey said he had a good year, but faced a few challenges along the way.<\/p>

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“The last race of the season was basically between myself and a Cape Town competitor and, after having a comfortable lead (45 points) after five rounds, the powers-that-be ‘reset’ the points by dividing them by five and my lead evaporated to nine points,” he explained.<\/p>\n

“In the sixth round I battled with a set-up problem on the bike and qualified eighth and, although I was the runner-up, with a snatching clutch, I found myself eight points behind after the meeting.<\/p>

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“That meant if I wanted to win the championship I needed to qualify in the top three and win the event.”<\/p>\n

The glitches he experienced didn’t cause him to give up or slack, but rather gave him momentum to push forward and much harder.<\/p>\n

“After a bad first round run I managed second on the grid and proceeded to win the event,” he said.<\/p>\n

De la Rey is sponsored by BMW.<\/p>\n

“This was my fourth year on a BMW after 25 years with Yamaha, I am excited to get my new 2015 BMW S1000RR and am already starting to prepare for 2015,” he said.<\/p>\n

It was a great year for the local biker as he won most of the races he entered.<\/p>\n

“I have completed my racing season for the year, and have had a great season winning the South African National Championship for a third time in four years on a BMW S1000RR, as well as winning the regional and club championships,” explained de la Rey.<\/p>\n

“It was a really tough year, with winner takes all at the last event, but I am glad I managed to win.”<\/p>\n