A fourth and a second in the penultimate round at Zwartkops Raceway west of Pretoria on Saturday were enough to secure Greg Gildenhuys and his BMW Motorrad Motorsport BMW S1000RR a second successive South African Superbike Championship.

With nearest challenger Chris Leeson (Kawasaki) collecting 32 points from two third place finishes to take his total to 277, Gildenhuys stretched his points lead to 52 with 50 remaining in the final round at Zwartkops on November 26.

The 22-year-old from Boskruin in Gauteng was forced to work hard for the 40 points that secured him this year's title. Despite an adjustment to the BMW's clutch and lots of practice on the drag strip at the Tarlton International Raceway near Krugersdorp, his notoriously slow starts once again ruined any chances he had of a win in either of the two races.

Starting the first 10-lap sprint alongside pole position winner Sheridan Morais (Kawasaki), he had dropped to seventh at the first corner, was up to sixth at the end of the first lap and fifth behind Julian Odendaal (Kawasaki) as the field of 15 started lap five. Despite being clearly quicker than the Kawasaki rider, he battled to find a way past on the short and tight 2,4-kilometre circuit, where overtaking is difficult.

This allowed the front-runners, led by eventual race winner Morais, James Egan (Rocket 88/Ryder Motorrad BMW) and the Kawasaki of Leeson, to get away and it was only on the final lap that he got the better of Odendaal. Although he quickly opened up a gap on Odendaal he had run out of time to catch the third-placed rider and eventually took the chequered flag six tenths of a second behind Leeson.

Gildenhuys made a better start to race two, dropping from second on the grid to fourth at the first corner. By the end of lap two he was third behind Morais and Leeson, then chased down his championship rival and moved into second place on lap six. By then Morais had opened up a gap of around three seconds and went on to win the 12-lapper with the BMW rider content to finish second and take the title.

The BMW privateers enjoyed another good day. Egan followed up his excellent second place in race one, which equalled his previous best result in Cape Town in round seven, and finished fifth in race two.

Nicholas Grobler (Jonway S1000RR) and Superbike debutant Ryan Simon Ottens (Northside Motorcycles BMW) were sixth and seventh respectively in both races.

The final round of the championship is at Zwartkops Raceway on November 26.