Despite an early morning rain shower during the qualifying sessions, the rain stayed away to produce a day of thrills, and some spills at round seven of the Algoa Motorsport Club Regional Championship that also featured the Lotus Challenge and Boxer Group Classic Mini Challenge at Aldo Scribante Raceway on Saturday. Leading the charge in the nineteen strong field of Lotus & Birkin 7’s was well known V8 Supercar Champion Mackie Adlem who finished in fourth place in race one and then came back strong to take the win in races two and three after being pushed hard by Rudi Barnard. Barnard with a better place finish than Adlem in race one secured the overall Lotus win with Nick Hodgson winning the Locost class.
In the Stu Davidson & Sons Coastal Challenge class that caters for historic, classic, open top and retro cars, well known racing driver Joel Steenekamp turned back the clock to produce a crowd pleasing drive, taking the overall win in his box shaped Opel Kadett. Championship leader Aidan Barnard will have his work cut out in the last round of the championship after winning the first race, he battled with electrical problems and was not able to finish in both races 2 & 3 allowing Tom Hugo to move to within one point of his lead in the overall championship standings.
The classic mini’s provided some bumper to bumper action with Dion Valentine setting the pace out front leaving Terence Botes, Shawn Bester and local man Robin Venter to put on a stunning driving display, swopping places regularly and going through the corners side by side on many occasions.
In the modified saloon class the top two championship contenders where involved in a frightening shunt in race one with Timothy Ball and Juan van Rooyen having massive contact in the braking zone going into the hairpin at turn five. Unfortunately it was the end of the day for Ball’s BMW as it suffered front end and suspension damage. Van Rooyen managed to get back on track in his somewhat bent VW Polo and went on to complete races two and three.
Daniel Bright was back to his best in his Lotus 7 securing the race win in the 45 Minute Endurance race taking the sought after index of performance win along the way.
On two wheels Craig Benn continued his impressive rise to prominence in the CBR 150 Junior class after being pushed hard by Ethan Diener and a somewhat off pace Dylan Grobler with Ruan van Zyl winning the Clubman class while Dyllan Anderson proved to be in a league of his own dominating the 600cc class. Grobler came back impressively in the 300cc class, taking the win and getting the better of Ethan Diener, Ruan van Zyl and Craig Benn.
.The days results were as follows –
EP Regional Saloons – overall
1st Ian Riddle, 2nd Steven Phillips, 3rd Gregory Forword
Per class
Class X
1st Ian Riddle, 2nd Andrew Raaf
Class F
1st Keisha Potgieter
Class E
1st Raymond Redinger, 2nd Duncan Phillips, 3rd Peter Schultz
Class D
1st Gregory Forword, 2nd Daniel Bright, Juan van Rooyen
Class C
1st Steven Phillips, 2nd Johan Nel, 3rd Paul Berry
Stu Davidson & Sons Coastal Challenge
Overall -1st Joel Steenekamp, 2nd Tom Hugo, 3rd Alwyn Kretzmann
Per class
Retro -1st Joel Steenekamp, 2nd Aubrey du Plessis
Open Tops – 1st Alwyn Kretzmann
Class X – 1st Dion Valentine
Class D – 1st Anton Ehlers, 2nd Barry Spriggs, 3rd Tiaan Kleinhans
Class C – 1st Tom Hugo, 2nd Aidan Barnard
Lotus Challenge
Class B – 1st Rudi Barnard, 2nd Mackie Adlem, 3rd David Jermy
Class L – 1st Nick Hodgson, 2nd Andrew Fulton, 3rd Juan du Toit
CBR 150 Motorcycles
Clubmans – 1st Ruan van Zyl, 2nd Kirsty Oberholzer, 3rd Kiara Potgieter
Juniors – 1st Craig Benn, 2nd Ethan Diener, 3rd Dylan Grobler
Open Motorcycles
600cc – 1st Dyllan Anderson, 2nd Zander Taljaard
300cc – 1st Dylan Grobler, 2nd Ethan Diener, 3rd Ruan van Zyl
Classic Mini Challenge
Overall – 1st Dion Valentine, 2nd Terence Botes, 3rd Shawn Bester
Class D – 1st Chris van der Walt
Class C – 1st Terence Botes, 2nd Shawn Bester, 3rd Robin Venter
Class B – 1st Dion Valentine, 2nd Stuart Greig
Street & Fine Cars
1st Dennis Mitchell, 2nd Amanda Bester, 3rd Ayrton Pilz, 4th Barry Buchman, 5th Eric Akroyd, 6th Hannes Bekker
45 Minute Enduro
Overall – 1st Daniel Bright, 2nd David Jermy, 3rd Timothy & Dean Ball
Index of Performance – 1st Daniel Bright, 2nd Paul Berry, 3rd Timothy & Dean Ball