The top circuit racers in the region will be in action on Saturday when Algoa Motorsport Club hosts the 7th Round of their Regional and Club Championship at Aldo Scribante Raceway in the Coega Industrial Development Zone on the outskirts of Gqeberha on Saturday, 24 September 2022. With entries pouring in, it certainly promises to be an action-packed day of racing, with thrills and spills guaranteed across all classes.
Image by Darryl Kukard
The EP Regional Saloon class will be the day’s highlight as competitors try to catch the very quick Celso Scribante in his Lamborghini Huracan (Class A). Doctor Gerhard Oosthuysen in his BMW E36 (Class B) has shown tremendous pace of late, and he, along with Gordon Nicholson in his Nissan R35, will be the ones hoping to end the dominance of Scribante and his championship-leading Lamborghini. Class C welcomes back the high-pitched screaming rotary Capella of Jaco Scholtz, who will have his hands full fighting off the speedy Gareth Hewitt from East London in his BMW E36. Class D is where most of the racing action takes place, with many evenly matched cars often vying for the same piece of tarmac. Jeandre Marais (VW Polo) will undoubtedly lead the charge, fresh from making his impressive PoloCup debut at Killarney Raceway in Cape Town last weekend. He’ll be up against the likes of Gerald Beech (Opel Supercar), Ryan Visagie (VW Polo), Steven Phillips (Golf MK1) and Jeff Guscott (Porsche). Although in class E in his Honda, Royce Griffin will most likely be mixing it up with the Class D cars, and it is just a matter of time before he moves up a class D.
In Class F, young Kiesha Potgieter (VW Polo) continues to improve her lap times each time she races, and she’ll have her hands full battling against Club Chairman Ashwin Harri (Opel Astra) and Andrew Meyer (VW Golf MK1).
Class X for cars making their track debuts will see Julian Herman (BMW E36) from East London pitting his skills alongside Winston Marais (Lotus 7), Tom Hugo (Supercar) and Ryno Taljaard (VW Golf).
Lovers of classic racing cars will be treated to the return of Derek Boy and his rapid Chevrolet Can Am Firenza. He will come up against young gun Aidan Barnard (Opel Kadette), Daryn Vice (Ford Anglia), Neil van Eyk (Ford Escort), Angelique Griffin (Alfa Romeo), Thomas Flynn ( Datsun 120Y), Tom Hugo (Nissan Skyline), Rob Halgreen ( Ford MK1 Escort), Barry Spriggs (Ford Anglia) and Ronald Scott in his recently rebuilt Ford Escort.
In the Street & Fine car class, drivers are offered the opportunity to get a taste of racing in road-going vehicles by going out and setting a time in qualifying and then having a handicap start so that all cars theoretically should end the race at the time. Gordon Nicholson will be a hard man to beat in his Audi R8 as he takes on Syd Lippstreu ( Toyota Celica), Ian Oberholzer (Volvo 850), Dennis Mitchell (Birkin) and Peter Schultz (Supercar).
There are already six 600cc bikes entered in the Motorcycle classes, with the battle upfront sure to be between the Yamaha R6s of Wayne Molloy, Shandin Thompson and Port Alfred youngster Oliver Mckay who gets quicker and quicker as he comes to grip with the larger capacity machine after recently moving up from the 300cc class. Bernard Els leads the historics class on his Yamaha. He will be a hard man to beat with his wealth of experience and after having put a lot of development work into his motorcycle of late. Richard Hawkins in the Powersport class will be hoping for a repeat performance of round 6, where he dominated in extremely wet conditions.
The CBR150 motorcycle class continues to grow and is a mix between youth and experience. Dylan Grobler, Damian Oberholzer, Ethan Diener, Jessica Vermaak, Anikilitha Nombana and Ruan van Zyl will push Ashton Heidemann hard. The two-wheeled action continues in the NSF 100 class, where the next generation of riders is nurtured. Three young ladies, Emma Oberholzer, Kirsty Oberholzer and Emma Diener, will be up against Lonwabo Ngcanga, Anikilitha Nombano and Dylan Grobler.
Open-top sports car lovers are in for a treat as this class continues to grow. Joel Steenekamp will be hoping that his reliability issues are a thing of the past with his Shadow 2000, while the Lotus 7s of Alwyn Kretzmann, Patrick Hanly and Shaun Taljaard will have the challenging task of trying to catch the very quick Nardini of Jeandre Marais.
The race day starts with qualifying for all classes from 8 am and will end with a 45-minute endurance race for all-comers, where Daniel Bright, in a Lotus 7, will be hoping for a repeat of his outstanding performance at the last event. Tickets at the gate cost R50 per person, with children under 12 getting free entry.
