Eastern Cape drivers excel at Klein Karoo Kampionskap

Jaco Aylward
Jaco Aylward in his immaculately prepared Hot Rod
Picture by Pieter Henning

Red Rock Raceway in Oudtshoorn was the venue for the biggest-ever dirt oval racing event in South African Motorsport history last weekend, with 186 entries descending on the Karoo town to try to claim a prestigious ostrich egg trophy.

The stand-out performance from the Eastern Cape drivers was Jaco Aylward in the hot rod class, which saw him starting in 4th place on the grid against most of the top hot rod drivers in the country. In the final, Tertius van Tonder was the early leader, with Aylward trying every trick in the book to get past, which he finally managed to do at the mid-stage of the 17-lap race and then drove the most defensive drive of his life to keep the rest of the charging field behind to claim a remarkable victory.

Kelly Dowling had a night of mixed fortunes. After being involved in a massive accident in heat 2 in the Stock Rods class that halted her brilliant run of form, she returned strongly in a borrowed car, taking 1st overall in the Pink Diva class for ladies, with Chanté Elford chasing hard to get second. In the Pinkstocks class, Charné Schuin triumphed over Chanell van Tonder in second and young Nadia Rautenbach in third.

The 1660 class was the largest class of the event. The top 17 went out in the final and had the crowd on their feet from the moment the lights went green. Jason Drake, Marthinus Muller and Melindré Marais all ran in the top six and with ten laps to go, Jason Drake made contact with another car and was forced onto the infield, compromising his race. Marthinus Muller was pushing hard in third place. With just five laps to go, Melindré Marais, after having just pulled off an amazing overtaking move, was tagged and sent crashing into the wall ruling her out of contention. A small consolation was that she had impressed enough people to walk away with the prestigious Driver-of-the-Day award. At the restart following the Marais accident, Marthinus Muller could not find a way to the front and ended up finishing in third overall, with Francois Engelbrecht getting fifth. 

In the Junior Hot Rod class, East London’s rising superstar Jordan van de Merwe can feel aggrieved at narrowly missing out on first place overall in the final after having led from the opening lap. He had the better of the 18-car field until he was impeded by a backmarker with just three laps to go, dropping him into second place behind Weskus Oval’s Braam Bosman. Quade de Lange, in his new car, struggled on the day, breaking a cv joint in heat 1, but came good in the final, where he started towards the back of the grid and fought his way up to third place before he ran into engine problems that dropped him down to fourth place overall.

Young East London driver Chayton Collins drove an outstanding race in the Mini class final, fighting his way from the back of the grid to claim third overall, with the race win going to regular Gqberha visitor from the Garden Route Divan Meyer.

JP Coetzee was up against two similar three-series BMWs in the heavy metal class with some very close racing. He came home in fourth overall with Zana Jansen, who is still getting to grips with her new car, finishing eighth.

The action moves to Victory Raceway on Saturday evening (15 July) for round 6 of their club championship, with racing set to start at 5 pm. The classes that will be in action are Junior Hot Rods, 2.1 Modifieds, 1660’s, Hot Rods, Pink Rods, Heavy Metals and V8 American Saloons.

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