The surname Habig was once again on the podium at the Algoa National Rally following a dominant win in round 5 of the championship on Friday as well a great come-back to finish third in round 6 on Saturday. Jan Habig and his navigator Douglas Judd won this event in 1998, 1999 and 2006, but this year it was the turn of Jan’s son Benjamin to claim victory with Barry White doing the navigating duties alongside him in their newly built turbo-charged VW Polo 270 4-wheel drive car.

Picture credit: Brendan Kelly
The VW Polo pair dominated round 5 winning every stage of the rally, bringing their car home 1 minute 26 seconds of the Toyota Starlet of Jono van Wyk and Ingrid Jeacocks. Local rally stars Neels Vosloo and Rikus Fourie continued their great season by finishing in fourth place overall in their Hella backed VW Polo 250 and second in the Petrefuel Algoa Rally Club championship just 22 seconds behind the Subaru Impreza of Cape Town based Owen Jones and Aden Bredenkamp.

Round six was fraught with high drama from the outset, when during stage two Habigs car caught alight after his exhaust pipe snapped in the midsection of the underside of the Polo. Due to the intense heat a hydraulic hose on the hand-brake system burst, filling the cockpit of the car with toxic smoke fumes forcing them to stop twice during the stage, which they ultimately managed to finish. Their service crew did an amazing job of re-welding the exhaust and replacing the damaged hose which allowed them to continue in the rally albeit down in ninth place overall. The pair put in a scintillating performance to win three out of the remaining four stages and claw their way back to third place overall behind overall winners Chris Coertse and Matt Kohler in their Mazda 2 and second place Mandla Mdakane and Kes Naidoo in their Toyota Gazoo Racing Starlet.

Vosloo and Fourie secured another fourth place finish in the National championship and a well-deserved victory in the regional championship. The last minute decision by Deon Kretzmann and Jason Schreiber to join the national rally championship was certainly a good one as they were really impressive in their Triple LLL Plant hire sponsored Toyota Etios finishing in fifth place overall in both rounds 5 & 6.

The sought after titles of “King of the Longmore” which uses combined times from both days of the rally went the way of Benj Habig and Barry White scooping the National title and Neels Vosloo and Rikus Fourie the regional title.
There was drama for the husband & wife team of Ruan & Channell van Tonder when a judgement of error saw them leave the road and strike a tree in the forest putting an end to their days racing. Both escaped the incident unharmed.

The overall national, club and class results are as follows –
National Championship round 5 overall –
-1st Benj Habig & Barry White
-2nd Jono van Wyk & Ingrid Jeacocks
-3rd Chris Coertse & Matt Kohler
NRC1 class –
-1st Benj Habig & Barry White
-2nd Jono van Wyk & Ingrid Jeacocks
-3rd Chris Coertse & Matt Kohler
NRC4 class –
-1st Neels Vosloo & Rikus Fourie
-2nd Deon Kretzmann & Jason Schreiber
-3rd Anton & Isabel Raaths
Petrefuel Algoa Rally Club Championship round 3 overall –
-1st Owen Jones & Aden Bredenkamp
-2nd Neels Vosloo & Rikus Fourie
-3rd Nick Davidson & Ashley Bezuidenhout
ARC 1 class –
-1st Owen Jones & Aden Bredenkamp
-2nd Nick Davidson & Ashley Bezuidenhout
-3rd Jody van Zummeren & James Johnston
ARC 3 class –
-1st Johan & Juane’ Viljoen
-2nd Ross & Roxanne Bartle
-3rd Etienne Malherbe & Patrick Vermaak
ARC 4 class –
-1st Neels Vosloo & Rikus Fourie
-2nd Deon Kretzmann & Jason Schreiber
-3rd Martin Kleingeld Jnr & Snr.
ARC 5 class –
-1st Francois Vermaak & Handre’ van Schalkwyk
-2nd Winley Martin & Kaylin Kapp
-3rd Tashne Wait & Wesley Schultz
Clubman’s class
-1st Francois Vermaak & Handre’ van Schalkwyk
-2nd Etienne Malherbe & Patrick Vermaak
-3rd Herman Bernhardt & Greg Heine
National Rally Championship round 6 overall –
-1st Chris Coertse & Matt Kohler
-2nd Mandla Mdakane & Kes Naidoo
-3rd Benj Habig & Barry White
NRC1 class –
-1st Chris Coertse & Matt Kohler
-2nd Mandla Mdakane & Kes Naidoo
-3rd Benj Habig & Barry White
NRC4 class –
-1st Neels Vosloo & Rikus Fourie
-2nd Deon Kretzmann & Jason Schreiber
-3rd Anton & Isabel Raaths
Petrefuel Algoa Rally Club Championship round 4 overall –
-1st Neels Vosloo & Rikus Fourie
-2nd Nick Davidson & Ashley Bezuidenhout
-3rd Deon Kretzmann & Jason Schreiber
ARC 1 class –
-1st Nick Davidson & Ashley Bezuidenhout
-2nd Owen Jones & Aden Bredenkamp
-3rd Wade van Zummeren & Henry Adams
ARC 3 class –
-1st Johan & Juane’ Viljoen
-2nd Rupert van Zyl & Justin Grey
-3rd Herman Bernhardt & Greg Heine
ARC 4 class –
-1st Neels Vosloo & Rikus Fourie
-2nd Deon Kretzmann & Jason Schreiber
-3rd Jeandre’ Marais & Tegan Taljaard
ARC 5 class –
-1st Francois Vermaak & Handre’ van Schalkwyk
-2nd Winley Martin & Kaylin Kapp
-3rd Tashne Wait & Wesley Schultz
Clubman’s class
-1st Herman Bernhardt & Greg Heine
-2nd Francois Vermaak & Handre’ van Schalkwyk
-3rd Brent Barnard & Cameron Kelly