Perfect weather conditions on Saturday, 19 August, ensured that the sizeable, appreciative crowd that had gathered was treated to a thrill-a-minute affair as Algoa Rally Club held Round 5 of the 2023 regional championship at Aldo Scribante Raceway. The event, comprised of 4 stages, was held on the main race circuit and a well-laid-out dirt course around the outer perimeter of Scribante. From many of the easily accessible spectator viewing points, it was possible to watch up to four cars at a time on various parts of the stage as they went off at two-minute intervals, leading to lots of excitement as the 18 competing teams flew around the mixture of dirt and tar sections.

Image by Darryl Kukard
Early pace-setters Neels Vosloo and Rikus Fourie again suffered mechanical failure after snapping a side shaft on their Herotel / Hella-backed VW Polo towards the end of stage 3. Relative newcomers to rallying, Jody van Zummeren and James Johnson, were chasing them down in their beautifully prepared Border Towing Datsun P510. This pair turned out to be crowd favourites as the talented van Zummeren threw caution to the wind and pushed to the limit at all times, drifting and sliding around the laid-out stages. They seemed to be on course to take their second overall rally win after their maiden victory in round 4 until a wrong turn cost them dearly, and they got stuck, ruining their victory charge.
Consistency is what wins championships, and current leaders, the husband and wife team of Juan and Tarryn van Rooyen, were well on their way to overall honours in their Innova-sponsored VW Polo. However, the father and daughter pairing of Johan and Juané Viljoen had other ideas and slowly chased them down to snatch overall victory by a mere 1.4 seconds after 65 kilometres of racing. After yet another impressive performance, third place went to the ever-improving duo of Deon Kretzmann and navigator Jason Schreiber in their Triple L Plant Hire Toyota Etios.
There was a commendable performance from rally debutants Ruan and Chanell van Tonder, both accomplished dirt oval racers, who brought their well-prepared VW Polo 1400 home in seventh place overall and second in the ARC5 class.
The penultimate round of the Algoa Rally Club Championship will be held on 23 September, with the final event being a day and night rally taking place in and around East London on 10 and 11 November.
The Scribante Rally class winners were as follows:
ARC5
- Francois Vermaak and Handre van Schalkwyk (VW Polo 250)
- Ruan and Chanell van Tonder (VW Polo 1400)
- Devilliers Wessels and Francois Anker (VW Polo 250)
ARC4
- Juan and Tarryn van Rooyen (VW Polo 250)
- Deon Kretzmann and Jason Schreiber (Toyota Etios)
- Jeandre Coetzer and Vincent Davies (Toyota Corolla)
ARC3
- Johan and Juane Viljoen (VW Polo 250)
- Oliver de Man and Ingrid Jeacocks (Toyota Corolla)
- Herman Bernhardt and JP Smit (Ford Escort)
Clubmans
- Herman Bernhardt and JP Smit (Ford Escort)
- Francois Vermaak and Handre van Schalkwyk (VW Polo 250)
- Francois Laubscher and Mark Irvine (Toyota Conquest)