Round 3 of the SuperHatch championship took place at the Extreme Festival this past weekend in the Free State with the Annual Phakisa 200km race. |
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There is something special about the ‘away’ races and the comrade that it brings to a club and a group of friends. |
SuperHatch does 1 endurance race per year and it is the Phakisa 200km (formally the Phakisa 2 hour) This is mainly supported by 2 drivers per car, but a few drivers choose to do the race on their own. |
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Friday SuperHatch had 4 practice sessions and most of the drivers were there, Andre Calitz (AC Honed Golf mk1) packed up and went home after some troubles with a wheel bearing, and Tony Hyams (Building Code Ford Fiesta) had engine trouble. Jaco Kriel (IDG Opel SuperBoss) never ever got to take his car to Phakisa as the head gasket went in JHB on the dyno, but after Chris Davison (Opel SuperBoss) heard this he offered his co-drive to Jaco. |
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Comrade, team spirit and fun are what SuperHatch is all about, but at away events, this seems to escalate. |
Friday evening we had a big braai with all the categories on the festival and built on the good spirit. |
Saturday qualifying/warm up
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Saturday qualifying for the race was at 12h30 and this is the race where SuperHatch and 111 Sports & Saloons combine. |
In Class A – Geoff Tugwell and Mark du Toit (mk1 VW Golf) teamed up and Mark set the pace, unfortunately though Geoff had the weights wrong and they were put to the back on the Class A, giving Hilton van Nieuwenhuizen & Brett Garland (ASAP Peugeot 207) the top spot with a time of 2.01:139 ahead of Werner Pieterse (Pieterse Racing/IDG Golf mk1) and Chris Davison & Jaco Kriel (Opel SuperBoss). |
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Class B saw Nic Martin & Marius Roberts (RDG Opel Kadett) go quickest with a 2.03:337 ahead of Stuart & Jono Konig (Northern Bolt & Tool Peugeot 206) and James Fuller & Kevin Erasmus (New age tyres mk1 Golf). |
Class C’s Morne Human & Neil Botha (Action Ford, Ford Fiesta) were quickest with a 2.04:524, with Mel Spurr (Castrol/Wealth Ave/AKA/ADL Opel Corsa) second quickest and Sammy Gerber (Belrex Racing Peugeot 206) 3rd. |
The Race
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As this is a combined race with another category the grid is all mixed up and the drivers find themselves with 111 Sports & Saloons drivers alongside them on the grid and on track at any time. But the SuperHatch race and points are still what is essentially raced for. |
The race started at 16h20 and was due to finish at 18h00, as the 200km race takes approximately 1 hour and 40 minutes around the Phakisa 4.24 circuit and the lead car does 48 laps. |
Class A saw Hilton start the race for their team from 6th on grid, while Werner was in 9th, the only two SuperHatch cars in the top 10 spots. Everyone had a nice clean start and from the start the racing was as if this was a sprint race and not an endurance race, everyone seemed to be keeping the pace up and this was throughout the race. |
Mark & Geoff had a gearbox problem and retired, while Werner was nursing a misfire. Chris & Jaco, never seemed to miss a beat. But it was the trusty Peugeot of Hilton & Brett that got the flag. |
There were positions being changed and massive ‘dices’ through the field with SuperHatch and 111 Sports & Saloons cars nonstop. |
Then we had the pit stops which were compulsory for each car, the driver had to get out the car and clean their own windscreen, and a wheel had to be removed (the good old fashioned way with no power tools). |
There were a few cars that fell by the way side with small problems, but the majority just kept pushing. |
Class B, the Konig kids seemed to be in their happy place and just kept doing one good lap after another, Nic and Marius were super quick, Alta retired with a blown head gasket, Sean Ward & Shaun Besteman (Dr Phils VW Golf mk1) were just setting the times and seemed very comfortable. |
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Ishmael Baloyi & Jono du Toit (TAR Honda Civic) had engine troubles and retired on lap 28. It was the Konig’s that saw the flag first. |
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Class C’s Morne and Neil in the Ford were quick, and Mel was on a mission, Samuel was getting to grips with his first time at the circuit, but in the end it was Mel that took her maiden win for the season. |
The race was clean with no big problems, until 5 laps from the end Marius rolled baby blue off the fast back straight sweep and landed on its side on the circuit and this brought the safety car out. The driver was fine, but the car needed to be removed on a flat bed and this meant the race finished under safety car and in the dark. |
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Class Results:
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- Class A: 1st – Hilton & Brett, 2nd – Chris & Jaco, 3rd – Werner Pieterse
- Class B: 1st – Stuart & Jono, 2nd – Shaun & Sean
- Class C: 1st – Mel Spurr, 2nd – Morne & Neil, 3rd – Samuel
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Index of performance (combined with 111 Sports & Saloons) SuperHatch ensured that 5 of the top 10 spots belonged to them and more importantly the top 3 spots went to SuperHatch |
Index Results:
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- 1st – Hilton & Brett
- 2nd – Stuart & Jono
- 3rd – Chris & Jaco
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Our next event is the 24th of May at Kyalami.
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Photos Courtesy of RacePics.co.za.
For more photos visit: www.superhatch.co.za |
See you all trackside.
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