Goldwagen / Northern Bolt & Tool SuperHatch Round 1 at Midvaal

Goldwagen / Northern Bolt & Tool SuperHatch, round 1 of the 2014 championship was at Midvaal on Saturday the 15th of February as part of the Inland Championship. [singlepic id=6899 w=320 h=240 float=center]
Friday saw a few of the guys and girls set out to shake off the rust after a long break, some made it to Saturday without breakages, but unfortunately not all were that lucky and a few had to withdraw from the event, but in the lineup on the day was:
 

Qualifying/Warm up
Goldwagen
Northern Bolt and Tool
Castrol
SS Telecoms
Rowlin National Brokers
Campos Transport
Car Care Clinic
Sabertek
Sky Net
JSRacing
PTA Noord Toyota
Renexcon
Spurr Racing
1st Race
The Big Z - Zwartkops Raceway
[singlepic id=6845 w=320 h=240 float=center] Class A, and a welcome return to Polo cups Robyn Kruger (Steamsure Combustion/Indy Oil) VW Polo and Louise Joubert stepping up to class A with the 2013 winning Peugeot 206.
Jaco Kriel (IDG/SuperBoss Auto Opel SuperBoss) has joined the front runners and another new driver Werner Pieterse (Pieterse Racing/IDG/ALCOR/ABACUS) VW Golf mk1, have joined the usual contenders, 2013 champion Hilton van Nieuwenhuizen (ASAP Peugeot 207), Brett Garland (Jonnesway Tools/Rockstar Energy Drink Honda Civic), Chris Davison in the Briggs replica SuperBoss and Geoff Tugwell (Tugwell tooling & design VW Golf mk1).
Class B, with another National driver returning to SuperHatch is Jacques Joubert in his sisters 2013 Ford Fiesta, Class B stalwart Nic Martin (RDG Opel Kadett), The Konig brothers Stuart & Jono in their Northern Bolt & Tool VW Golf mk1 and Peugeot 206 respectively,  Gert Beeselaar VW Golf mk, James Fuller (New Age Tyre Specialists VW Golf mk1), Andre Calitz (AC Honed group VW Golf mk1), another rookie Renier Claassen VW Golf mk1, Ishmael Baloyi (TAR Honda Civic) and lady driver Alta van Wyk in her VW Golf mk1. [singlepic id=6733 w=320 h=240 float=center]
Class C, has the all new Action Ford team of #17 Morne Human and #18 Neil Botha in their Fiesta and Laser, along with another Ford, that of Andrew Heyes, Tony Hyams (Building Code consultants Ford Fiesta), and Vernon Stoltz has come back after a lay off (Opel Kadett).

Race 1
[singlepic id=6803 w=320 h=240 float=center] Robyn was like a rocket ship off the line and got into the lead before turn 1, Garland, Joubert and van Nieuwenhuizen were close behind. Joubert and Davison had a coming together and Davison was sent off track, Pieterse was on the heels of them along with Kriel, but just not close enough.
Tugwell came from the back and with every lap he picked off a place one by one, until he got the lead, he maintained the gap and then with 1 lap to go he had a gearbox problem and the oil started leaking onto the exhaust, eventually it was enough for him to stop, but only as they crossed the line, dropping him to 4th, behind Garland on the top step of the podium from Kruger and van Nieuwenhuizen.
In class B, Joubert got into the class A pack and mixed it up with Pieterse and Kriel, with Martin never too far behind, the Konig brothers were in a battle with one another and Beeselaar had a problem and dropped back.
Class C’s Human was with the Konig brothers for most of the race, and the two Ford Lasers of Botha and Heyes had a 10 lap long battle, with position changes every lap, Hyams was battling with a power issue as was Stoltz, they got in the thick of it none the less.

Race 2
Again Kruger had a great start and again into turn 1, she was side by side with Joubert, by turn 2 she had the lead and the ladies showed the rest the way around the Midvaal circuit. Tugwell didn’t start as the smoke was more harmful than one thought, and Garland was giving chase to the two ladies, it took a while but eventually Garland got past Joubert and then Kruger to take the lead, they maintained 2nd and 3rd and the rest of the pack had to battle behind them. [singlepic id=6852 w=320 h=240 float=center]
Garland got to see the flag first, and took the double on the day.
In class B Nic Martin won it from the younger of the two Konig brothers Jono and his big brother came home in third. Joubert suffered mechanical problems.
And Alta and Gert never started also due to gremlins in the engines.		 [singlepic id=6898 w=320 h=240 float=center]
Class C saw Human take the double, after a great battle amongst the class B competitors, Heyes and Botha completed the podium top steps and Stoltz suffered some cosmetic damage after Neil collided with him. Tony managed to finish even with less power than one would want, but to finish first, you must first finish.
 

Results:
  • Class A: Brett Garland, Robyn Kruger, Louise Joubert
  • Class B: Nic Martin, Jono Konig, Stuart Konig
  • Class C: Morne Human, Andrew Heyes, Neil Botha
[singlepic id=6928 w=320 h=240 float=center]
Thanks to all the SuperHatch sponsors and individual drivers sponsors who make it possible for all of us to what we love most.
Your support is greatly appreciated
THANK YOU.
2014 is looking good for SuperHatch as a whole, so here’s to a great 2014.
Round 2 of the championship will be at Zwartkops as part of the 2 day festival including the Inland championship on 21/22 March.
Photos Courtesy of RacePics.co.za.
For more photos visit: www.superhatch.co.za
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See you all trackside.