Hot racing on a cold day
Round 4 of the SuperHatch championship saw us return to our home circuit in the chilly season, but the sun shone on SuperHatch and the racing was hot as always.
The cold air was expected to produce fast times and it did. Qualifying in Class A saw Mark Silverwood put his OKI MINI Cooper S on pole with a blistering time of 1:15:4 ahead of Seef Fourie (Rustic Stone Ford Laser) and Mark du Toit (TAR Honda Civic). Class B was all about the ASAP Peugeot of Hilton van Nieuwenhuizen with a 1:16:7 from current overall champion Nic Martin (Rex Diff & Gearbox Opel Kadett) and Chris Davison (Opel Superboss). Class C saw the return of Jeff Langeveldt (Fury Ford Fiesta) on a 1:18:1 ahead of Vernon Stoltz (AFW Engineering Opel Kadett) and Brian Kenny (Ford Laser). Class N also saw the return of young gun Jacques Joubert (Leatt Ford Fiesta) with a 1:17:7 ahead of Basil van der Westhuizen (JQ Civils Ford Fiesta).
Race 1
As usual, the top 5 finishers per class from the previous race at Phakisa were inverted. Class A saw the front pack get away and the two Mark’s were quickly at the front with du Toit leading followed by Silverwood and Fourie. Lap 2 saw the safety car deployed but the safety car never actually picked up the leader and came out in front of the class B cars, this meant that the restart, a lap later, was confusing, especially for du Toit as the green flag only appeared when the leading 3 cars were half way along the main straight. At the restart both Silverwood and Fourie got past du Toit into turn 2 with du Toit getting back past Fourie through turn 4 but not able to catch Silverwood who took the win with du Toit 2nd and an improving Arthur Thorne (Ford Fiesta ST150) in 3rd.
Class B saw van Nieuwenhuizen open a gap on the rest leaving Martin, Louis Scholtz (Car Service City VW Golf), Pierre Lubbe (Harness Co, Trio Racing VW Golf) and Davison to battle for second place. The racing was close with the positions changing from one corner to the next with Martin finally taking 2nd from Scholtz in 3rd. Class C saw Langeveldt pull a gap on the rest, James Menin (West Cars Opel Kadett), Dean Gregory (VW Golf) and Stoltz battled hard for 2nd with the positions changing continually. Langeveldt was given time penalties for a jump start and passing under yellow handing the win to Menin from Gregory and a fast finishing Ryan Coetzee (VW Golf) in 3rd. Some consolation for Langeveldt was that he took the class lap record.
In class N Joubert quickly opened a gap on van der Westhuizen with Joubert having fun mixing it with the class A cars.
Race 2
It was again very close between du Toit and Silverwood with both of them smashing the lap record and du Toit taking the win and lap record. Behind them Thorne was having another good outing to take 3rd. New comer Brett Garland (JSR Honda Civic) surprised many with his speed to take a very good 5th.
Class N winner Joubert was really enjoying his race actually finishing 3rd overall on the road.
Class B was again about the youngster van Nieuwenhuizen who pulled away from the rest. Fighting for second were Martin, Davison, Lubbe and Scholtz with Martin again taking the runner-up slot ahead of Davison who improved his own lap record.
Langeveldt dominated in class C taking the win. Menin took 2nd and Brian Kenny (Ford Laser) finished 3rd.
Class Lap Records:
Class A: Mark du Toit 1:15.324
Class B: Chris Davison 1: 16.674
Class C: Jeff Langeveldt 1:18.900
Overall Results:
| Class A: | Mark du Toit, Mark Silverwood, Arthur Thorne |
| Class B: | Hilton van Nieuwenhuizen, Nic Martin, Chris Davison |
| Class C: | James Menin, Dean Gregory, Jeff Langeveldt |
| Class N: | Jacques Joubert, Basil van der Westhuizen |
The next round takes place at Zwartkops on Saturday the 11th of June on the kart circuit with our annual Head 2 Head from 12:00 – 14:00 and then the final heat of the day for the Pro-Tour series.
We are looking forward to a good entry and good racing.
See you all trackside.