Consistent lap times, combined with misfortune for a couple of his rivals, saw Louis Scholtz (Car Care Clinic Honda Civic) finish as the leading autObarn SuperHatch competitor in a slightly curtailed Phakisa 200 at the Free State circuit on Saturday, 15 September 2018.
As is often the case in longer races, mechanical issues can have a major effect on the outcome. With the two Class A championship rivals, Jonathan du Toit and Brett Garland, teaming up to drive Garland’s autObarn/Total Honda Civic it was difficult to see anyone else taking overall autoBarn SuperHatch honours and, approaching the half-distance mark, they had built up a commanding lead. Sadly for them, it wasn’t to last. Oil pressure problems put paid to their chances of a win, although they had completed enough laps to take third in the Class A standings.
In the early stages of the race, Chris Davison & Stuart Mack in the HIMOINSA Southern Africa Opel Superboss were dicing with the Rex Diff & Gearbox Opel Kadett which was being shared by Nic Martin and Morne Human for second in Class A, but that came to an end when Human had to retire the Kadett with mechanical problems, allowing Davison and Mack to take a comfortable Class A win ahead of Andre Dannhauser and Tyler Scott in the Pro Auto Rubber/Jetstik Opel Corsa.
Raais Asmal (VW Motorsport Polo) was the early leader in Class B, followed by Zane van Zyl (Credit Guarantee/Rim Africa VW Golf) and Scholtz, who slowly caught, and then passed both van Zyl and Asmal. Once he hit the front, Scholtz was never troubled and went on to a comfortable win. Unfortunately for van Zyl, things didn’t go quite as well, a broken CV joint forced him out shortly before the finish, although his had completed enough laps to claim fifth place in the Class B standings. While Scholtz was pulling away at the front of the field, Mel Spurr (G&H Transport/Wealth Avenue/Castrol VW Polo) was closing the gap to stablemate Asmal, getting past him and into second a couple of laps from the end. Alex Marques (Ace Auto VW Polo) took fourth with Donavan le Roux and Keith Ella rounding out the top six in the Mechanical Masters Honda Civic.
In Class C, series newcomer Rudi Kronstrom (Goldwagen Krugersdorp VW Golf) slowly worked his way through the field to win in his first autObarn SuperHatch outing. He was followed home by Almero van Eck (Nosler VW Golf) with the Top Lock/Pro Lock VW Polo piloted by Freddy Watkins and Marius Rossouw completing the podium. Craig Priestley and Trevor Stinger (Tactical Fluid Ford Laser) ended in fourth, the last classified finisher in Class C.
Scholtz’ consistency was rewarded with the overall Index of Performance victory. Kronstrom was the next SuperHatch car in the index classification, with a couple of 111 cars between him and Scholtz. Watkins and Rossouw were third, closely followed by Davison and Mack. Van Eck and Spurr rounded out the top six on the SuperHatch index log.
The next outing for the autObarn SuperHatch competitors is on Saturday, 13 October at Zwartkops Raceway.