| SuperHatch graced the Eastern Cape circuit – EAST LONDON Grand Prix circuit with their presence this past weekend… |
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| With true club /budget / racers… East London is a little steep, but with a 7 week break some boys and girls made the trip to the iconic circuit with friends, families and lots of tents… and the help of Aggreko who paid all the SuperHatch drivers entry fees for the race. |
| With 15 driver/car combinations making it out there… we were all sure to have a fun race and weekend. |
| Wednesday evening a convoy of 7 cars left JHB, while others left Thursday and a few Wed and very few Friday… almost all the cars went to a local dyno to have the air, fuel ratio set correctly for the coast..and Friday practice with most taking part to learn the new circuit as very few drivers had been to the coastal circuit before. |
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Qualifying/warm up
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| Saturday was a lovely day with some wind (nothing unusual for the coast), qualifying saw Mark du Toit (TAR Honda Civic) on pole with a blistering lap time of 1.40:406, followed by Brett Garland (Jonnesway Tools/Rockstar/Indy Oil Honda Civic) and Chris Davison (Opel SuperBoss) in third. |
Race 1
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| A great start by all except Davison who got a jump start penalty, but the racing was tight between du Toit and Garland, until Mark made a break for it, just before the flag came out, Garland had a moment and almost hit the tyre wall exiting the Esses. But held onto 2nd, Jaco Kriel (IDG Gearbox, SuperBoss Auto Opel SuperBoss) came home third. |
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| Class B had youngster Stuart Konig (Northern Bolt & Tool Peugeot 206) on pole ahead of Ishmael Baloyi (TAR Honda Civic) and Nic Martin (RDG Opel Kadett) re-built after the massive roll at Phakisa in third. |
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| From the start Nic made his presence known and got to the front end, while Stuart had a brake disc break while entering the Esses on lap one, with everyone narrowly missing him thankfully, but sadly causing him to retire, Chad Ten (TAR Golf mk1) and Clinton Parsons (Heatonvalves Alfa 147) battled with one another, but Nic saw the flag first. |
| Class C saw Morne Human in the Opel Kadett put the car on pole, with Mel Spurr (Castrol/G & H/Wealth Ave/1st Race Opel Corsa) 2nd and Samuel Gerber (Peugeot 206) in third. |
| Off the line they all set down into Potters pass together, with Human leading from Gerber and Spurr, exiting the 3rd corner Spurr moved to second and by the Esses Humans engine cried no more and Spurr was gifted the win ahead of Gerber. |
Race 2
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| And this time Garland stayed with du Toit as best he could from the word go and got to grips with the tricky, fast circuit and managed to take the flag ahead of du Toit and Davison in third this time. |
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| Konig was back and meant business after his mis-fortune of race 1.Baloyi was there to take 2nd, while Parsons had let his friend Shawn Cabrita race and he brought the Alfa home in a respectable third place. While Martin suffered gearbox problems. |
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| Stoltz brought home is Opel Kadett in first for class C but was found to be underweight and Spurr got the win, from Stoltz and Samuel finished third, Alta had problems all weekend, but managed to finish the second race. |
| All round it was a fun filled, comrade and spirit type of weekend, with lots of friends camping and all helping one another where ever they could. |
| I got reminded of the saying, probably only famous to us petrol heads… BUT racing friends are like no other… |
| Cheers to all our SuperHatchers and racing buddies. |
Class Results:
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- Class A: Mark du Toit, Brett Garland, Chris Davison
- Class B: Ishmael Baloyi, Chad Ten Doeschate, Nic Martin
- Class C: Melanie Spurr, Samuel Gerber, Robert Stoltz
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| And of course seeing as this was the first time ever that SuperHatch has been to the East London Grand Prix circuit, new lap records in all the classes. |
Class Results:
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- Class A: Mark du Toit 1.39:590
- Class B: Stuart Konig 1.45:280
- Class C: Mel Spurr 1.50:530
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| The next round of the championship will be at Zwartkops on the 9th of August part of the Extreme Festival. |
See you all trackside.
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