SuperHatch honoured as the only non BMW race on a BMW day

It is a dream of every racing driver to race at Kyalami, and this year the SuperHatch drivers are fortunate enough to be able to do this twice in a year. Better yet, in one month. Thanks go to the BMW Car Club for extending this invitation to us; we had a superb outing and loads of fun.

 

A winter’s morning and a rather chilly Kyalami welcomed us with a very relaxed fun atmosphere, very different to normal race days. The first session at 08:45 was practice and about half the field ended up having at least one spin on the cold track, but still the pace was being set early and it was clear who would be in the front of each class, and the official warm up at 10:00am confirmed our guesses. Class A saw the OKI MINI of Mark Silverwood set the pace with a 2:02:864 ahead of Mark du Toit in the TAR Honda Civic and Lee Thompson in the Harness Co. Golf Mk1. Class B went to Hilton van Nieuwenhuizen in the ASAP Peugeot setting a time of 2:06:420 ahead of Mel Spurr in the ASAP, Wealth Ave, Harness Co. Opel Corsa and Chris Davison in an Opel Kadett. Class C was all about Jeff Langeveldt in the Fury Ford Fiesta with a 2:10:986 from James Menin in the West Cars Opel Kadett and Ryan Coetzee in the Golf Mk1. Class N saw Jacques Joubert (Car King Ford Fiesta) setting a time of 2:06:454.

 

Race one saw the usual reverse grid for the top 5 in each class from the previous race come into play, this makes it interesting, although on Kyalami’s very wide track there is plenty of room for everyone. Class A was all about the 2 Mark’s from the time the lights went out they were side by side going into turn 1 with du Toit taking the lead. Du Toit held the lead until lap 3 when Silverwood got past with a clean overtake into the Esses. Holding a fine third was rookie Brett Garland (D T Construction Honda Civic) who was having a great battle with Joubert who won class N.

 

Class B saw Spurr sprint off the line into a huge lead by the end of lap one leaving the rest of class B to battle on their own, unfortunately Spurr lost brakes on lap 2 and had to retire. The class B lead was now taken over by Nic Martin (RDG Opel Kadett) from Pierre Lubbe (Trio Racing Golf Mk2) who were quickly being caught by van Nieuwenhuizen who had to start from the pit lane (for being late out the pits). The rest of the large class B field was changing position for the duration of the race but at the front van Niewenhuizen got past Martin and Lubbe to take the win.

 

Class C was all about Langeveldt who opened a useful gap on Menin and spent his race right amongst the class B mid pack.

 

Race 2 followed the same format with the top 5 from race 1 lining up on the grid in reverse order. Great starts from du Toit and Silverwood saw them move from 4th and 5th to 1st and 2nd by turn 3. The pair quickly pulled ahead of Garland, who was having another outstanding drive, and Joubert. Silverwood got past du Toit on lap 4 with a brave move taking the inside line through the fast sweep before the last corner, both drivers displaying good skill and fairness so that they did not touch. By this time du Toit was already having tyre problems and fell back slightly towards the end giving Silverwood a comfortable win.

 

Class B was all van Niewenhuizen whose pace was so fast that he was harrying Garland for overall third on the road at the end. Behind him, Martin put in a strong drive to take 2nd from Spurr, who with brakes now repaired, set her own personal best ever Kyalami lap time.

 

Langeveldt again controlled class C from the front and finished ahead of Menin and a fast finishing Vernon Visagie (UNO’s Africa Fiat Palio).

 

Results:

Class A: Silverwood; du Toit; Garland

Class B: van Niewenhuizen; Martin; Lubbe

Class C: Langeveldt; Menin; Visagie

Class N: Joubert

 

The cold but perfect conditions saw every class lap record broken.

Class A: Silverwood – 2:02.996

Class B: van Niewenhuizen – 2:06.785

Class C: Langeveldt – 2:11.130

Class N: Joubert – 2:06.192

 

The next round of the SuperHatch championship will take place on the 23rd of this month at Kyalami.

 

See you all trackside.