The 4th round of the SuperHatch championship was hosted at the cold and wet Phakisa Raceway. The field was combined with the 111 Sports and Saloon category, which led to a field of 37 cars lining up on the grid.
Qualifying
Qualifying started on a wet track, and the competitors had their work cut out to try and find decent lap times. During the session a dry line started developing, and the times started tumbling. Brett Garland in the autObarn Honda Civic topped the time sheet with an impressive 2:00.800, with Tyler Scott qualifying second in the Lopec/Jestik Opel Kadett 200TS, followed by Chris Davison in his Opel Superboss.
In Class B Louis Scholtz made the most of the testing conditions in his Car Care Clinic Honda Civic, with a time of 2:03.149, followed by Nic Martin in his RDG Opel Kadett, and Andre Dannhauser in his Pro Auto Rubber Opel Corsa taking third.
Race 1
Before the start of the first heat the rain returned, which saw all the competitors desperately scurrying around trying to find the right setup for the wet conditions. When the race got underway, Brett Garland got everything right and managed to get clear of the traffic and control things from the front. Tyler Scott was kept really busy with the traffic, but managed to secure an impressive second place, and Chris Davison rounded up the top three.
In class B the competitors were trying to find their way through traffic whilst doing their utmost to stay on the black stuff. Zane van Zyl in the Credit Guarantee Golf showed the experience gained from his gymkhana days to overcome the wet conditions, and opened a sizeable lead over the rest of the field. He managed to maintain his pace, taking the flag from Nic Martin in second position, followed home by Louis Scholtz.
Race 2
With conditions clearing, everybody was looking forward to a dry track. Garland again got away from the Class A field and cleverly managed his pace to ensure the double for the day. Davison caught up with Scott, and an entertaining battle ensued. Scott managed to hold Davison off at the last turn to take second place, with a mere 0.4s separating them.
In Class B Nic Martin managed to get past van Zyl, but did not have it all his own way. Scholtz was right with him, just waiting for the opportunity to pounce. Martin held his nerve though, and took the win, closely followed by Scholtz in second and van Zyl in third.
The overall results for Class A saw Garland taking Class A honours, with Scott in second and Davison third.
Class B had van Zyl taking the overall win by 0.3s from Martin, and Scholtz in third.
The next round of the SuperHatch championship will be held at Zwartkops Raceway on the 16th & 17th of June. With the standings in the championship starting to take shape, this promises to be a very exciting meeting with lots of close racing. Be sure to bring the family along to what is going to be an amazing event with lots for everybody to see and do, and pop in by the SuperHatch pits to see some of the cars and meet some of the drivers.
See you there!
Report by Andre Dannhauser