The final round of the SuperHatch Championship was held at the home of the Extreme Festival at Zwartkops Raceway. With much still to play for, the competitors were ready to give it all, and with the field being combined with the 111 Classes D & E the full field was sure to put up a great show for the spectators.
Qualifying
The qualifying session started off at 07h40 on a cold but dry track. Topping the time sheets for class A was the TAR Honda Civic of Jono du Toit, just managing to hold off a determined Brett Garland (autObarn/Jonnesway/Total Honda Civic), with Tyler Scott managing to get his Lopec/Jestik/EpiServe Opel Kadett TS into 3rd position. In class B it was Zane van Zyl (credit Guarantee Golf Mk 2) taking pole position, followed by Nic Martin (RDG/Car Care Clinic Opel Kadett) and Louis Scholtz (Car Care Clinic Honda Civic). Alex Marques was flying in his Ace Auto Spares Polo to take pole for class C, followed by Freddy Watkins in his Polo and Vernon Stoltz in his Jestik/Lopec/EpiServe Opel Kadett.
Race 1
The predicted rain arrived and it was clear that conditions were going to be very tricky. When the lights went out it was du Toit who handled conditions best and immediately took the lead, followed by Garland. Tyler Scott managed to somehow get the power down on his super-fast TS in 3rd position, but was constantly being hounded by Chris Davison’s SuperBoss and Mel Spurr’s G & H/Wealth Ave/AKA/Rowlin VW Motorsport Polo. Karel Stols in the PTA Noord Toyota RunX had some serious misfiring issues, and had to retire on the opening lap.
In class B it was Scholtz who made the most of the conditions, and was leading at the end of lap 1, followed by Zane van Zyl and Andre Dannhauser in his Pro Auto Rubber Corsa. As the group came turn 2 however, and aquaplaning Scholtz went into the back of Scott which saw the both of them fall off track, with van Zyl also going off trying to avoid a collision. Dannhauser got through without incident and was now leading the class, with Scholtz and van Zyl recovering behind him, van Zyl pushed just a little bit too hard on the next lap, and the normally mundane turn 3 showed its teeth in the rain – van Zyl lost the rear going through the turn, and eventually hit the barriers at the entry to turn 4, taking him out of the race.
In class C it was Marques who took the lead on the opening lap, closely followed by Watkins. Watkins somehow managed to find a better route through the traffic though, and slipped past Marques to take the lead on lap 2. Craig Priestley in his Tactical Fluid Laser was also right in the mix, and also slipped past Marques to get himself into 2nd position.
Back up front in class A du Toit was doing everything right, and just kept on opening the gap. Garland was securely in 2nd position, but behind him things had changed drastically following the incident in turn 2 earlier – Davison was now running in third position, followed by Spurr. Scholtz was closing in on Dannhauser in class B, whilst Martin had now worked himself into 3rd position.
With more cars falling off, the safety car was deployed. After 2 laps under the safety car, the decision was taken to red-flag the race as there were just too many cars to recover off the track.
Results for race 1:
Class A – 1st– Jono du Toit, 2nd – Brett Garland, 3rd – Chris Davison
Class B – 1st – Andre Dannhauser, 2nd – Louis Scholtz, 3rd –Nic Martin
Class C – 1st – Freddy Watkins, 2nd – Craig Priestley, 3rd – Alex Marques
Race 2
Conditions were unchanged for race 2, and it would again be as tricky as the first heat. The grid was based on the finishing results from race 1, and du Toit made the most of the pole position again and immediately shot off in the lead and steadily building a gap on Garland in 2nd position. Davison was running smoothly in third position, maintaining a gap on the battle raging behind him between Spurr in 4th and Scott in 5th.
Class B saw pole sitter Dannhauser pull off an excellent launch, immediately getting in amongst the class A cars. His lead was however short-lived, as he slid off in turn 1, allowing the whole class past him before he could re-join the track. Scholtz made the most of the situation, and immediately took the lead, followed by Sandro Godinho (Newline Projects VW Golf), Martin and Ishmael Baloyi (TAR Honda Civic).
In class C Marques was determined to improve on the results from race 1, and executed a very good opening lap to take the lead, followed by Watkins and Priestley. Priestley however got involved in a big incident on lap 3 which saw him retire. This saw the battle for third being fought by Marius Rossouw (CW Motorsport Opel Corsa), Vernon Stoltz and newcomer from 2 wheels to 4 Marc Giltrow in his Ford Fiesta.
Back up front du Toit was maintaining the gap on Garland, whilst Davison was pulling away from Spurr and Scott. In class B Scholtz was still in the lead, with Godinho going up to 2nd position before an incident in turn 6 saw him go off the track. Martin was now running in 2nd position with Dannhauser hounding him after getting past Baloyi. Further back in class C Giltrow had done some excellent maneuvering, and now found himself in 3rd position.
Once again the safety car had to come out due to cars being stuck in dangerous positions, and the field was bunched up again. When the safety car went back into the pits, there were only two laps left for the season. Things stayed pretty much the same for the remaining two laps, with du Toit taking the win in class A, followed by Garland and Davison. Class B was won by Scholtz, with Martin 2nd and Dannhauser right on his heels in 3rd. Class C saw Marques take the win, followed home by Watkins and Rookie Giltrow in an impressive 3rd position.
Overall results
Class A – 1st – Jono du Toit, 2nd – Brett Garland, 3rd – Chris Davison
Class B – 1st – Louis Scholtz, 2nd – Andre Dannhauser, 3rd – Nic Martin
Class C – 1st Alex Marques, 2nd – Freddy Watkins, 3rd – Marc Giltrow
A massive thanks has to go to all our sponsors, competitors, families, friends for making 2017 a great year!
In 2018, this is how the SuperHatch season looks… (SAVE the dates now)
17 February – Midvaal – Inl
17 March – Zwartkops – EF
12 May – Zwartkops – EF
2 June – RSR – EF/Inl
18 August – Zwartkops – EF
15 September – RSR – EF
6 October – Phakisa (200km) – EF
10 November – Zwartkops – EF
C U IN 2018
Race report by Andre Dannhauser
Photos by Racepics.co.za