| The SuperHatch drivers returned to Phakisa in the Free State this past weekend for round 6 of the championship for 2 sprint races for the first time ever. After being there just three weeks earlier and the fact that the usual race at Phakisa is the annual 2 hour and not sprint races, we were happy with the turn out. |
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| Friday saw the usual high spirited SuperHatchers set up camp and light the braai fires ready for dinner and a few good laughs and banter between the drivers, crew, friends and family. |
| After a fun, festive evening most of the drivers stayed at the track either in their tents or vans and all the drivers were up and ready for the early start with SuperHatch setting out for qualifying at 08h20. |
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Qualifying/Warm up
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The class A time set was by Brett Garland (Jonnesway Honda Civic) with a 1.59.133 lap time around the 4.24km circuit. 2nd quickest was Andre De Lange (ADL Roofing Toyota RunX) and third was Hilton van Niuewenhuizen (ASAP Peugeot 206) |
| In class B top of the time sheets was Ryan Quan-Chai (Honda Civic) from Ishmael Baloyi (TAR Honda Civic) and third was Jaco Kriel (SuperBoss spares/IDG Opel SuperBoss) |
| Class C had a super-fast pace with quickest time lady the racer Louise van der Walt (Car King Ford Fiesta) a remarkable 5th overall, from the Citroen C2 of Jacques van der Zee and in third was Ignition TV’s motor mouth Marius Roberts ( Tyre shield Opel Kadett). |
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Race
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With the usual grid reversal from the previous round and this one being a little trickier as drivers had shared the endurance race drive in June, there were some turn ups for the books with regards to the starting orders. |
| Class A saw De Lange (Ex Welkom boy) on the front row, with Pierre Lubbe (Harness co Audi A3) alongside him and ahead of his twin brother Jaco (ASAP Peugeot 207). Everyone had a good clean start and the race was on from the very first minute, the positions changed up a little as Hilton and Brett took no time in getting to the front of the field and charged down De Lange. Tugwell (VW Golf mk1) was going with them and Taljaard (Loutal Renault Megane) and Spurr (Wealth Ave, Castrol, ASAP Opel Corsa) had a dismal start and was having to get through traffic, there was a very fast pace up front and Hilton made a mistake after getting to the front and De Lange and Garland were all over one another, Hilton got the lead back after catching up again and ensured he got the first sight of the chequered flag. |
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| Class B saw Martin on the front row (RDG Opel Kadett) alongside Ish and just behind was Quan-Chai, Nic made a break from early on but a mis-fire dampened all hopes of the win, while Quan-Chai was in the lead and picked up a puncture and had to limp around on a big part of the rim. Ish and Kriel touched into the fast sweep but there was no major damage and both could carry on and Chad Ten-Doeschate (TAR VW Golf mk1) was hanging on to them. Eventually Kriel took the win from Martin and home in third was Ish. |
| Class C had a mighty battle as always with the front row being occupied by Vernon Visagie (Uno’s for Africa Fiat Palio) alongside Roberts in the Opel and van der Zee in the Citroen, Louise wasted no time getting to the front of the pack and chasing Marius, while Cleary in the Corsa, van Wyk and Lotz in the mk1 Golfs battled hard with Visagie for most of the race, Fuller was out in front with van der Walt and Roberts, van der Walt got the lead from the boys and made sure she got the class honors for the first race of the day with Roberts coming home in 2nd and van der Zee in third. |
| Race two and yup you guessed it the usual top 5 inversion in each class. Class A saw Jaco Lubbe and Tugwell occupy the front row and they were in a hard fought battle for most of the race with a few paint swopping moments , while De Lange had gearbox issues and just could not hang onto Hilton and Brett who got away from the pack, Brett took the win, from Hilton, with Andre hanging on to third ahead of Pierre and Geoff. |
| Class B saw the youngster Ten-Doeschate on pole alongside Quan-Chai, Nic wasted no time getting to the front after sorting the mis-fire from race one and Kriel had another outstanding drive to finish up second just ahead of Baloyi. In class C Visagie was on pole with Lotz next to him, but an incident on lap one put Visagie out for the rest of the race with a all smashed up front end, Roberts retired in the same corner a lap later with a failed wheel bearing, and Louise ensured she got the double for the day finishing ahead of Fuller and Alta. |
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| After a long day this is what part of the pit area looked like. |
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Results:
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- Class A: Brett Garland, Hilton van Nieuwenhuizen, Andre De Lange
- Class B: Nic Martin, Jaco kriel, Ishmael Baloyi
- Class C: Louise van der Walt, James Fuller, Alta van Wyk
- Index winner of the day: Hilton van Nieuwenhuizen
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Upcoming Events:
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- 4th of August – Annual Cars in the Park show at Zwartkops
- 9th & 10th of August – Extreme Festival at Zwartkops
- 23rd – 25th of August – Annual charity fishing weekend – Rietspruit Dam
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| Thanks for all your valued and ongoing support |
See you all trackside.
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