SuperHatch steals the show at the Inland Championship

This past weekend saw SuperHatch take to their home circuit Zwartkops. With the winter bug (no one likes getting up in the cold), the Top Gear Festival in Durban, the current economic times and a few entries having problems on Friday, the entry was sadly down to just 29 cars lining up on the grid. It was an icy cool morning and the tar was still not properly warm even by the time we set out for warm up at 9:40am, but the times said that the conditions were perfect, the times were showing loads of promise of lap records being smashed. In Class A, 2011 overall champion Hilton van Nieuwenhuizen (ASAP parts Peugeot 206) showed a clean pair of heels and did a blistering time of 1:14.921 with George Economides (Wealth Avenue Golf 1) 2nd quickest with a 1:15.237 and the Honda of Brett Garland (Supercool Radiators) with a 1:15.849. Class B’s quickest man was Scois Joubert (ASAP parts Renault Clio sport) with a 1:17.506, followed by Pierre Lubbe (The Harness Company Golf 2) with a 1:17.778 and Jaco Kriel (Superboss spares Opel Superboss) showing more promise with a 1:18.032. Class C’s quickest driver was Vernon Stoltz (AFW Engineering Opel Kadett) who set the pace with a 1:18.623, just ahead of James Menin (West Cars Opel Kadett) on a 1:18.949 and Pieter Pienaar on a 1:20.240, In class D the Ford Lazer of Andrew Heyes did a 1:21.288.
Race 1
As usual the top 5 in each class from the previous race were reversed on the grid, this always produces some great overtaking and racing. Class A front row was the Trans Africa Honda Civic of du Toit on pole with Garland alongside him, things got hectic as du Toit, Garland, van Niewenhuizen, Economides, Chris Davison (Opel SuperBoss) and Mel Spurr (ASAP, George Economides, Harness Co, Agip, Drivelines Opel Corsa) all stormed turn 2 together. Mark Du Toit
As the dust settled du Toit had made a small break with Garland, van Nieuwenhuizen and Economides, Spurr got Davison into turn 4 and De Lange was on a charge after having to start at the back of class A due to gearbox problems in qualifying. The 4 managed to get a small break on Spurr and De Lange who was now on her bumper, but they kept it clean and De Lange got past after a lap of side by side action. At the front the positions were constantly changing. Garland developed a misfire on the last lap and fell back to 6th. At the finish it was du Toit followed by van Niewenhuizen and Economides. Du Toit, van Niewenhuizen and Garland all broke the Class A lap record with du Toit the fastest with an insane 1:14.629.
 
Jaco Kriel Class B was busy as always with not much between the biggest class in the field. Pole went to Kriel with 2nd on the grid going to Scois Joubert. The action in class B is always fierce and the positions changed from one corner to the next and one lap after the other. There was a little bit of paint swopping and a big off by Etienne Spies (VW Golf 1) all on his own exiting turn 3, but the one who got the all-important chequered flag first was Raynere Joubert (ASAP parts Peugeot 207) from Nic Martin (Rex Diff & Gearbox Opel Kadett) and 3rd home was Lubbe.
 
Class C pole sitter was the younger of the 2 Menin’s Walter (West Cars VW Golf 1) with Pieter Pienaar (VW Golf 2) next to him, but it wasn’t long before the other class C drivers came through the field and Stoltz won the race from 3rd on the grid with James Menin just behind him and a few of the class B guys in between them and James Fuller (New Age tyre specialists VW Golf 1) who took the final podium position. The Ford of Heyes was very much in the Class C mix and he bettered his personal best time in the process.
Race 2
Spurr was on pole for class A with De Lange next to her, they made a small break from the rest from the start and going into turn 5 Spurr went in too hot for the cold tyres and lost it, she was facing the hard charging field of 27 cars that were behind her and could merely hope that no one connected her, no one knows how, but they all missed her and thankfully there was no major pile up on lap one, class A had no answer for De Lange (ADL Roofing VW Golf1) and he lead from flag to flag, Economides, du Toit, Garland and van Nieuwenhuizen all crossed the finish line within 1.4 seconds of each other. Mel Spurr
 
The Class B front row was Scois Joubert and Lubbe, Lubbe managed to miss being in the correct gear and caused a small delay with the rest having trying avoid him, luckily only with minor bumps the majority did and the race was on, Joubert got ahead and stayed ahead, with a small gap to the rest of the class B field, Martin and Kriel were within reach of one another the whole race while Raynere Joubert was a little further back with the race ending with them in those positions. A technical infringement saw Scois Joubert excluded from the results.
https://www.superhatch.co.za/index.php/2012-06-16-zwartkops-raceway Class C had relative newcomer Willem Kruger (Liqui Moly, Airport pets VW Golf 1) on pole with Walter Menin alongside him, they had a good start and but they could not keep the two ‘ol toppies’ at bay, Menin and Stoltz are the men to beat in class C this year and keep the ‘laaities’ honest that’s for sure. James Menin took the win from Stoltz with Walter Menin in 3rd. Fuller was 4th and rookie driver Lourens Taljaard (Loutal Renault Megane) was 5th.
Heyes kept his form with the same great time again and in the mix with the class C drivers.

Results

  • Class A – Mark du Toit, George Economides, Hilton van Nieuwenhuizen
  • Class B – Nic Martin, Jaco Kriel, Raynere Joubert
  • Class C – Vernon Stoltz, James Menin, Walter Menin
  • Class D – Andrew Heyes
 
New Lap Record – Class A – Mark du Toit – 1:14.629

Noggin Award Winners

  • Appi of the Day – Raynere Joubert
  • Chop of the Day – Melanie Spurr
  • Spectacle of the Day – Etienne Spies
  • Index winner of the Day – George Economides
  • Driver of the Day – Hilton van Nieuwenhuizen
Renexcon
 
The next round of the SuperHatch Championship will take place at Phakisa on the 18th of August 2012.
 
Pictures of Last Race here.
 
See you all trackside.
Issued by Mel Spurr.