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The Misverstand Rally - 29th November 2003 - Review
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Author: Patrick Vermaak

Publishing date: 02.12.2003 07:34

Team Palbin - championship winners!
Misverstand translated into English is misunderstanding and somewhere along the line somebody misinterpreted the script for the final WP rally of the 2003 season. Jean-Pierre Damseaux and Cobus Vrey simply had to stay ahead of Richard Behm and Grant St Claire to clinch a third WP drivers and second navigators title respectively and with conditions fast, dry, very hot and dusty the trophies could have been engraved before the start of the event.

A compact event saw competitors gather at the beautiful Club Elani on the shores of the Misverstand Dam with the start of the first stage less than 100m down the road. The initial entry of 25 teams grew to 26 when newcomers Jacques Brits and Neil Geldenhuys completed work on their ex-Richard Behm WBMK Gp N2 Lize Signs Toyota Conquest RSi 1600. The Swartland duo arriving just in time to complete documentation. Sadly Nigel Dodgen en Nigel Wilton withdrew as they failed to secure a deal on the Andy Haigh-Smith CPMCC class A6 Toyota Conquest RSi 1600 and though present at the event, Mike Nathan and Rikus Fourie also withdrew their similar ex-Diffie Marais CPMCC class A6 Toyota Conquest RSi 1600. Abduraghman Amlay and Yusuf Ganief, class A6 Toyota Corolla RXi 1600, and Kobus Edas and Derek Jacobs, class S2 Toyota Conquest Tazz 1600 also failing to pitch on the day.

Peter Jackson and Les Faasen
Stage one totalled 26.44km and included the very popular Bridgetown spectator point near Moorreesburg. The stage has never been run this late in the year and it was quite a shock to see just how dry this area can become. Shaun Jones and Billy Thorpe providing the first surprise of the day when they clocked in at 16min11to win the stage with an average speed of 98.03 km/h in the class S5 VW Golf Synchro 4x4 2.0 formerly campaigned by Jerry Bailey and Brian Hoskins. The CPMCC duo beating the SWMC class A7 Team Total Toyota Corolla RXi 2.0 by six seconds. In all fairness it must be said that Jean-Pierre Damseaux and Cobus Vrey drove the last three kilometers of the stage with a broken sideshaft. Richard Behm and Grant St Claire third fastest in their SWMC Gp N2 Palbin Pallets Toyota Corolla RXi 1600, only six seconds ahead of the Grandpa React Racing class A6 Toyota Corolla RXi 1600 of Andy Haigh-Smith and Gerald Brace.

Already back at Elani for a cold drink was Neels van Wyk and Jeremy Northcote after their class S2 CPMCC VW Golf CSL 1600 MkII decided to blow a headgasket five kilometers into the stage. Jon and Doug Williams actually the first retirement in their normally very reliable ex-Serge Damseaux class A6 SWMC Trident Press Toyota Conquest RSi 1600. Doug actually arrived at the start dressed in a black nomex and general consensus is that the navigator overheated and called it a day. Jacques Brits and Neil Geldenhuys also returning home early when the Conquest cried enough.
Billy Thorpe and Shaun Jones - don't look around now, but there's that cop again!


Stage two was a repeat of stage one and Damseaux Jnr posted an incredible 15min14 to set an average speed of 104.14km/h through the 26.44km stage. Shaun Jones and Billy Thorpe improved to average 99.12km/h but was still 46 seconds down on the Toyota. Behm and St Claire remained close enough to attack as they lacked the outright pace to match the A7 Corolla and needed a mistake to win the WP title.

Paul Pfeiffer and Duncan English posted fourth fastest in their class A6 Toyota Corolla RXi 1600 with the ever consistent Wessel Venter and Patrick Johnson fifth fastest in their familiar yellow CPMCC GpN2 Harkers Automotive / Shell Helix WP Toyota Corolla RXi 1600. Team Grandpa suffered a time consuming puncture on the React Corolla, driving 13km with a flat front tyre and losing at least a minute.
Billy Thorpe and Shaun Jones - don't look around now, but there's that cop again!


By now the temperamental CPMCC class S4 VW Jetta 2.0 of Leon Esterhuyse and Gerhard Roelofse had cried enough with overheating whilst the André Cleenwerck and Carl Peskin class A7 Adez Motorsport VW Poloo Playa 2.0 returned too form after losing much time in stage one. Having rolled on the Great North Rally the Sabre Paints class A6 VW Golf A3 CSL 1600 of Charl Strydom and Sakkie Bosman returned to the local scene only to succumb to engine failure after two stages.

Stage three was a little rougher, much dustier and in some sections very “loose”. The 32.07km stage also including some of the better known spectator points near Koringberg and Hopefield. Once again it was the A7 Corolla at the front of the field managing a time of 18min57 and an average speed of 101.54km/h.



Kesevan Naidoo and Garth Scholtz
Richard Behm and Grant St Claire dug deep to post the second fastest time in the Gp N2 Corolla with the React Corolla third, the Jones Golf fourth, the Pfeiffer Corolla fifth and the Shell Corolla sixth fastest. No less than 16 Toyota models entered in the 26 car field. With three stages completed the total mileage read 84.95km, just too short to qualify as an event thus another attempt at the 32.07km stage was presented.

Much to the surprise of most it was the Grandpa combination of Andy Haigh-Smith and Gerald Brace that emerged as the stage winners in their Damseaux Motorsport prepared CPMCC class A6 React Racing Toyota Corolla RXi 1600, only one second down on the time posted by the A7 Corolla in stage three ! Second fastest went to kamikaze Wessel Venter and Patrick Johnson in the GpN2 Corolla with Behm third and Jones fourth fastest.

Third fastest good enough to win the 2003 WP drivers and navigators titles for Richard Behm and Grant St Claire but the SWMC GpN2 Palbin Pallets Toyota Corolla RXi 1600 had to settle for second overall, nine seconds adrift from the CPMCC class S5 VW Golf Synchro 4x4 2.0 of Shaun Jones and Billy Thorpe. The hard luck element of the day saw the A7 Team Total Toyota Corolla RXi 2.0 parked next to the road 12km into the stage with a blown clutch. Serge and Beverley Damseaux both attended the event and had matters gone according to plan Serge and JP would have shared 20 WP titles between the two of them. When Serge and Sarel found themselves entered into the Ceres Delta Rally they shared 20 SA titles between them.

Richard became the second generation Behm to win the WP drivers title with father, Ralph, having one the inaugural regional title back in 1964 with Sonny Bonafede (father of Vito) as navigator in a works prepared Simca 1000. This was the very first time ever in SA that any sport was awarded a regional title, quite an honour for rallying. Ralph also went on to win the 1966 title with Dave Meneses as navigator in a VW Beetle and Robin Thompson navigated Ralph to the 1967 (Opel Kadett) and 1969 (Opel Rekord) titles.

Shaun Jones and Billy Thorpe took a well deserved victory whilst a frustrated Grandpa React team contemplated what could have been. Subtract the estimated minute minimum lost with the puncture and they would have won the event overall instead of taking third overall. Wessel Venter and Patrick Johnson finishing fourth overall and second in the championship after yet another very consistent outing. Paul Pfeiffer and Duncan English fifth in their Corolla. Les Faasen and Peter Jackson took a fine sixth overall in their Diffie Marais prepared CPMCC class S4 Nissan Sentra STi 2.0 after one of their best ever events. Les also sponsoring the event with Bez Bezuidenhout as partner.

Thenswille Overmeyer and Wesley van Heerden drove a good event to finish in a very credible seventh spot overall with their ex-Etienne Lourens CCMCC class S3 Toyota Conquest RSi 1600 and they had a somewhat miffed Martin Esterhuyse and Dave Gregory six seconds behind them after the CPMCC class S4 BMW 325i lost at least one minute during the final stage with a loose coil wire André Cleenwerck and Carl Peskin recovered to ninth overall in the CPMCC class A7 Adez Motorsport VW Polo Playa 2.0. Tenth overall went to a much improved Inus du Plessis and Jaen Fouché in their very rapid WBMK class S2 Toyota Corolla TRD 1600. Kesevan Naidoo and Garth Scholtz taking an excellent 11th place in their stock standard class S2 CCMCC Toyota Conquest 1300 and twelfth going to Rupert van Zyl and Robin Lussem in their class S3 VW Golf 1800 MkI. The final finishers Shaun Lipshitz and Bruce Wilkinson in their ex-Pierre Goosen CPMCC class S3 VW Golf CSL MkII 1600.

The final stage also claiming the CCMCC Murway Car Hire class S3 Toyota Conquest RSi 1700 of Nishaad Murudker and Patrick Vermaak at the 27.68km mark with a broken CV. The team also had a horror experience when they met a Lewis Stores delivery vehicle head on whilst travelling virtually flat out over a blind rise at the 17km mark. The Lewis idiot slammed on brakes turning towards the approaching rally car, forcing Nishaad to take to the scenery to avoid an accident and more than likely causing the initial damage leading to their retirement. Passing the gate at the 17.51km mark had another bakkie leaving the scene and Dave Gregory confirmed that both bakkies were parked at this gate when they passed it. Not pleasant.

The Conquest was now stuck and a hapless Harry Giliomee and Andy Schreuder arrived on the scene with


their clutchless CPMCC class S2 Toyota Corolla 1600 and retired on the scene when the car became bogged down in the soft sand.

Grant St Clair (left) Richard Behm (right) and Xmas father in the middle
Prizegiving in the lapa became quite a festive affair with Richard and Grant covered in sticky champagne. A number of interesting prospects for 2004 should see the year provide some good action. The Berto Mostert / Rikus Fourie Gp N4 Mitsubishi Lancer Evoo VI Turbo 4x4 will only be repaired in the new year but will more than likely be put up for sale. Berto then intends running his ex-Barry Grobbelaar class A7 VW Golf GTi 2.0 in the regional events. Enzo Kuun was present at the Misverstand event behind the controls of a Robinson helicopter but will hopefully compete in the entire 2004 regional series.
Club Elani - for when you hang up your driving gloves!


More news will follow

Attached files

Please click to open results- this is not a misverstand!
( Misverstand Results.xls 35.50 KB )
Please click to open results - this is not a misverstand!

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