Casual Day Races - Killarney - 9th August 2003
author: Patrick Vermaak
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Is this a wet race, or not?
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Wet, wet and wetter and then some cold as well ! Killarney was not a pleasant place to be at on 9 August as any claims of a drought on the Cape West Coast was cancelled with rainfall that could easily have exceeded the combined figures for the year to date. This was a recipe for action as races would start in the dry, finish in the wet with surface conditions never predictable as wind and temperatures also came into play.
Formula Libre
The Levy Motorsport event attracted another fair entry and preparation continues to improve witheveryone making it home despite the wicked conditions. The first heat started in pouring rain and icy temperatures with the three class A entries turning in a good show. Ebrahim Levy still the class of the field in the Red Bull Swift but it was encouraging to see Ernst Viljoen, Communica / Major Tech Swift and the Carsport Ray of Nieyaas Modack hanging on. Nieyaas eventually pipping Ernst into second place. In class B Reg Anderson, Swift, and Anwar Levy, DAW, enjoyed a great tussle for fourth overall with Ashfaak Dawood sixth in a pukka Formula Ford. First in class C went to Steven Schemel in a Van Diemen with Andrew Henderson second in his Lantis Formula Vee. Doug MacDonald placed his Rhema Vee ninth with the top ten rounded out by Roy Phillips in a Ray 83F.
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Ebrahim Levy was die beste in die Red Bull Swift
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There was no mercy for the single seater brigade as their second heat also turned into a skating rink and once again they have to be complimented on a good event The result proved predictable with the order unchanged in the top ten positions but they ran close and reliability was impressive. Keep up the good work.
Suzuki South Motorcycles D/PS/X/Classics
If the single seater drivers were nutty then the motorcyclists need to be certified. Possibly the classics have been there as they were aboard some sought after machinery in very unfriendly territory.
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One prang - Three bikes - Wayne Arendse - Donovan le Cok and Hilton Redelinghuys go farming.
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Donovan le Cok, Power Sport Honda VFR NC30, led for the first six laps and then it was a determined Gareth Agnew that took over aboard his similar Power Sport Honda VFR 400. In fact the top five were all aboard VFR400’s with the order Robert Moody, Derek Baker and Hilton Redelinghuys. Then came Stefan Nel on a CBR 600 Honda with the main attraction taking seventh spot in very tricky conditions.
Danie “van Killarney” Maritz was back, riding a 1977 Castrol Honda CBX 1000 six cylinder. Whether he had put on weight or whether it was pure nostalgia flashes of Rodney Gray certainly completed the picture, and that sound !
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Entertainment by Fast Fred Lewis on his 350.
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Fast Fred Lewis was next on his minute Yamaha RD350 with the well prepared “Big Bertha” Suzuki Katana 1100 of David Bolding and the little Yamaha RD350 of Rob Bunyan irritating each other for ninth spot.
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Rob Bunyan on his 350 was the fly in the ointment of the 1100 Katana of David Bolding
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A dry circuit awaited this category for their second heat and the gloriously sounding CBX simply had to win with Danie Maritz actually showing some respect for this great machine by taking it fairly cuatiously through the kink between Engen and Shell corners. This bike is worth a trip to Killarney, even if bikes do not really turn you on. Gareth Agnew, Donovan le Cok and Hilton Redelinghuys initially swarmed around the big Honda when it came to braking and cornering but Danie eventually started to put some space between him and the pesky little 400’s from Sabat up to Engen.
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Danie Maritz on his six cylinder Honda CBX
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Derek Baker filled fifth spot with the neat 1974 BMW R90 of Johan Booyens taking sixth. David Bolding, Fred Lewis and the neat 1982 Ducati Pantah of Tony Jones taking it up to ninth spot with Rob Bunyan tenth.
Trafalgar Property Services Classic and Fine Cars
The class act of the day came from a classic racer ! Proving that age simply matures the knowledge gained over many years 65 year old former SA champion elect, Peter Gough, simply drilled the opposition with a brilliant display of wet weather driving in his first clean race with the 1974 class B Cars Unlimited Alfa Romeo Bertone Sprint 2.0 formerly campaigned by Rudi Patoir.
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Peter Gough laps Herman Scholtz on his way to a win.
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Rudi Patoir returned to the action with his 1970 Porsche Carrera RS now up to 3.2 specs but simply was not in the same race as Gough. Ashley Ellis never fails to impress with his little Renault R8 Gordini when the weather turns foul, but even his performance seemed mild as Gough simply ran away at the front. Maybe he could not see the rain ?
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Jan Driedijk was also impressive in the wet.
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Jim Cousins placed his neat 1972 class C Alfa Romeo Berlina 2.0 fourth with the class B 1974 VW Scirocco GLi of Paul Ammann fifth and the always well prepared yellow 1974 class B Transcape Steel Ford Escort placing sixth. The mighty 1973 class A genuine “Little Chev” Firenza V8 of Anton Rollino placed seventh with a giant killing Jan Driedijk taking eighth spot in his 1974 class C Jansport Alfasud 1500. Anton da Silva quietly drove his class B BMW 2002 home to ninth spot with Robbie Jephta tenth in his 1974 class C Ford Escort MkI 2.0.
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Coenrad Spamer impressive in the NSU. Probably because it looks a bit like a 2002?
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Mike van der Poel won class D in his Alfasud 1500 Sportwagon whilst another old hand, Coenrad Spamer, had the youngsters sit up and take notice with eleventh overall in his 1967 class E NSU TTS.
Heat two brought more water and another class performance from Peter Gough and his little Alfa. Absolutely brilliant is the only way to describe his performances on the track and I really feel honoured to have stood in the rain watching a real sportsman doing what he does best. The fact that he did so in a Alfa was a bonus of course ! Ala Montoya and Coulthard the yellow Porsche of Rudi Patoir came home a minute later with the pesky little Renault of Ellis third. Not as spectacular as he could be but at least he did visit the sand trap on the outside of Cell C. Jim Cousins and the Berlina netted another fourth with Paul Ammann impressive in his VW Scirocco.
Jan Driedijk and his Jansport Alfasud impressed with sixth spot whilst Coenrad Spamer embarrased far superior machinery by claiming seventh spot in the NSU. Anthony van Malsen took eighth in his Renault R8 Gordini, Johan Rheeder ninth in his 1973 Austin Mini and the tenth spot was filled by the Escort of Robbie Jephta. Malcolm Uytenbogaardt enjoyed an entertaining off heading for Cell C in his 1964 Ford Anglia and the normally neat 1965 Ford Cortina 1600 GT of Mervyn Ellis sported a rather large ding in the side but despite the extremely wet conditions most returned without a scratch.
It would be nice to see all the main players in action at the next meeting. Robin Forbes and his Mighty Vette V8 against the Derek van Blerk Mustang V8, the Rollino Little Chev V8, the Trevor Momberg Capri , the Porsche RS3.2’s of Fred Phillips and Rudi Patoir and and …… Just maybe Graeme Rooke could be convinced to enter his Basil Green replica Perana V8 and Peter Gough his Mark Donohue Porsche RS and even Dave Köpke and the rapid R100 Mazda would really liven up class A.
Class winners overall for the day was :
A Peter Gough Cars Unlimited 1974 Alfa Romeo GT Junior
B Paul Ammann 1974 VW Scirocco Gli
C Jim Cousins 1972 Alfa Romeo Berlina 2.0
D Mike van der Poel 1975 Alfasud Sportwagon
E Coenrad Spamer 1967 NSU TTS
F Doug Logan 1975 Austin Mini
Fast Parts GTi Challenge
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Bessie Bester rolls his Golf between Engen and Shell
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Race one was red flagged when Andries van Eeden managed to tip his class B VW Golf CTi 1800 onto its roof exiting Shell sweep on lap five. After the restart it was the very rapid 3rd Network / KSD silver class A VW Golf GTi 2.0 16v of Bessie Bester that dominated to the flag with the cosmic green number 13 class A VW Golf Chico 1800 of Swartland farmer, Gerrit Coetzee, second and the defending GTi champion, George Economides third in his Vaalie VW Golf CTi 1800. Mike Nathan celebrated his return to the series with fourth in his ex-Smurf Aluminum Windows Industries VW Polo and he was followed home by Grant van Eck, now behind the wheel of an Economides class A CTi 1800. Pieter Gouws was somewhat disappointing in a distant sixth overall with his VW Jetta 16v.
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Sieg Hail to you to! Martin van Staaden
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Paul Medell proved superior in class B with his 1800 Sport with the Barnetts CTI 1800 of Stephanie Aukett second. Peet van der Walt taking class C in the U-Store-It Golf and he was followed home by Gerard Nefdt in another Golf.
Heat two proved even more eventful when Bessie Bester managed to flip his rapid silver Golf through the tricky kink between Engen and Shell corners, resulting in yet another red flag. George Economides showed why he was the defending champ, winning in fine style with a determined Gerrit Coetzee second and an elated Mike Nathan third . Pieter Gouws moved up to fourth in the Jetta with a spectacular Grant van Eck fifth. Grant could consider rallying after some nifty sideways driving though Cell C. Paul Medell took sixth with Stephanie Aukett seventh and Peet van der Walt eighth. Quinton Velder slipped into ninth with Gerard Nefdt taking tenth spot.
Overall the class winners were George Economides (A) Paul Medell (B) and Peet van der Walt (C)
Sports Cars
Sporting almost every variant of the Lotus 7 replicas available this is currently little more than a one make series but there are some very ambitious projects taking shape with no less than fifteen new cars in the pipeline. Four of these are currently being built by Owen Ashley at Killarney and is considered a Bentley Le Mans car lookalike. Power is said to be a twin turbo triple rotor for one, a very special Porsche six cylinder for another and the other two yet to be finalised. Currently not very impressive in looks is the triple rotor Audi TT of Denis Geyer but once this car is sorted it should enjoy much attention from the opposition. Keith Schenck is busy building a very special Lola T212 replica which will sport turbo Audi power.
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Eben Greyling's wheel waits to be refitted!
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On the day though it was up to the immaculate Ford GT40 of Eben Greyling and the rotary powered Lotus 7 of Peter Little to entertain the crowd and they did a fair job of it in heat one with the GT40 taking the win by less than two seconds. Johan Walters placed his GSM Dart third with Kevin Solomon fourth in his KG7 and Mike Coram fifth in his FVH7. Grant Geyer taking sixth in his Sheldon7.
Heat two was red flagged after four laps when the GT40 parted company with its left rear wheel in the ultra quick double apex Sabat sweep and the very expensive car came to rest on the tarmac. Fortunately with very little damage. At the time of writing there was still no result for this heat as effectively the race was too short to qualify as a result and failing light made a restart impossible on the day.
ASA Auto Spares Clubmans
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John Craig leads Greig Edwards during the Clubman races.
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Greig Edwards claimed victory in heat one by a scant 0.006 seconds in his very quick Canning VW Golf GTi 2.0 after a great tussle with the Bells Motors Nissan Sentra of John Craig with the Mechanical Cooling class B VW Jetta of Stuart Gatland settling for a good third. The Payne and Schietekat class A VW Golf of Jacques Phyfer taking fourth with the SAC / BP class C VW Golf GTi of Wanie Phillips in fifth place. Jason Thornton taking sixth in his class C Libtech Opel Astra.
Second place in class B went to series sponsor, Pieter van der Poel, in his ASA Auto Spares Opel Kadett with the 2001 WP champion, Gary Manwaring, third in his Superior Air Brakes/ Area 51 Opel Astra. Bennie Lodewyk taking a rather lacklustre fourth in class with the normally very quick KSD VW Golf Chico. Andre Vermaak took fifth in class with a new engine fitted in the black VW Golf and sixth spot was claimed by Mervin Gibbons in the big Nissan Skyline GTX.
Greg Walker took third in class C with his Exillis VW Golf and fourth to Dirk Kruger in the rapid 130 Toyota Corolla. Marius Weber placed his neatly built Ford Fiesta fifth in class with the big Exclusive Beds Leyland Rover SDX of Jacques Arndt sixth. Barry Williams won class D in his former TOCA Nissan Primera and he was followed home by the Nissan Sentra of Dave Beecroft and the VW Polo Classic of Clifford George. Nick van rensburg won class E in the Zebra VW Golf of his wife Reinette and he was followed home by the Ford Escort MkI of Adriaan Mossop and the Liquor World Opel Astra of Gerard Clement. Anton Jacobs won class F in his Big 6 Cortina with Ley Fielding second in his Escort MkII. Best of the new combinations were Nieyaas Modack in the ex-Danie van Niekerk BMW 325iS.
Heat two nearly became a cruise for John Craig as Greig Edwards managed to outbrake himself into Cell C, but someone else managed to plant himself in the scenery and the race was red flagged. John then enjoyed the close company of the Golf driver for a shortened six laps with Stuart Gatland taking another third. Dave Becroft suddenly popped into fourth place overall with the VW jetta of John Peiser moving up to fifth spot and Jason Thornton taking sixth.
Overall the positions per class were :
A John Craig from Greig Edwards and Jacques Phyfer
B Stuart Gatland from Gary Manwaring,Bennie Lodewyk and Pieter van der Poel
C Jason Thornton from Greg Walker, John Peiser, Dirk Kruger, Freddy Webb and Jacques Arndt
D Dave Beecroft from Barry Williams, Clifford George, Derek Kleinhans and Ernest Leite
E Nick van Rensburg from Adriaan Mossop, Gerard Clement and Claude Williams
F Anton Jacobs from Ernest Stier and Ley Fielding
X Francis Murray from Nieyaas Modack and Marius Smal
Suzuki South Motorcycles A/B/C/X
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Sieg Hail to you to! Martin van Staaden
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Dino de Wet came out guns ablza in heat one , winning comfortably from Uwe Scmidt and Martin van Staaden. The Monza Group Yamaha R6 600 never under any threat from the GSXR 600 of a much improved Schmidt or the normally very impressive Yamaha of van Staaden. Malcolm Rapson placed his GSXR 750 fourth and he was fllowed home by the GSXR 600 of Greg Turner and the ZX6R of Marius Nel.
Heat two saw defending WP Champ, Robert Cragg, sprint into the distance aboard his Cell C GSXR 600 Suzuki with Dino de Wet looking very tame in second spot some 30 sec adrift. Uwe Scmidt again impressed with third and Martin van Staaden fourth. Fifth spot taken by Stretch Henrick on his Eurobike RSV with Marius Nel sixth.
What was unique was to actually see the riders racing in hail ! Not the best day for motorcycle racing and it showed as this was not their normal action packed style of racing.
Warwick Supercars
Heat one was called off completely when eight cars ploughed into the scenery in Sabat sweep. Deon Joubert never got to Sabat as his car was pitched sideways on the straight heading towards the corner and he lifted high onto two wheels before collecting the wall . Hermann Mahnke exited Shell sweep with the intention of pitting as he felt conditions were too dangerous and confirmed his thoughts by attacking the already stricken Joubert car.
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Richard Schreuder spins in the kink
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I have seen Richard Schreuder race more times than I care to remember and I have witnessed some of his most spectacular prangs but never have I seen spin more! Mark Eliasov is sponsored by the Jurie Swart Bakkie Centre and he would gladly have accepted a Bakkie as his mode of transport after having enjoyed a big spin on the main straight during practice. Looking at the amount of new front ends on the cars when they eventually started their second and only heat very few escaped damage in the wet.
Wally Dolinschek continued to drill the field in his Makita entry with Deon Joubert clinging onto second place for Cell C. Marcel Angel cliamed third in the Autohaus Angel entry with defending champion, Richard Schreuder fourth and the Autopro entry of Neil Hawkins fifth. Newcomer to the Supercar field, Danie van Niekerk, managing a respectable sixth spot in what cannot rate as a vintage Supercar event.
Kosie Swanepoel the big loser when his Mikes Motors entry picked up a rivet in the left front wheel, dropping from a potential second overall.
Patrick Vermaak
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