Casino Mykonos Challenge - a summary of the 2005 season
author: Patrick Vermaak
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Mike Nathan (Overall and Class B winner) with Wayne Gibson
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Starting on 14 May 2005 with the 14th Hyperformance Club Mykonos Resort and Casino Langebaan Gymkhana 86 teams contested eight classes, opening their scoring towards the Casino Mykonos Challenge. Then came the 15th edition of the Hyperformance Club Mykonos Gymkhana on 13 August 2005 and no less than 99 teams actually started the event. Unfortunately only 34 teams qualified for points as the most important rule stipulates that in order to score points towards the Casino Challenge a driver is expected to enter all three events in the same car and class.
Going into the final round three drivers were level pegged in first place and with no less than 100 teams competing in the 16th Hyperformance Club Mykonos Gymkhana on 5 November 2005 the action went down to the line.
Incredibly it was Mike Nathan that pulled off yet another victory in what has become his most successful season in motorsport. Compared to his achievements as a BMX rider winning the SA and WP Gp N2 rally championships in the AWI Toyota Corolla RXi 1600 saw him on top of the world. Already the most successful driver at Club Mykonos he became the first driver to take a hattrick of victories and his fourth overall victory when he pulled an incredible time out of the bag during his final run to put the Dals Auto Panel class B Mazda Rustler 1700 on top of the scoresheet.
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Eugene Bower (Class C winner and second overall) with Jo-Anne Groenewald
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Finishing on the same points but down on overall positions it was Eugene Bower who surprised most by putting his “Black Ice” Bower Velddienste / Berns Panelshop class C Toyota Conquest RSi 1600 second overall. Eugene started off running at the back of the field in gymkhana events and now the popular driver from Knysna is the top dog in class C. If he was surprised, imagine how Gary Segers felt when he discovered that he was third overall in his Duncan Jepthas prepared class D VW Golf Citi 1600.
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Class A winner André Dreyer with navigator Stoffel Bezuidenhout
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André Dreyer fourth overall in his Weskaap Bakwerke / Bosch Tech class A VW Golf GTi 2.0 16v but now really confident of being very competitive in 2006. First rear wheel drive home and winner of class E after a very consistent season was Danie Smuts in his sweet sounding Op die Hoek BMW 325i. Going into the final event Attie Groenewald seemed the most likely class D winner in his Pearleys Restaurant / Country Lodge Opel Kadett 1400 but though he gave it his best shot the Opel was simply outgunned on the day to drop back to second in class.
Seventh overall might sound disappointing to most but the performance of Brent Laurings must rate as one of the most impressive. Taking on the big guns in class A Brent have worked extremely hard to come through the ranks and is consistently mixing it at the front of the field. Third overall on 5 Nov well deserved and certainly no fluke result. Essentially there to enjoy himself Dirkie Boonstra showed that persistence can also provide results by placing the Supertrucks class E Nissan Skyline 2.8 GTX eighth overall.
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Class E went to Danie Smuts while Pieter Hugo navigated on this event
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The 2004 Casino Mykonos champion, Duncan Jepthas, moved into class B for this season and initially struggled to live with the bigger capacity cars in his M.A.I.D.to Order VW Golf 1660. Now competitive again one can expect to see this driver higher up the order in 2006. The achievements of this man really amazing as he drives with only the use of his left arm. Relatively new to the gymkhana scene, tenth overall was certainly some surprise to the established drivers and a great compliment to the efforts of Gert Hammond in his Sampla Belting class A VW Golf 2.0.
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Class F winner Gavin Grierson and David Delaney in action
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Ever improving Shaun Fairbairn placed his class C Honda Civic 1600 V Tec eleventh with the oldest car in the series, the 1976 Datsun 160U SSS class F rally car of Gavin Grierson twelfth. Ian Herbst thirteenth in his SAC / Auto Dynamic class B VW Golf GTi 1800 with the Ronat class F Nissan LDV 1400 driven by Mossel Bay Traffic Police Chief, Steph Petersen, in fourteenth spot. Paul Fox next in his maroon class B VW Golf CTi 1800 and Team Dragon chairman, Zaine Louw, sixteenth in his neat class D Nissan 1400 Sentra. Mynhardt de Jongh seventeenth in the results but first in appeal with the Berns Panelshop / Yokohama class E BMW M3. Jehan de Jongh the final scorer in his VW Golf.
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