"Fünf Mark die Woche musst Du sparen, willst Du im eigenen Wagen fahren"
author: Leon Botha
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Fünf Mark die Woche.......
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I am sure that Hitler who basically inspired the likes of Ferdinand Porsche and Hans Ledwinka (not Andre van der Watt as is popularly believed) to design and built the Volkswagen Käfer or Beetle if you would like to stay out of trouble, would not have believed his eyes if he saw what one of the cousins of this original “five Mark per week” car did in the hands of Hergen Fekken this weekend, during the Toyota Dealer Rally in Gauteng.
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All pics by Nico Swartz for Rallystar
Hergen Fekken and Pierre Arries - a dream season!
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Don’t misunderstand me – there were nothing, except maybe a wrong-slot here and a misfire there, lacking in the performances in the other drivers cars – especially not in the Jon Williams car, in which they gave a show that he and dad Doug, will remember as a high in their careers together! I am glad that RallyStar could be a part of this memory they will have and that it was here that Jon showed the first signs of moving into that evading bracket where men are separated from boys.
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Jan Habig and Douglas Judd
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There was also nothing wrong with the performance of Johnny Gemmell who had a rather lonely fight after Mark Cronje as well as Jean-Pierre Damseaux fell out. This event was one of those typical voodoo specials were everyone else does well, except the sponsor of the event, which off course always turns it into an organisers nightmare, no matter how hard you pray for them to win!
Jean-Pierre Damseaux started off well, winning the first stage by 4 seconds from Jan Habig while Hergen Fekken and Mark Cronje tied in third spot, eight seconds behind Habig.
Enzo Kuun and Jon Williams tied for fifth, while Charl Wilken and Johnny Gemmell shared seventh!
Although running around trying to get a few problems out of the way, making forced changes to route and Route Notes, driving around with a farmer or two to determine where lettuce are not too big to handle the dust, I settled in for a rally that would determine a few things – one being who is fastest in the two top classes - S2000 and production cars?
After Stage One it looked very much like Jean-Pierre Damseaux and Charl Wilken?
Jean-Pierre has the problem that every Tom, Dick and second cousin of Harry say that “he is only fast in the Cape!” – which of course is absolute bullshit as he proved all year long. When that car that without doubt originates from Benin, Haiti the origin of Vodoun or Voodoo as Hollywood made us say the word, lasted through a stage without trouble, he posted better than competitive times.
Mohammed Moosa fell prey to the very first “!Jmp" of the event when his Auris nose-dived slightly and the radiator broke! He did the wise thing however to run the car for a number more stages after fixing it, to get some valuable testing done and suspension set ups sorted out. A pity – but still another lesson learned by the very talented young man.
Erik de Jager and Robbie Coetzee are indicated, as “out” in stage 1 but that is not true. Erik could not make it to the start as he was not well and decided to run only the Saturday stages.
Erik Storbeck and Etienne Malherbe did not make it through stage one.
In SS2 Enzo opened up the taps but only managed to get a drop out of it before Johnny Gemmell stuck his head past the end of stage post a second later and Hergen popped through a second after him! It took Habig three more seconds to blast out of the stage, while Jon Williams took two longer.
Mark Cronje lost 13 (voodoo) minutes in the stage and that put an end to any hope he had to do well on the last rally of the season and the weight to do well for Toyota tilted full scale onto Johnny Gemmell who, I have a feeling, was a bit frustrated through the year as he had to cover up instead of being able to attack with all the talent he has got? That however is my personal feeling and after all what the hell do I know?
In Production cars we got a taste of the possible dice that may come after Charl won the stage but “only” managed to take three seconds off Heinrich Lategan.
Chris de Wit and Dean Redelinghuys had a nightmare stage as well and lost in the region of 11 minutes.
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Chris de Wit and Dean Redelinghuys - A7 Champions
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The Volkswagen 1-2-3 formation for the rally was starting to take shape while the Toyota onslaught seemed to be spiking in all directions?
Habig led Fekken by 4 and he in turn was 5 ahead of Kuun. Jean-Pierre Damseaux lost time but at least was still fourth while the Toyota sounded like I did in PE after being diagnosed as dead while making the notes for the VW rally. What the hell???
In SS3 Cronje tried to make up for the boob in SS2 and almost managed to pull off a stage win as reward, but by now the Volkswagens were starting to yo-yo for the top spot, as Fekken took the stage win by eight seconds, which placed him in the overall lead by four from Habig.
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Hein Lategan and Johan vd Merwe - excellent season
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In the production class Lategan came to the fore with a great effort to post fourth fastest through the stage and take 8 seconds back from PMC’s Wilken, but the latter still led by a rather comfortable 24 seconds.
Jean-Pierre Damseaux sadly retired his car and half the fun the fans expected disappeared from the event.
In Class A7 PMC’s Evan Hutchinson and Greg Gericke led from fellow club members Theuns Joubert and Hennie Botes, while yet another PMC team – that of Nico Higgs and Gert Nienaber covered the third spot! Schalk Burger and Armand du Toit dropped 8 spots overall after a bad stage.
After this stage Etienne Lourens & Elvene Coetzee led PMC’s Chase Atwell and Dave Milner in N3, while Dave Compton and Paul Leslie had A5 covered.
Lood de Clerq and Dewald Hattingh led by the proverbial mile in S20.
Gemmell threw all he could at Stage 4 and beat Fekken by 3 seconds to the post. Charl Wilken posted third fastest time and opened the gap between him and Lategan by a further 27 seconds!
Cronje managed 4th while Kuun had to be satisfied with 5th, which he shared with Williams. Jan Habig missed this one by a massive 23 seconds, while Lategan posted 8th fastest. Van Niekerk was in 9th and Du Plessis filled tenth spot.
Burger made up for the problem in SS3 by winning A7 in SS4.
Michael Otto and Tommy du Toit retired their Toyota but would make a comeback on Saturday to run under Super Rally rules.
Vusi Mabanga and Shaun Visser as well as David Lehman and Fernando van Rensburg retired as well.
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All pics by Nico Swartz for Rallystar
Michael Otto & Tommy du Toit
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Hergen kept the lead after SS4 while Gemmell moved up 2 spots into 2nd overall. The gap between him and Fekken was 18 seconds.
Enzo remained in third spot, while Habig moved down two positions into 4th. Williams was steady in 5th, Wilken held onto 6th, van Niekerk was 7th, Lategan 8th, du Plessis almost a minute behind him in 9th, while Lola and Megan completed the Top 10.
Stage 5 went to Fekken again while Gemmell attacked relentlessly to take second again. An interesting new development took place in third spot however when young Jon Williams popped out of the 'stage cake' to surprise the rest of the more experienced gang. We all sat up and waited to see if this was a flash in the pan?
Fekken was now 24 seconds ahead of Gemmell overall, while Habig and Williams now shared 3rd spot! This time it was Enzo’s turn to drop two positions and he now held onto 5th!
Production car leaders Charl Wilken and Greg Godrich needed 12 seconds to reel in the second S2000 driven by Kuun as they had van Niekerk under control. Lategan who was second in N4 needed to bridge the Grand Canyon of time to make up the 54 second deficit to repeat what he managed to do in the Cape.
Mark Cronje and Robert Paisley; Etienne Lourens and Elvene Coetzee and Pieter Strydom and Kruger all withdrew.
Habig started the comeback fight in SS6 but managed to beat Gemmell by a mere second.
Now, not so flash in the pan anymore, Jon Williams again claimed 3rd, this time beating Fekken in the process. While Wilken posted another N4 as well as S2000 beating time – simply to make a point?
It was now sadly time for Nico Higgs and Gert Nienaber to pack their goodies in a bag and leave for home.
The only change in the Top10 was when Lategan dropped down to ninth while Lola remained in 10th.
Habig took SS7 as well, but now Jon Williams pushed into second place for the stage. Gemmell was third fastest through the stage, followed by Lategan who was also the fastest N4 the first time through this specific stage.
The Top10 stayed unchanged after SS7.
The leaderboard at the end of day one looked like this:
Fekken led Gemmell by one single second with Habig only 14 adrift. Williams needed 20, while Kuun was 43 short of the leader.
Charl Wilken and Greg Godrich had N4 under control, while A7 was back in the hands of Schalk Burger.
A6, at the end of day one, belonged to Stevan Wilken while the young Chase Attwell led in N3.
Dave Compton was ahead in A5, while Lood de Clerq controlled S20. Riaan Erasmus, as sole class entrant, was still running in N2.
On Saturday morning the rally circus moved to the Rallystar Motorsport Academy where it looked like a fanfare! The place was covered by hundreds of Toyota banners and one has to say that this was by far the best branding operation on any rally this year.
There were a large number of eager spectators waiting for the cars to arrive for the first Super Special. Meanwhile the teams had to take care of Stage 8 and I had to try and get the forced changes we had to make to the stages to them before the teams had to tackle Stage 10.
Hergen blitzed through SS8 in a time of 10m14s trying to open his slender lead, but he need not have worried as his main rival at that stage of the game, Gemmell, struck electrical problems and lost almost 1½ minute in the process.
Hergen’s position was therefore unchanged at the top, but Habig, Kuun and Wilken moved up one each as Gemmell dropped four spots down the leaderboard. The Top10 remained unchanged further down.
Morne Janse van Rensburg/Mark Irvine and Steve Mearns/Ciaran Nunan dropped out, while Mohammed Moosa and also Erik de Jager/Robbie Coetzee kicked off their Super Rally attempt.
Stage 9 – the Super Special saw the end of a super effort from Stevan Wilken and Llewellyn Fourie who led the A6 class by a light year or five minutes, if you wish, to split hair. Stevan suffered under continuous pressure from Tony Ball this year, after the latter insisted on trying to claim a win, after a definite loss during the VW rally - but in the end Stevan came out on top – finish or not and if anyone wants to catch this talented young man in future he will need more that a shit stirring spoon.
Stevan will – and you can put your money on that – become one of the forces to be reckoned with in future and vindictive technical assaults will not be good enough to stop him in his march to the top.
Luckily Hergen did what he had to do to ensure that Ball’s (I suspect well supported and probably funded attack) also came to zilch – as was predicted by those who knew. Personally I really don’t care if these attacks were founded or not – all I say is that Ball had no case with Fekken and he truly showed what he was made off (or not made off?) when he used technicalities to try and force a loss into a win in the case of Wilken.
The time has arrived for some people to call it a day or grow up realising that they actually never made the grade and at least put positive experience back into the sport! I can actually not believe that this case – as far as I know – is still on the go!
I trust that MSA will this time use every bit of power to put an end to this bloody fiasco!
Someone once said to me that the day Ball leaves his firearm at home – Kwazulu-Natal’s population are going to give him a hiding – I then thought it was a bit over the top – but I think one can now add the Eastern Cape and half of Gauteng as well. Shows you motorsport is not as popular as you would think – if he was Tony Watson everyone would have wanted to kick his ass.
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All pics by Nico Swartz for Rallystar
Johnny Gemmell and Peter Marsh - plenty of promise for 2009!
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Meanwhile back at RallyStar everyone (except me who was still limping around) waited for the Super Special to start.
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Atmosphere
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It is amazing how this spectacle can cause an adrenaline-rush under the crowd! They cheer for every car – can not wait to see who wins the fight and in general they do have a magnificent time. I have never before got so many compliments about the setup, the atmosphere and the facility in general.
Fekken could this time not out manoeuvre Kuun and Habig as they both posted a stage winning time of 1m30s while he was a second slower!
The “surprise” however came from Charl Wilken who posted the same time as Hergen. This would be Charl’s first step to actually win the second day of the rally – OVERALL!
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Charl Wilken and Greg Godrich Production Champions
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Needless to say – the Top10 and for that matter almost every other position remained the same except Adriaan Karth and Menno Havelaar who moved up two spots.
SS10 was the first of the “forced” changed stages where the organisers had to re-route to adapt to problems that resulted from the total lack of rain. A number of teams did not realise how close the road going down was from the “new” route going up and overshot at the end of the run. I could maybe have added a note to state that the one was almost on top of the other – but believe me the pressure I was under to get everything in line can be used as a valid excuse! (I hope?)
Once again the spectators, cars, competitors, PA Van and my poor house on the farm were covered in dust! The surfaces were slippery, dry and sort off unforgiving – changing from hard to slippery and sandy to grassy!
Johnny Gemmell threw everything at every millimetre of the stage to win by a margin of two seconds from Hergen Fekken who incredibly did not slow down at all – even after the direct pressure of Gemmell disappeared after stage 8.
Charl posted shared second fastest while young Jon Williams kept them all under pressure from 4th fastest spot. Habig had a fair stage, but Enzo had a bummer, losing 14 seconds.
Lood de Clerq and Dewald Hattingh popped into the Top10 jacuzzi to feel what it is like by posting 8th fastest time, beating at least three N4’s into submission.
Once again the Top10 remained unchanged, just outside the Top10 front door Theuns Joubert and Hennie Botes moved up to the “welcome matt” after Schalk Burger dropped three spots.
Adrian Karth and Menno Havelaar moved into 12th followed by Christo and Rene Coetzee who were doing very well taking their lack of national experience into account.
Chase Attwell and Dave Milner dropped out with drive shaft problems.
Charl Wilken and Greg Godrich won the rather difficult and also slightly changed SS11 even with Gemmell who were second on a definite charge. Wilken stapled a few more pair of lips of those extremely knowledgeable experts who claimed to be “on his pace” without really seeing through his game plan. Not a difficult one – but maybe just in case some people are still slightly in the dark – you build up points, finish rallies and when you have enough points for the championship you demonstrate your talent. If he needed this last event to make some more championship points – I guarantee you he would not have been blasting the paint off the opposition. Pity that some of those who actually had nothing to loose all year long could not step up their pace to get near the white and blue flash, while demonstrating what the car can do.
The news that Charl and his beautiful wife, Natasha, are expecting their first child also broke about the same time as he burst through the curtain of doubt set there by some, in the Konica Minolta Sasol backed car.
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Enzo Kuun and Guy Hodgson
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Third fastest through the stage was Enzo Kuun while the “never say die” Heinrich Lategan posted fourth quickest in the Afrox Subaru.
This stage claimed the Stassen brothers as well as Andre Cleenwerck and Des de Fortier, the latter after a bit of a “quiet” rally?
Jan Habig and Douglas Judd “wrong slotted” in this stage at a rather difficult junction where the arrows were knocked down which of course put paid to any championship aspiration they may have had. This did not matter too much to the fans as they have especially during the latter part of this year once again supplied excellent, entertaining and exciting driving. I always thought that this type of exhibit sells cars and is actually more important than even to finish rallies – but then no matter what you are promised or believe – when push comes to shove – and points achieved can be used as an excuse – you suffer the consequences! Once again proving Wilken did the right thing.
The rally now had a new leader as Fekken and Arries had their fair share of suspension problems in SS11.
Jon and Doug Williams actually led a national championship event for the first time in their careers! This must have been one hell of a moment – no matter how short lived!
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Pic by Nico Swartz for Rallystar
Jon and Doug Williams
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Problem was however that Hergen was only 2 seconds behind them while Wilken trailed by a mere 8 and Kuun also needed only 3 to grab Wilken’s third overall spot. Gemmell’s unrelenting attack moved him up into 5th – again within striking distance if anyone ahead of him dared blink an eye twice during a stage.
This was when I sinned asking for a bit of help to ensure at least one podium finish for Toyota – but I think because I could not decide who had to sacrifice his place there – my little prayer was not really taken seriously.
The Verlaque sisters, Lola and Megan also came off age during this event and they put up a superb as well as consistent show staying in the Top10 since early days already.
In A7 Theuns Joubert and Hennie Botes still led from Karth and Havelaar while Burger slid down the scale with a number of problems.
Ettiene Du Toit and Patrick Vermaak led in N3 not realising that one silly little oversight was going to sink them after they prepared their winning speech. Kosta Koumantarakis and Lou Zietsman were in second spot while Craig Trott and Tony Ball led comfortably in A6 after the demise of Stevan Wilken.
A5 still belonged to Dave Compton and Paul Leslie in the Toyota while the relentless team of Conradie and Rabe were still chasing like hell!
Riaan and Hester Erasmus were still doing well and leading N2, while Lood de Clerq and Dewald Hattingh were still in charge of S20.
In stage 12 no one dropped out, Hergen did enough to take Jon’s newly discovered joy of leading, away from him – I can’t understand why Hergen did not allow the Williams clan to enjoy the moment for at least another stage? Shame man – didn’t you see those shiny eyes and sparkling smiles?
Fact was that Wilken now shared second overall with Williams while Kuun was lurking only 3 seconds behind them waiting to dive in for the kill!
A little further down Burger moved up two, while Murray Lloyd dropped down two. Visagie and Swan moved up one to the detriment of the Erasmus couple.
Gemmell followed his SS12 win by another in 13.
Predictably Kuun moved into second spot as Wilken’s car developed a misfire. Williams now had to cling to his podium spot as Wilken only needed 4 seconds to take it away.
Gemmell was only 21 short for another step forward.
Lower down Dave Compton moved past the more powerful A6 car of Trott and Ball, while Chris de Wit and Dean Redelinghuys who had a miserable rally moved past Erasmus.
SS14 also went into Johnny’s pocket when he beat Fekken by 3 and Kuun and Wilken who shared 3rd spot, by 7.
The stage claimed Lategan and van der Merwe, as well as Christo and Rene Coetzee after both teams gave good performances.
The Top7 stayed the same with only three seconds separating Wilken and Williams for the final podium position, while Theuns Joubert now moved into the Top10 and Lola moved up into 9th!
SS15 – Gemmell again! Kuun and Williams had a good one sharing second, while Hergen posted 4th fastest and Wilken 5th albeit only a second each slower.
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Dave Compton and Paul Leslie - A5
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The stage casualties were Dave Compton and Paul Leslie after a superb performance right through, and also the team of Mohammed Hassim and Pierre Jordaan.
Although they finished the stage Theuns Joubert and Hennie Botes blew the engine of the Golf in SS15 after leading A7 from 10th overall position - a sad end to a valiant effort.
Charl posted his second stage win of the day and also could lay claim to winning the second day of the event overall – but he needed three seconds to tie with Jon Williams. This he did not get in the end and he will note in his scrapbook that he needed the one second he lost somewhere during the day!
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Theuns Joubert & Hennie Botes
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Hergen and Pierre however are the new National Champions (three wheels and Ball and all) and deservedly so! I have (despite the fact that Hergen is a bit of a splint in the eye of my beloved PMC or a pain in the ass as far as that goes) I have rooted for this exciting and extremely talented team for a long time. They grabbed the opportunity and made more of it than most other teams would or could.
There was no real strategy except in the Cape when they had to make very sure of points and hated every moment of it.
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A picture by Motorpics.co.za
Clash of colours
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I also have a funny feeling that this will not be the last championship to be written behind their names and it will be sad if this team split up – which will especially and probably be due to their individual talent.
Well done to Toyota for winning the manufacturers award for the millionth time or somewhere in that region – but even more so for their commitment and support to the privateers and sponsorship of what can become the most popular spectator rally in South Africa.
To all the Class Champion drivers and navigators – well done!
To those who did not make it or had a horrible year – better luck next time we know you will not give up!
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A picture by Motorpics.co.za
Craig Trott and Tony Ball - A6 champions
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The final results for this event can be found in the analysis and summary.
Class S2000 and overall Champions Hergen Fekken and Pierre Arries
Class N4 and Production car Champions: Charl Wilken and Greg Godrich.
Class A7 Driver’s Championship – Chris de Wit
Class A7 Co-Driver’s Championship – Dean Redelinghuys
Class A6 Driver’s Championship – Craig Trott
Class A6 Co-Driver’s Championship – Tony Ball
Class A5 Champion Driver - Andre Cleenwerck
Class A5 Champion Navigator - Des de Fortier
Class N3 Driver’s Championship – Rodney Visagie
Class N3 Co-Driver’s Championship – Carolyn Swan
Class N2 Driver’s Championship – Riaan Erasmus
Class N2 Co-Driver’s Championship – Hester Erasmus
Thank you to all of you who participated and a special thanks to all those who did anything to ensure the success of this event!
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Comments written by other visitors
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