Action has eventually arrived in South Africa!
author: Leon Botha
Action has eventually arrived in South Africa!
By that I mean real Rally Action!
Usually when you stand at the end of a stage on a National Championship Rally – your biggest concern is if the next competitor will cover you in dust when he drives up to the stop control and slam on the brakes – covering everyone unnecessary in a wave of dust and gravel.
I note that Gugu is one of the drivers who at least thinks about the marshals and he slows down long before he gets near the control area. The rest have however also improved in a way.
This is however not the big worry anymore! Now we all worry if the cars will get around the few corners we can see from a distance. Somehow the drivers seem to have picked up the pace overnight and most of the top crews are now driving at a faster rate.
You note this immediately when the leading car on the road gets the pace wrong and that driver’s rhythm stays out – mostly due to the lack of any tracks or indication of road conditions he can follow.
On day one it was Enzo’s turn to open the course and he posted 5th fastest time. Hergen was second on the road and the tracks left by Kuun made it possible for him to post fastest time.
It immediately looked like another Fekken rally – although Habig and Cronje also shared the same second with him.
If we still did not have the split second clocks we would have had three drivers sharing the top spot after the first stage, but then we also know that it would not have been the case as while we worked with hand held human reaction dependant clocks? I still maintain that many rallies were won by the wrong person in the past. The “here comes my hero” effect kicked in many times and some competitors got up to three an even more seconds advantage when the clock was hit a bit eagerly!
After Stage 1 Hergen led Habig by 0.4 of a single second while Habig has 0.2 play over Cronje in third spot.
Johnny Gemmel held fourth and Enzo posted 5th fastest time.
None of the top teams had a really bad stage one and it seemed as the “privateers” tested the water for a moment, not taking any chances that would spoil their rally.
Gemmell opened the taps in stage two and put my silly thoughts that the Polo’s were quicker than the Toyotas to rest. He came through the last corner both of them clinging to Drew’s door as they used all the road they could find! I ran to the car to fetch my crash helmet and fire suit as I could by this time in life recognise trouble when I saw it. He won the stage by almost three seconds from Habig.
It is amazing to stand watching this show and mind boggling to see these cars grip to the road!
Habig again posted 2nd fastest and it was very clear that he found the right pace immediately from the first stage and when he again posted 2nd fastest in stage 3 the rest of the field must have known that they would have to step up their worry levels slightly if they thought of ignoring Habig on this event.
Many forgot that he likes this part of the world and last year he missed a win by a mere 6 seconds from Fekken.
Talking about Hergen – he had a real shitty stage 2 when he lost a tyre early on losing 40 seconds in the process.
Japie van Niekerk lost half hour in this stage when his drive shaft pulled out ant Nicolas Ryan lost 16 minutes when the left front strut came loose.
After stage 1 Gemmel led Habig by 1.8s with Mark Cronje 3.7 in third and Enzo 7.7 behind in fourth.
Gemmell wond stage 3 and opened the gap to just over two seconds from Habig while Cronje lost another 0.4s to the early leader.
In this stage the Ford also showed signs of a threat when Rautenback posted 4th fastest time after being in the car only a short time. They had to cut any practise short when they blew an engine on Wednesday and had to fly a new one in! This they managed to do and the car seems to be running well.
Why do I get a feeling that M-sport has gone too commercial?
Stage four belonged to Enzo who decided enough was enough and he really won this one when he beat Gemmell by three seconds to the post.
On stage Five Habig closed the gap and he and Gemmell went into Caledon for the last stage of the first day head-to-head.
In the last stage of the day Habig managed to open a gap of 0.4 seconds on Johnny and he will be clearing the road today. Gemmell will be more than happy with his road and overall positions and we can all expect a hell of a rally up to the last stage today.
The results after day 1:
Habig; 2.Gemmell+0.8; 3.Cronje+7.8; 4.Kuun+14.4; 5.Rautenbach+23.7; 6.Lategan; 7.Fekken; 8.Damseaux; 9.Hutchison; 10.Rueda; 11.Joubert; 12.van Dyk; 13.du Plessis; 14.Gavin Cronje A7; 15.du Toit A7
16. Zulu; 17. de Wit; 18. Conradie A6 and 23. Haigh-Smith leading A5.
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