Summarize

A blustery East London Grand Prix Circuit greeted competitors for the fourth round of the 2018 Extreme Festival national championship motor racing roadshow, where race fans were treated to a great day’s motorsport that delivered a blend of domination and close racing across the board.

Simon Moss and Michael Stephen made it an all Petronas Audi front row ahead of Gennaro Bonafede’s Sasol BMW on the Sasol GTC starting grid in spite of Moss suffering a scary spin through the high speed Potters Pass bend shortly after securing pole position to give his team some work to do overnight. 

Bonafede held Stephen off to win the opening race by all of three-tenths of a second, with BMW privateers Michael van Rooyen (RSC) and Johan Fourie (EPS Couriers) keeping a watching brief ahead of Robert Wolk (Sasol BMW), Moss and Daniel Rowe (VW Jetta) , who ended fourth before incurring a 30 second penalty to drop to seventh. Fourie then made the best of the reverse grid second race to score a well-earned win following a dreadful streak of ill luck, ahead of Wolk, Stephen and Bonafede. The Volkswagens of Rowe and Mathew Hodges were next up from an out of brakes van Rooyen and Moss.

Keagan Masters put his VW Motorsport Golf GTI on pole for Sasol GTC2 race ahead of on-form rookie Devin Robertson’s Champion Mini and Charl Smalberger, whose Sabretech Golf was sent to the back of the grid due to a turbo overboost. Robertson then overcame Masters to claim his maiden GTC2 win in race 1 ahead of Trevor Bland’s Universal Golf, Brad Liebenberg’s Ferodo Mini and a resurgent Smalberger. Masters kept his win meeting record intact with a reverse race 2 win over Robertson, Adrian Wood’s Kyocera Golf, Bland, Liebenberg and Dayne Angel’s Honda. 

Rookie Keegan Campos (Campos Transport) continued his impressive run to qualify fastest for the Engen Polo Cup ahead of VW driver Jonathan Mogotsi and Clinton Bezuidenhout (Glyco), Jeffrey Kruger (Universal), Altan Bouw (Champion) and Tasmin Pepper (Electric Life) before Mogotsi topped the superpole shootout from Kruger, Bezuidenhout, Pepper, Campos and Bouw. Mogotsi then took the first race win by a second from Masters winner Pepper, Bezuidenhout, Keegan Campos, Kruger and  Jason Campos (Turn 1) before Mogotsi made it a double over Masters winner Jason Campos, Bezuidenhout, Daniel Duminy (SMD), Shaun La Reserve (Alpine) and Kruger.

Form man Nicholas van Weely (Magnificent Paints) took the Investchem Formula 1600 pole position ahead of Scott Temple (Serengeti Golf Estate) and Alex Gillespie (ERP Trucking), while Ian Schofield (Investchem ) topped Class B. Van Weely went on to hold Temple, title contender Stuart White (Fantastic Racing) and Alex Gillespie (ERP Trucking) off in the same order in both heats, with Class B winner Ian Schofield next up in race 1, Joshua Dolinschek (Makita) next up in race1, while Liam Pienaar (Phoenix Jewellers) took fifth from Andrew Schofield (Investchem) and Ian Scofield took Class B again in the second race.

In two-wheeled action, Jason Lamb upset the Red Square Kawasaki ZX10 Masters applecart when he dominated the first race ahead of regular frontrunners Graeme van Breda and Sven Grune, with B winner Jaco Gous next up ahead of the versatile Jade Gutzeit, Gareth Bezuidenhout and Johan le Roux. Status quo was restored in race 2 as van Breda and Grune were back to normal duty in first and second ahead of Gutzeit, Gous, de Vos and Bezuidenhout after Lamb retired.

The monster Supercars brought V8 thunder to East London as Benjamin Morgenrood raced his Mustang to the race 1 win over the Jaguars of Mackie Adlem and Franco di Matteo, Terry Wilford’s Falcon, Auke Compaan (Jaguar) and Larry Wilford (Mustang). Adlem then struck V8 gold in race 2 ahead of Terry and Larry Wilford, Morgenrood, Steve Herbst (Corvette) and Schalk Compaan (Falcon).

The Zwartkops Car Care Clinic 111 Sports and Saloons enjoyed their annual away race in East London, where Wouter Roos romped to victory for the day aboard his Golf ahead of veteran George Bezuidenhout (Primera), Paul Saayman (VW Caddy) and Ventie-Anne Joubert’s Ballade. Mark Harvey (Porsche) took Class B from Danie Deysel (Honda) and Mark Ellis (Porsche) and Louis Scholtz (Honda) won Class C from Gawie Marais (Polo) and Chris Smit (Porsche). Overall winner Roos’ partner Melanie Spurr (Polo) made it a family affair to take Class D from Mario Hattingh and Mark Gregory’s VW. 

Willie Hepburn made the trip to East London to thrill the local fans with his familiar Sabat Opel Rekord V8 in the hometown Border Saloon Car race, rumbling to an easy race 1 win over Shannon Barun (Class B Mazda RX8), Simon Thesen (Class D BMW) and Thys Geyser (Class C Golf) while Jacques Petzer took Class E in his Polo. Willie made it a double in race 2 ahead of Thesen, Geyser, Chris Farley’s Class C BMW, Dean Ball and Bruce Butler (Nardini), while Petzer took Class E again.

The Extreme Festival heads to Port Elizabeth next, where the freshly resurfaced Aldo Scribante Racetrack should prove a fresh challenge come Saturday 14 July.