Summarize

Excellent racing, surprises in the Cape

The fourth round of the Wingfield Motors Power Tour woke up to wet conditions on Saturday morning to treat a surprising number of race fans to brave the conditions to a stunning day’s racing at Killarney. Then the weather cleared before it rained again to dish up unexpected results, thrills and spills.

Kosie Weyers made his intentions known by taking a dominant pole on his return to Burly Pro GTi Challenge Class A action in his Golf 1 ahead of title protagonists Jurie Swart  (Polo Classic) and Jano van der Westhuizen (Polo Vivo) Friday afternoon, while Eden Thompson (Golf 1 GTi) took the Class B pole from young Divan Lazarus (Jetta) and Gideon Serfontein (Golf 2) with Class C pole man Giordano Lupini next up ahead of Brat Pack rivals Brett Roach and Marco Busi’s similar Golf 1 GTis. 

But Weyers hit gearbox issues, Swart suffered a broken hub and a big off and van der Westhuizen had a steering wheel break to allow Polo Cup trio Colin Nicholas Meder, Paulus Franken and Francois van Tonder to fill the race 1 podium, while Thompson led Serfontein and Lazarus home in Class B. Lupini was eliminated in a bizarre warm-up lap incident, leaving Marco Busi and Brett Roach to a furious battle in front of Class C, before Dario Busi became involved to follow his brother home ahead of Roach.  

Rain started to fall immediately before race 2, with the first attempt to start red flagged after the luckless Chris Swart rolled his C Golf. Van der Westhuizen led the restart from lights to flag over Franken, Meder and van Tonder with Class B winner Thompson next up from a recovering Umpie Swart and Class C winner Dario Busi, after Giordano Lupini ran out of laps to catch his old karting rival following a storming come from behind run to second ahead of Brett Roach.

On two wheels, Brandon Haupt (Yamaha) slipped and slid to RST Suzuki South Superbikes pole position Saturday morning over Bernard Haupt (Yamaha) and David McFadden (Kawasaki) before Bernard led Brandon Haupt to race 1 victory over a superb ride by Hayden Jonas to third aboard a 600cc Yamaha with McFadden fourth on a damp track. Gerrit Visser was fourth ahead of second 600 home, Gareth Ghelig. Bernard Haupt made it a double over Brandon Haupt in race 2 ahead of Trevor Westman (Kawasaki) and Gerrit Visser, with Jonas next up on the first 600 from Brandon Staffen and Jared Schultz.

Back on four wheels, Dee-Jay Booysen strolled to Formula Libre single seaters pole position aboard his Dico-Toyota ahead of a most impressive Byron Mitchell’s Formula Vee and Sean le Riche in Formula Renault in a damp qualifying, but it was raining good and proper by the first race to allow Mitchell to pull off a stunning giant-killing win over Booysen and Cyril Somerville’s Formula Vee, with Graham Knight’s Ray next up from the Vees of Thomas van der Merwe Sean le Riche and Haydn Ellwood. Booysen romped to a dry second race win over le Riche, Mitchell, Somerville, van der Merwe, Knight and brother snd sister Delano and Isabelle Fowler’s Vees.

It was already raining for Mikes Place Clubmans qualifying, which saw Shane du Toit slithering to pole position in a VW Golf 1-2-3 over Brennon Green and Clint Rennard. The track was still wet for race 1 as du Toit led Green and Rennard home with Basie Burger and Michael le Sueur next up, while Paul Munnik took Class B and Damien Lopez (Polo Classic) led Anton Jacobs and Ian Long (Subaru) home in super-competitive Class D, while Golf trio George Neethling won Class C, Ruan van der Walt Class X and Brendan Moore Class E and Gary Manwaring’s BMW took Class F.

Green took one back over du Toit in a dry second race with Rennard third from Burger and le Sueur, while Ernest Roos (BMW) beat Neethling in Class C, but Damien Lopez did the Class D double over Willie Swart (Golf) and JP Share (BMW) to move into the overall championship lead. Ruan van der Walt took Class X honours ahead of Class E winner Devin Camons and Class F double-winner Manwaring.

Fabio Tafani took an easy V8 Masters pole position over Mark Ridgway and Sean Moore and drove off to a leisurely if drenched race 1 win that saw multiple SA rally champion Enzo Kuun revelling in the conditions en route to second ahead of Moore, Charles Arton, Ridgway and Brian Evans, while Fanie Theron took Silver class honours. Tafani cruised to the race 2 win as well ahead of Moore, Kuun, Evans and Silver winner Rob Warrington.
 
Ryan McCarthy took Makita Supercars pole position ahead of Jarryd Evans and Andrew Moffitt, but the wet conditions brought some excitement as Clubmans refugee Danie van Niekerk chased McCarthy, Evans and Glen Phillips home, with Silver trio Martin Bensch, Shane Smith and George Williams in a fight to the line. Evans took a close second race win over Phillips and McCarthy as van Niekerk once again put one over the Silver lads with Williams leading Bensch and Brian Fourie home.

The weather also turned the Pirelli Sports and GT grid on its head as Class B driver Gary Kieswetter put his Porsche on pole position over Class C man Ryan Buda’s Porsche, Andre Bezuidenhout’s Class A Juno and Dawie Joubert’s Lotus Honda. Kieswetter and Buda made it stick to lead Bezuidenhout, Steve Humble (Mallock and the Porsches of Maarten Prins and Cyril Ginsburg in wet race 1, but status quo was returned in race 2 as Bezuidenhout sped to victory over Humble Kieswetter, Buda, Prins, and Ginsburg.

The Cape Classics and Shatterfix Fine Cars shared the wet track as Franco Donadio slithered to a Ford Escort first race 1-2 over Class B winner Wayne Lotter and Dave Alhadeff’s Alfa Romeo GTA, with Trevor Hutchings’s Scirocco leading Piet Matthee’s Porsche 944 and Herman de Kock (Escort) home in Class C. Alhadeff got between Donadio and Lotter in the dry second race, while Lorens Bester made it a 944 1-2 over Matthee and Hutchings in Class C. Tony Lindeque (Jetta) took the first Shatterfix race from Maurizio Toscano (Passat), James Matthee (BMW 535), Robert Toscano (Mazda MX5), Elton Hurst (Skyline) and Niel Mouton (Alfa Giulia), while Hurst took race 2 from Arnold Lambert (jetta), Lindeque, Robert and Maurizio Toscano and Mouton.

Two more bike races rounded off the day with Byron Evans (Yamaha) taking and easy, wet opening RST Trac Mac Classics and Clubmans win over Willem Binedell (Suzuki), the Ducatis of Chris Williams and Garth Livingstone and Honda riders Wayne Arendse and Giovanni Massa. Danie Maritz was back out front aboard his classic Suzuki in race 2 to win over Williams, Binedell, Arendse, Massa and Livingstone.

The baby bike race saw Paul Medell cruising to a wet opening RST Trac Mac Powesport 600cc victory over Mike van Rensburg and Willem Louw in a Kawasaki 1-2-3, while lady rider Zante Otto (Yamaha) took the 300cc win from Kewyn Snyman (KTM) and Andrew Liebenberg (Honda). Medell made it a 600 double over Chris Williams (Kawasaki) and van Rensburg in the dry second heat, while Snyman beat Otto and Connor Hagan (KTM) in the 300s.

The next round of the Killarney Wingfield Motors Power Tour is on 14 July.

ENDS

Issued on behalf of Killarney International Raceway

What:Wingfield Motors Power Tour Round 4 Report
Where:Killarney International Raceway, Cape Town
When:Saturday 9 June 2018
Community:Cape Town, Western Province.

For further information please contact dave@wpmc.co.za

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