Summarize

Charlies SuperSpar Historic handicap season comes to a head

Werner Hartzenberg and his Porsche 916 and Citroen GS 1220 Club driver Rob Clark are the 2020 Charlies SuperSpar Historic Racing South Africa Pursuit champions. The unique handicap racing championship that sees cars start at a time that will theoretically see the entire field finish at the same time, came to a head at Red Star raceway over the weekend.

Despite retiring in the final race of the season, Hartzenburg had done enough to take the race car Trophy title by winning the opening heat. Clark meanwhile delivered his regular consistent performance to bring his listing and leaning Sarel van der Merwe Group 1 tribute Citroen GS 1220 Club home second overall for the day to clinch the street car Fines championship.

Hartzenberg started mid pack and ended up fifth in the opening race behind Wynand du Plessis Senior’s Porsche 944 S, Frans Venter’s Datsun 280ZX, Kola de Klerk's Nissan 300ZX s and Devon Martin's Datsun GX. Being run on handicap, drivers cannot break a minimum race time in their races on the penalty of exclusion. And break out is exactly what du Plessis, Venter, de Klerk and Martin did as they diced for the win. And that gifted the race win to Hartzenberg!

Shane Forget’s Trophy class Toyota SR5 ended up second from Fines winner Joshua de Klerk's Honda Civic, Clive Winterstein’s Trophy class 1957 Porsche 356, Clark’s second in Fines Citroen and Trophy duo Tihan van Rooyen’s Porsche 924 and Sean Hepburn in his Datsun GX 1200 Deluxe, after Henk de Klerk’s Nissan 300ZX retired.

Rob Clark once again set off first in the final ahead of Clive Winterstein and Tihan van Rooyen, with Kola de Klerk and Riaan Roux getting going last. It stayed that way until lap 7 of the 8 lap race as the field concertinaed dramatically through the final tour. Impossible as it may seem, Roux and his Trophy Class Scirocco managed to pass the entire field in that last lap and a bit, to take the win from Fines winner Frans Venter's 280ZX and Sean Hepburn's Trophy Datsun GX. 

Shane Forget ended fourth from Wynand du Plessis Senior, Tihan van Rooyen, Clive Winterstein, Rob Clark, Joshua de Klerk and Kola de Klerk. And after all those first race red cards, nobody broke out in race 2, although Devon Martin, Henk de Klerk and Werner Hartzenberg all retired. The upshot of all of that was that Shane Forget took the day over Sean Hepburn and Clive Winterstein in a Trophy Class 1-2-3 overall ahead of Fines winner Joshua de Klerk.

Second in Fines for the day was enough to ensure that Rob Clark emerged as the 2020 Charlies SuperSpar Fine class champion from Frans Venter and Wynand du Plessis Senior. And despite the disappointment of retiring from that finale, Werner Hartzenberg added a second title in two years and he drove to the Trophy championship ahead of Kola de Klerk and Riaan Roux.

It all starts again in 2021, when hopefully, the Charlies SuperSpar Historic Pursuit series will be able to return to a full season following a lockdown challenged, albeit ultimately most entertaining 2020 season...

ENDS

Issued on behalf of Historic Racing SA

What:Charlies SuperSpar Historic Pursuit Final Report
Where:Red Star Raceway, Delmas
When:Saturday 14 November 2020
Community:Gauteng Regional

For further information please contact stewart@bmautogroup.co.za

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