Summarize

South Africa’s various circuit motor racing championships are shaping up following East London’s BMSC run fifth round National Extreme Festival at the Aldo Scribante racetrack in Gqeberha on Saturday. As if to celebrate the gesture, the action was splendid across the board after the local AMSC did not hesitate to hand Scribante over to its neighbouring club for the weekend following issues with the East London circuit.

Championship leader Julian van der Watt put his Volkswagen Golf GTI on pole position in the South African Touring cars before leading Keegan Campos’ BMW 128ti and KC Ensor-Smith and Robert’s Wolk Golf GTI to a lights to flag win. Wolk was later placed behind Michael van Rooyen and Jason Coetzee home for his part in Jason’s slip to the back of the pack. Starting the half points reverse grid second race on pole, Coetzee then repeated his previous Aldo Scribante meeting lights to flag win under pressure from Campos, van Rooyen, Ensor-Smith and van der Watt.

SATC SupaCup leader Jason Loosemore consolidated his advantage with a dominant grand slam weekend off pole position en route to double race wins. He led Niko Zafiris, Rory Atkinson and Judd Bertholdt home in a somewhat pedestrian opening race. Loosemore then had little trouble in keeping his closest championship rival Atkinson and Zafiris at bay in the similarly orderly second race as Bertholdt ended fourth from Paulo Loureio, Jared Rossouw, Rick Loureiro, and newcomer Brandon Dean.

Midfield runner Bjorn Bertholdt surprised the Astron Energy Polo Cup with pole position in his new car. Beaten to Superpole by rookie Mauro Da Luz, Bertholdt hit back to dominate race 1 from title contender Charl Smalberger, Chris Tait, Roshaan Goodman, Da Luz, and subdued log leader Hannes Scheepers. Smalberger made a perfect start to take his third win of the season in race 2 ahead of Scheepers, Da Luz, Tait, Goodman, and Shiren Rajpaul as Smalberger beat  Tait, Da Luz and still comfortable championship leader Scheepers overall. Dad Derick made it a Smalberger family double with both Polo Masters wins over log leader Wayne Masters and John Kruger.

Championship leader Aqil Alibhai finally broke the Investchem MSA4 pattern of him and Mikel Bezuidenhout sharing the race wins on the day with a double Aldo Scribante win off pole position on Saturday. Bezuidenhout minimised the title damage with second in both races, from Renzo Ribeiro, Aadam Kajee and Liam Polome in race 1. And over Guido Bidoli, impressive lady racer Anastasia Gerasis, Chase Haskins, and Kent Swartz in the second heat. In so doing, Alibhai has now established a small championship advantage over Bezuidenhout, while Gerasis ended a delighted third for the day.

Kobus Reynecke won the first Toyota Gazoo Cup heat from GR 86 Rookie rivals Connor Weston, Reagile Mailula and Tshepang Shisinwana. Namibian Kian Fussell took race 2 from Shisinwana and Mailula after Reynecke and Weston clashed. Nabil Abdool won both GR Yaris Media and Devon Scott GR took both Corolla Dealer wins. Home hero Jack Moore won the opening Volkswagen Rookie Cup heat from Sebastian Dias, Luke Hill, Sebastian Venkov, and the returning Anwill April. Namesakes Sebastian Dias and Venkov beat Hill, Moore, and April in race 2, before Dias made it a double in the finale from Moore, Venkov, Hill and April. Dias took the day from Moore and Venkov.

The National Extreme Festival now heads to Cape Town and the Killarney International Raceway for its penultimate sixth round on Saturday 19 September.