Summarize

Red-Lined Motoring Adventures delivered a full house of finishes at the first-ever Bothaville Total Agri 400 at in the Free State over the weekend.

The team’s Junior crew of Kent Rutherford and Gerhard Schutte stole the show with a come from behind performance in the Side-by-Side class. Early penalties and one or two other challenges however compromised the team’s two Red-Lined T1 race trucks. Still, both fought back to top-ten finishes in their classes.

Dragon Energy Red-Lined Youth Program Development Side-by Side class Can Am buggy duo Kent Rutherford and Gerhard Schutte however starred. The 18-year fought from the back of the field to take a fine second in class at the end of the rough, tough, demanding and dusty race. 

“Our Dragon Energy powered Red-Lined Can Am ran like a dream today and we had a good run with a few little challenges after the disappointment of the prologue,” the delighted 18-year old Rutherford reported. “It’s just my third national race, so that was a huge result — never mind we have now finished two out of three races.” Rutherford and Schutte went out due to an engine failure in the previous race.

It was a tough break for Red-Lined’s two Red-Lined T1 race trucks, both of which picked up five minute penalties following slight navigational errors on the brand new race’s tricky Prologue. That set both cars well back in the field for the main race on a day where the dust was a major obstacle. FIA Class Dragon Energy VK56 crew Ernest Roberts and Henry Kohne however took the positives out of a tough day at the office:

”We made a small mistake on Friday afternoon and paid a big penalty,” Ernest rued. “The upside was that our pace in the Nismo-powered Dragon Energy Red-Lined VK56 was very good in the race. “The dust was thick so it took time to pass so many cars and we were also delayed when we had to stop to fix a first lap puncture. “It’s impossible to make up ground in the dust, so we just settled down and brought it home ninth in class."

Terence Marsh and Letshego Zulu and their Red-Lined VK50 wanted an adventure this weekend and they got a bit more of that than they may have bargained for! “We started right at the back and had a good run through the pack and we were back in Class T contention,” Terence pointed out. “Then literally 200 metres out of the mid race refuel into the second 180km lap, our power steering pump packed up.

“We lost 45 minutes and spent the rest of the day dodging the time bar. “Happily we squeaked in to the finish just in time and stole a good few points with fifth in class with our 100% finishing record intact. “Adventure is the name of our game, and that certainly did it for us!” 

Red-Lined Motoring Adventures will wrap up its South African Cross Country year with the double-header two-race final at Parys on 24-25 October.