Summarize

A spanking Northern Regions Extreme Festival raced into the night as it heated up a splendid day of midwinter racing at Zwartkops on Saturday. Several red flagged races did little to deter multiple winners from thrilling across the board. The Digit FMS 111s Saloons and Superhatch, which raced the ATS two hours into the evening, and 111 GTs through the Dunlop V8 Supercars, ATE VW Challenge, BMW M Performance Parts Series and DOE Formula Vees, certainly provided fans with their money’s worth.

The Digit FMS 111’s Saloon and Superhatch classes made for the highlight of the weekend as they raced into the night. Tihan van Rooyen made the early running in his BMW 125i before the Melanie Spurr Wouter Roos Golf GTI took charge and led until the compulsory stops. After which it was all about Louis Scholtz, who sped to victory in his Class B Honda Civic from Class A trio, van Rooyen, Lindsay Clur’s Golf and the similar Spur Roos machine. Hendrik Venter and Charl Weyers’ Corsa took Class C. Joshua and Mark du Toit’s Honda Civic was the first Superhatch home.

Melanie Spurr beat Charl Weyers and Tihan van Rooyen to the earlier Saloon Sprint race win. With the rest busy with the ATS 200, the Digit FMS 111 GT classes raced on their own as Jared Rossouw’s SupaPolo beat Ismail Peck’s BMW 330i and Wayne Robb’s Focus ST to the first race win, where Victor Dias took GTB. Mo Karodia took the second heat in his SupaPolo from Peck and Roussouw, while Jonathan Visser’s Polo won GTB. 

Terry Wilford put his Mustang on the Dunlop V8 Supercars pole position, but his race came to nothing  as Warren Lombard’s similar machine sped to a lights to flag victory. Thomas Reib’s Corvette kept him busy before tumbling down the order to let Franco di Matteo take second as Reib fought back to third over the battling Alan Ryan, Wayne Spicer, Larry Wilford, and Steve Herbst. Terry Wilford then stormed from the back, overcame Reib at mid distance, and went on to win a thrilling race 2 from overall winner di Matteo, Reib, Lombard, Ryan, Herbst and Spicer.

The ATE VW Challenge delivered its usual dose of drama. Christopher Tait however did enough to keep Anthony Lessing in check for the opening win with Josh Moore third. Keyaan Dwomoh meantime kept Keegan Nathan, Sebastian Bouilliart in check in Class B and Stuart Konig picked up the Class Pieces to win from Elna Croeser and Dimitri Zapheriou. Lessing grabbed a last gasp win in the re-started, red flagged race 2 from Moore and Ian Walker after leader Tait hit trouble. Nathan turned the B tables on Dwomoh and Bouilliart and Konig overcame Brice Pillay and Croeser in C.

Lee Thompson rose from third to second before benefiting Anton Pommersheim stopping to win the opening BMW M Performance Parts Series Turbo Cup race from Bob Neill and Leon Loubser. Ethan Coetzee beat Reiner Smith to the Class B win while Reinhardt Miller took C from Nicky Dicks and Michael Grobler won Class D from Eugene Gouws. Thompson then held Pommersheim and Loubser off in race 2 as Smith, Miller and Craig Herbst won the classes. 

The BMW M Performance Parts Series Naturally Aspirated classes entertained with multiple winners across the classes. Andre van Vuuren beat Ignus du Plessis and Richard Gerntholtz to the opening win as Nicholas Herbt and Philip Mostert Jr. took Classes C and D. Olerato Sekudu then beat van Vuuren and Gerntholtz in heat 2 where Karabo Malemela took Class C and Justin Brown Class D.

Championship leader Lendl Jansen came from behind to take the opening DOE Formula Vee partnered with CIM Fuel race from pole man Vaughn Hills after early leader Gert van der Berg tumbled down the order. Behind them, Brandon Hills emerged on top of an intense dogfight for third from Jaco Schriks, Peter Hills, Shaun van der Linde and Anton van der Merwe. Jansen, Vaughn, and Brandon Hills then fought over the race 2 lead until it was stopped. After the restart, Vaughn led Jansen to the flag as Peter nicked third from Brandon Hills with Schriks, MD Bester and Theodore Vermaak in pursuit.

The 2026 Northern Regions Regional Extreme Festival now takes a breakthrough July before returning to Gqeberha for its annual away meeting at Aldo Scribante on Saturday 8 August.