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Alert Engine Parts GTi Challenge steals the show again

The Alert Engine Parts GTi Challenge once again stole the Killarney Power Series show with great action on Saturday 4 June. It was another day of high drama on and off the track, with red flags, red cards, accidents and incidents. But when the day was done, three men emerged in control of the championship logs in the respective classes.

Jurie Swart Jr. delivered a seismic lap to put his Summit Racing Polo 6R Cup on pole position for race 1 in qualifying on a fresh but bright cape winter’s morning. He ended up half a second clear of  Jason Coetzee’s similar Mint Wraps car in the almost all-Polo top class, with ITT lad Colin Meder Jr. third from Nathan Victor's Summit machine, Kai van Zyl's Unlimited Auto car, TAC Steel driver Dillon Joubert and Danie Sandenbergh in a Jetta 3.

16 years old this week, Tate Bishop’s trusty 32-year old Angri Jetta 2 CLI beat Class B title rival Eden Thompson's Somerset Refrigeration Polo 6R to that class pole by all of one thousandth of a second. Kyle Wiltshire’s Summit Polo Classic was third from Grant Cloete Golf, Marc Thompson Somerset and Brent van der Schyff’s Polo Classics, Steven Vermaak’s Golf and Ian Kapp, who failed to get a lap in aboard his Hydracor Polo 6R.

Chase Herholdt’s Unlimited Auto GTi led the all Golf-1 Class C from Seth van den Abeele's Summit car, Matthew Rowe’s Veldt Reared machine, Ryan and Dylan van Eden, John-Henri Vaughan’s, Schalk Geldenhuys' G+A Motorsport GTi, Mohammed Khalfey and Jade Lynch. The drama started early as Class C pole man Herholdt and Class A lad van Zyl were found in breach of ride height regulations and chased to the back of the grid.

Swart led Coetzee and Victor with Joubert, Meder and van Zyl dicing hard behind, but the leader was in trouble as Coetzee and Victor breezed past Swart. The Class B start was rough as Bishop escaped. Wiltshire and Eden Thompson came to blows and Kapp took advantage to spear to second. And if that B action was fraught, the C melee was mad. Van den Abeele, Vaughan, the van Eden brothers and Geldenhuys fought a dramatic battle with Herholdt closing in fast from the back.

It got out of control flat out down the back straight on the fifth tour, as the top four dispersed in a cloud of dust and tyre smoke with van den Abeele and Ryan van Eden spinning wildly as he clouted the barriers on each side, and Vaughan also rendered hors de combat. A late call for the red flag stopped the race after the Class A leaders had already passed the accident scene at speed, to stop the race and allow the wrecked cars to be removed.

Positions never changed much after the restart, as Coetzee led Victor,  Meder,  Joubert, van Zyl, the struggling Swart and Sandenbergh home in Class A. Bishop took an easy B win from Wiltshire, Eden Thompson, Kapp, van der Schyff, Sandenbergh and Marc Thompson. And Herholdt emerged from that Class C melee to take the win from Rowe, Dylan van Eden, Geldenhuys, Lynch and rookie Khalfey.

The combined results of the two races never made any difference to the Class A outcome, but in Class B, Kapp and Eden Thompson swapped places and Wiltshire was docked two positions to end behind Thompson after the race. And Marc Thompson was classified fifth from van der Schyff, Sandenbergh and Vermaak. In Class C, Dylan van Eden was classified second behind Herholdt, from Geldenhuys, Rowe, Lynch and Khalfey.

Race 2 was a far simpler affair. Well, in Class A anyway. Swart had his fourth gear back to soon dispose of Coetzee and take the 1-2 from Victor, Joubert and van Zyl, all of whom worked their way past Meder, with Danie Sandenbergh in pursuit. Tate Bishop’s perfect weekend continued in Class B, but there was drama behind as Eden Thompson was eliminated in the first lap and second placed Wiltshire’s day went from bad to worse. He was excluded for his part in his rival’s demise.

Which left Ian Kapp to second from dad Marc Thompson, van der Schyff and Vermaak. Herholdt got a great start and left the wild Class C melee in his wake. Dylan van Eden rose through the field to cement his second second place of the day from Vaughan, Geldenhuys, Effendi, Lynch and Khalfey. 

Which means that Swart, Bishop and Herholdt all cemented their various class Alert Engine Parts GTi Challenge championship leads leading up to the next round, following a mid season pause, at Killarney end July.


ENDS

Issued on behalf of Alert GTi Challenge

What:Alert Engine Parts GTi Challenge Round 4 Report
Where:Killarney International Raceway
When:Saturday 4 June 2022
Community:Western Cape Regional

For further information please contact gertduplessis1979@gmail.com

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