Summarize

The ATE VW Challenge delivered another compelling display of racing at the Red Star Raceway’s Northern Regions Extreme Festival over the weekend. Wayne Masters bounced back from a qualifying issue to take a double victory over his young Class A rivals. Stuart Mack continued unbeaten in Class B, and Bryce Pillay fought off two separate rivals en route to his Class C double.

Young gun Jayden Goosen claimed pole position in his Ferro Energia AA Certified Pre-Owned Polo over the ever-improving Ian Walker Mellow’s Veio version while Wayne Masters Performance Masters car was delayed in the pits with a fuel pump issue. That allowed lady heroine Elna Croeser to grab third in the grid in her ATE Brakes car over Mydi Mfana and Norbrake Distributors lad Dean Ross. 

Stuart Mack continued his unbeaten run with another Class B pole in his AutoZone Tour Plan car over VaporWorx man Francis Aldrich, Jonathan Konig’s Northen Bolt and Tool version and GSI Generator driver Chris Davison. Bryce Pillay put his Matelico Autobody Vivo on the Brat Pack Class C pole over log leader Adriaan de Beer’s Ukwazi Engineering car with Northen Bolt lad Stuart Konig from Mitch Coetzee’s ECR LTR entry, Insurisk lad Dimitri Zapheriou, Philip Croeser’s ATE car and Shalom rookie Justin Gower.

It there’s one thing Ian Walker has done perfectly all season, that’s start races in spectacular fashion and he once again shot into the lead off second on the grid to steal the holeshot over Jayden Goosen. But Wayne Masters was having none of it after skipping the previous round and his qualifying issues. He carved his way from the back of the Class A grid to soon take the lead over Goosen, who meantime found his way past Walker for second from Mydi Mfana and Elna Croeser after Dean Ross hit trouble.

It was operations normal in Class B as defending champion Stuart Mack reeled off yet another win in his little litre turbo Polo. 2-litre chasers Jonathan Konig and Chris Davison followed after Francis Aldrich ground to a halt. It was a different matter in Class C, however, where the Brat Pack entertained with another thrilling battle as Bryce Pillay held Adriaan de Beer off for the win. Mitch Coetzee was third from Stuart Konig, Dimitri Zapheriou, Philip Croeser and Justin Gower.

Walker made another superb start to lead Goosen and Masters in a fierce Class A battle up front of race 2. While it lasted that is, before veteran Wayne took over to deliver another Masters class up front from Goosen, Walker, Croeser, Ross and Mfana. Mack trotted to his regular B win from the recovered Aldrich, Konig and Davison. But Pillay had to deal with Stuart Konig’s close attentions en route to the Class C double with Mitch Coetzee third from de Beer, Croeser and Gower after Zapheriou stopped.

Ultimately a day of the doubles as Wayne Masters, Stuart Mack and Bryce Pillay won both hearts in each class, it certainly did spice the championship up. With Mack only scoring a fraction of the points off the small Class B grid, Pillay’s double C win and leader de Beer only fourth in race 2, the overall log provisionally sees Adriaan de Beer holding a tiny title advantage over Stuart Mack with Bryce Pillay rapidly closing and Mitch Coetzee ready to pick up the pieces. Wayne Masters has meantime closed back to within a point of two of Jayden Goosen in Class A despite missing a round.

The ATE VW Challenge and Regional Extreme presented by Coca-Cola now takes a break as they prepare for its annual away meeting in East London on Saturday 23 August.