Production vehicle category hots up
Motoring Staff
2010-09-07
With three rounds of the Absa Off Road Championship remaining the Production Vehicle championship is delicately poised and heading for a grandstand finish.
Second place on the 4x4 Mega World 400 at Carnival City has kept privateers Chris Visser and Japie Badenhorst, in the RFS Toyota Hilux, seven points clear of reigning drivers’ champion Duncan Vos and Rob Howie. The win by Vos and Howie at Carnival City gave the factory Castrol Toyota team its first win of the season and provided Howie with a maiden win in the premier SP Class.
Veteran former South African champions Hannes Grobler and Hennie ter Stege kept their championship hopes alive with a maiden podium for the diesel powered RFS BMW, which was having only its third outing. Grobler and ter Stege are 11 points behind the works Castrol Toyota pair and have a 10 point advantage over Sun City 400 winners Terence Marsh and Buks Carolin (Regent Racing Nissan Navara) who were sixth overall in the SP Class at Carnival City.
A hefty time penalty on the 4x4 Mega World 400 did nothing to help Team Ford Ranger pair Neil Woolridge and Kenny Skjoldhammer. They are now more than 30 points behind Visser and Badenhorst and have a mountain to climb.
Despite anomalies in scoring for overall and class results the status quo remains unchanged in the SP Class championship. Here, however, Visser/Badenhorst lead Vos/Howie by only four points with Grobler and ter Stege a further eight points adrift.
There were no classified Class D finishers on the 4x4 Mega World 400. This keeps reigning champions Dewald van Breda and Johann du Toit (Northam Toyota Hilux) at the top of the championship with a 19 point lead over Deon Venter and Ian Palmer who gave the new 4x4 Mega World Toyota Hilux an encouraging debut at Carnival City.
The Class E championship is also starting to look interesting and has turned into a two horse race. A second win of the season at Carnival City has taken Pikkie Labuschagne and Rikus Erasmus, in the 4x4 Mega World Toyota Hilux, to within nine points of leaders Lance Woolridge and Ward Huxtable in the Team Ford Ranger.
Teenager Woolridge, in his first season of national racing, and Huxtable finished third at Carnival City behind Hein Moolman and JD Wolfaardt in a third 4x4 Mega World Toyota Hilux. For Woolridge the Toyota Kalahari Botswana 1000 Desert Race on September, 24, 25 and 26 later is going to be a test of character.
