Vryburg - The factory Castrol Team Toyota will be defending an unbeaten record at the Vryburg Endurance, round five of the Donaldson Cross Country Championship this weekend, with the added bonus of having Leeroy Poulter and his navigator Rob Howie poised to clinch the Production Vehicle title.
Poulter needs third place or better to win the overall and premier Class T titles after dominating the season in his Hilux so far. He’s won the RFS Endurance, the Sugarbelt 450, the Nkomazi 450 and shared heat wins with his team-mates Anthony Taylor and Dennis Murphy on the Toyota 1000 Desert Race in Botswana.
If he wins this Saturday Poulter will add Cross Country to his long list of motorsport titles which already include world karting, and national rally and circuit racing championships.
Reigning champion Taylor is the only other driver with a mathematical chance of beating Poulter, but it would need a massive turnaround of fortunes.
Rival teams will be banking on the law of averages catching up with the Toyota squad, and behind the two leaders are Jason Venter/Vince van Allemann (4x4 Mega World Toyota Hilux) and brothers Johan and Werner Horn (Malalane Toyota Hilux) who share third place in the championship points standings.
In the Special Vehicle category, former champions Evan Hutchison and Danie Stassen (Motorite BAT Viper) go into Vryburg with a 17 point margin over Lance Trethewey and Geoff Minnitt in the LTE BAT Venom. The third crew still in with a mathematical shot at the title is Mark Corbett and Juan Mohr, in the Century Racing CR5.
The National race will run in conjunction with a round of the Northern Regions championship, with race headquarters located at the Vryburg Motor Club on the outskirts of the North West province town, with free public entry.
There will also be free public entry to numerous spectator viewing points along the route, and spectator guides will be available at race headquarters.
The qualifying race to determine grid positions will start at 10.30am on Friday, and the race starts at 7.30am on Saturday.
Star Motoring