Pro Tour heads to twisty Zwartkops

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Willem van der Westhuizen is a top contender in Class C of the GT Challenge in his Ferrari F360. Here he holds off one of the ubiquitous Porsches.

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Round 2 of the Pro Tour road racing series will be run at the Zwartkop Raceway near Pretoria on Saturday 23 and, as always, top billing will go to the GT Challenge brigade, with a grid of exotic cars chasing each other around a tight and twisty circuit whose layout invariably leads to close confrontations.

Class A should see Greg Parton (KTM X-Bow), Loris Chiappa (Ferrari 430 GT3) and Deon du Plessis (KTM X-Bow) taking the honours. In Class B reigning South African champion Andrew Culbert (Porsche 997 GT3 Cup) will square up against Nicky Dicks (Porsche GT3 Cup) and Sun Moodley (Porsche 997 GT3 Cup).

Willem van der Westhuizen (Ferrari F360) should be the man to beat in Class C, challenged by Oliver Dalais (Porsche GT3), Christo Lotter (Porsche 996 GT3), Craig Jarvis (Porsche GT3 Cup) and Charl Arangies in his Porsche 944 Turbo Cup.

FORMULA VEE

The Formula Vee races always see large fields and ultra-competitive racing. Scott Temple (Rhema 2) is the current title leader, narrowly ahead of defending South African champion Jaco Schriks (Rhema 2) and Alan Holm (Rhema 2).

Other leading contenders should be Greg Wilson (Rhema 2), Peter Hills (Rhema 2) and Johan Gouws (Mantis), with Gert Van Den Berg (Rhema 2), Symm Grobler (Rhema 2), Gareth Jackson (Rhema 2) and Trystan Alford (Rhema 2) not far behind.

The Volkswagen Challenge always produces big fields and close racing.

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SUPERBIKE MASTERS CUP

The Superbike Masters Cup series had a brilliant opening round at Phakisa imn February with close racing throughout the field. The series was born out of the stock racing concept with two brands of motorcycles - Honda CBR1000RR's and Kawasaki ZX010R's - on the grid.

Only limited safety-related modifications are allowed to the machines and the use of Bridgestone R10 tyres is mandatory. The same set of tyres must be used for qualifying and both races on a given race day. There are two rider classes in the championship, namely the Masters for riders between 35 and 45 years of age and the Veterans for riders over 45 years of age.

After two victories at Phakisa, Justin Gillesen (Kawasaki ZX-10R) will be the man to beat at Zwartkop. His closest challengers should include Kyle Robinson (Kawasaki), Johan le Roux (Kawasaki), Simon Bezuidenhout (Kawasaki), Carel Brits (Kawasaki) and Sid Farinha (Kawasaki).

Others to watch will be Raymond Keel (Kawasaki), Jacques van Wyngaard (Kawasaki), Jasper Strydom (Kawasaki) and Steven Smit (Kawasaki).

Leading Honda riders should be Rodney White-Sharpley, Fritz Kraftt, Desmond Acutt and Stephen du Plessis.

Kyle Robinson leads a bunch of Superbike Masters Cup riders and yes, the racing is always this close.

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VOLKSWAGEN CHALLENGE

The Volkswagen Challenge events should see some 40 cars on the grid, divided into four classes. New Class FSI will see the return of defending Class A champion Waldie Meintjes in a Polo, determined to claim the first ever victory in the new FSI category. He will be up against James Hurley (Polo), Rory Atkinson (Polo), Gavin Ross (Golf) and Carlos Nobre (Polo).

Defending champion Darren Nathan (Polo) will be the man to beat in Class B. Taking him on will be Ryan Tholet (Polo), André Needham (Golf 1), Elna Croeser (Polo), Andy Gossman (Golf 2) and Derek Minnie (Golf 2).

Henry van Vledder (Golf 2) will start as favourite in Class C, challenged by Wouter Roos (Polo), Christiaan De Wet (Golf 1), Elke van Vledder (Golf 1), and Gert Roussouw (Golf 1).

There will also be two races for GT Classic Cars. Leading contenders should be Andrie Bester (964), André van der Merwe (Porsche 911), Jacques Viljoen (Porsche 911), Vincent Reiche (Porsche 911), Patrick Godard (Porsche 911) and George Avvakoumides (Porsche 924).

Admission will be R70 for adults and R50 for student with children under 12 free.