WesBank races thrill Zwartkop fans

A hot late-wnter day with a welcome cooling breeze created the perfect environment for an action-packed seventh round of the WesBank Super Series at Zwartkop Raceway near Pretoria at the weekend.

SA SUPERBIKES/SUPERSPORT

Once again the two-wheeler brigade topped the bill in terms of sheer entertainment and do-or-die racing as reigning Superbike champion Greg Gildenhuys (BMW) took hard-earned back-to-back victories and a full house of 50 points to boost his campaign for a third consecutive title.

Nicholas Grobler (BMW) was again in top form, robbed of an almost certain second place in race one by a broken gear lever - he was forced to lean over and change gears by hand for the last two laps and dropped to fourth at the finish behind Chris Leeson (Ducati) and Ryan Ottens (BMW).

He more than made up for it in Race 2, however, leading Gildenhuys on laps two and three before hounding the champion to the chequered flag and losing by just one hundredth of a second. Leeson was again third.

Young Brent Harran took a maiden win in the opening Supersport race ahead of his veteran works Honda team-mate Lance Isaacs and Steven Odendaal (Suzuki). Clint Seller (Bikefin Honda) fell while leading two laps from the finish and Cam Petersen (Honda) crashed out of second place on the last lap while challenging Harran.

Seller made no mistake in Race 2, leading from Dean Vos (Kawasaki), Odendaal, Harran, Isaacs and Nicholas Kershaw (Kawasaki). Just seven tenths of a second covered second to fourth with five bikes at one stage contesting second place and arriving at some corners four abreast.

PRODUCTION CARS

The tintop troop dished up the usual top-class racing with Hennie Groenewald (Subaru WRX) taking a comfortable lights to flag victory in the feature race ahead of the Audi S4s of defending champion Michael Stephen and an impressive Tschops Sipuka.

Groenewald did his championship chances no harm with a win in the first of the back-to-back sprint races earlier in the day ahead of Stephen and former champion Anthony Taylor (BMW 335i). Etienne van der Linde (BMW 335i) won the reverse grid second sprint from team mate Taylor and Stephen.

Lee Thompson, who gave the new Mini Cooper its maiden win in the previous round at Phakisa, reinforced the Mini's potential by winning class T in both the first sprint race and the feature race. Championship leader Graeme Nathan (VW Golf GTi) was second ahead of Gavin Cronje (Mini Cooper) in the feature race and strengthened his championship lead by finishing second in the first sprint and winning the second sprint. Both Minis ran into cooling problems in Race 2.

V8 SUPERCARS/SHELBY CAN-AM

The second combined outing of the V8 Supercars and Shelby Can-Am sports cars saw lots of action in the large field around the confines of the short Zwartkop circuit. In GT1, championship leader Ben Morgenrood (Ford Falcon) scored a win and a third, Franco di Matteo (Jaguar) was second in both races and third in Race 1 went to Larry Wilford (Ford Falcon).

GT2 honours in Race 1 went to Ray Wilford (Chev Corvette) from Willie Hepburn (Chev Corvette) and championship leader Patrick Seddon (Chev Lumina), who was involved in a contact with a Shelby Can-Am.

Race 2 went to Hepburn ahead of Seddon and Ray Wilford.

Alan Eve took the sports-car honours in the first race Brian Elgar and Craig Shorter. Rui Campos won Race 2 from Elgar and Ferdi van Niekerk.

VW CUP

The usual frantic action saw defending champion Devin Robertson and Kyle Barnes take the wins from teenager Jordan Pepper in both races.

Championship leader Kelvin van der Linde saw his championship lead eroded to 35 points when he made a mistake on the opening lap of Race 2 and dropped from fifth to 19th. He did well to recover to finish ninth.

FORMULA VOLKSWAGEN

Simon Moss and championship leader Jayde Kruger scored a first and a second apiece in two poorly supported races, which only attracted nine entries. Nicholas van Weely was third in both races.

The Midas Formula 1600 category (formerly Formula Ford) was dominated by Werner Scholtz (Mygale), winning the opening race from James Temple (Mygale) and Matthew Merton (mygale) in Race 1 and from Merton and Jason Campos (Mygale) in Race 2.

RESULTS - PRODUCTION CARS - RACE 1

Class A:

1 H Groenewald (Subaru WRX)

2 M Stephen (Audi S4)

3 A Taylor (BMW F30).

Class T:

1 L Thompson (Mini Cooper)

2 G Nathan (VW Golf GTi)

3 G Formato (Ford Focus)

RACE 2 - Class A:

1 E van der Linde (BMW 335i)

2 A Taylor (BMW 335i)

3 M Stephen (Audi S4)

Class T:

1 G Nathan (VW Golf GTi)

2 G Formato (Ford Focus)

3 S Duminy (Ford Focus).

RACE 3 - Class A:

1 H Groenewald (Subaru WRX)

2 M Stephen (Audi S4)

3 T Sipuka (Audi S4).

Class T:

1 L Thompson (Mini Cooper)

2 G Nathan (VW Golf GTi)

3 G Cronje (Mini Cooper).

V8 SUPERCARS - RACE 1 - GT1

1 B Morgenrood (Ford Falcon)

2 F di Matteo (Jaguar)

3 L Wilford (Ford Falcon).

GT2:

1 R Wilford (Chev Corvette)

2 W Hepburn (Chev Corvette)

3 P Seddon (Chev Lumina).

RACE 2 - GT1:

1 T Wilford (Ford Falcon)

2 F di Matteo (Jaguar)

3 B Morgenrood (Ford Falcon).

GT2:

1 W Hepburn (Chev Corvette)

P Seddon (Chev Lumina)

3 R Wilford (Chev Corvette).

SHELBY CAN-AM - RACE 1:

1 A Eve

2 B Algar

3 C Shorter

RACE 2:

1 R Campos

2 B Algar

3 F van Niekerk

SA SUPERBIKES - RACE 1:

1 G Gildenhuys (BMW)

2 C Leeson (Ducati)

3 R Ottens (BMW)

RACE 2:

1 G Gildenhuys (BMW)

2 N Grobler (BMW)

3 C Leeson (Ducati)

SA SUPERSPORT - RACE 1:

1 B Harran (Honda)

2 L Isaacs (Honda)

3 S Odendaal (Suzuki)

RACE 2:

1 C Seller (Honda)

2 D Vos (Kawasaki)

3 S Odendaal (Suzuki)

VW CUP - RACE 1:

1 D Robertson

2 J Pepper

3 K van der Linde

RACE 2:

1 K Barnes

2 J Pepper

3 R Napier

FORMULA VW - RACE 1:

1 S Moss

2 J Kruger

3 N van Weely

RACE 2:

1 J Kruger

S Moss

3 N van Weely

FORMULA 1600 - RACE 1:

1 W Scholtz (Mygale)

2 M Merton (Mygale)

3 J Campos (Mygale)

RACE 2:

1 W Scholtz (Mygale)

2 J Temple (Mygale)

3 M Merton (Mygale)

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