Production Cars thrill at Killarney

Published Mar 31, 2014

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Cape Town - despite lengthy delays due to oil on the circuit after almost every race, round two of the SA Super Series at Killarney delivered exciting, close and occasionally very robust racing from each of the national classes - none more so than the Production Class races.

Reigning champion Michael Stephen (Audi S4) made the best of his pole-position to lead the sprint race from lights to flag, chased all the way by local hero Johan Fourie in a plain white BMW 335i, who found himself the BMW meat in an Audi Sandwich when he was challenged by series rookie Gennaro Bonafede, forcing him to defend second while poking hiss nose up alongside Stephen under braking as often as he thought he could get away with it.

Veteran Hennie Groenewald - who had to start from the back of the grid - closed up to Bonafede in the final stages but couldn't get close enough to challenge his young team-mate, and had to settle for fifth, while ex-Mini pilot Gavin Cronje got the better of fellow Class A new boy Simon Moss (Audi S4) for fifth.

CLASS T

The 'hairdryer class' was something of a survival test as Ryan Rhode kept the Mini tradition of munching gearboxes alive and Gary Formato (Ford Focus ST) pulled out after just one lap with a virulent misfire.

While the Minis last, however, they are very quick indeed; After some very robust curt and thrust in the early stages Lee Thompson moved clear, assisted by a difference of opinion between the VW Golf GTI of class champion Graeme Nathan and young gun Michael van Rooyen's Chevrolet Cruze, who then dropped back to a less bruising third in class.

They were trailed home by the surviving Focus of Shaun Duminy and the privateer Golf GTI of Charl Smalberger.

FEATURE RACE

The customary reversed grid put Cronje on pole and took advantage of it with a blistering start (literally - we could smell the rubber four storeys up in the commentary box) that put him straight into the lead, followed by an equally fired-up Moss.

By midway through the 14 laps, however, Fourie had moved up to second; for a while it seemed the local man would challenge for the lead, but he never got quite close enough and the closing stages became a contest between the Audis to decide third.

Not surprisingly it was Stephen, the acknowledged master of the reverse grid, who showed the Fellowship of the Four Rings the way home, ahead of Bonafede and Groenewald.

CLASS T

By lap five Thompson had carved his way through from the back of the field to lead the class, despite a couple of heart-stopping moments when the Mini seemed to lose momentum.

Formato, meanwhile, discovered early on that his crew had not succeeded in curing his ST's misfire and he retired after a handful of laps.

A decent start had put Duminy in a second position he was unwilling to give up to a clearly quicker Nathan and Van Rooyen; for the next five laps he drove the world's widest Focus ST, frustrating Nathan's every attempt to get by and allowing the Cruze to close right up.

CLASSIC

When Nathan finally outbraked him into Turn 1, Duminy immediately hit back with a kamikaze inside move in Turn 2 that became a classic T-bone.

Miraculously the GTI survived without chassis damage but the impact broke off both the hinges on the Ford's driver's door. For the rest of the race it was held in place only by the latch at the back, gaping open like an airbrake and threatening to fly off at any second.

Unsurprisingly, Duminy dropped way back to come home fifth in class; even after Van Rooyen picked up a front-wheel puncture he was able to stay ahead of the Focus for fourth behind Thompson, Nathan and Charl Smalberger, in the only Class T car to stay out of trouble for the whole 14 laps.

And even the the drama wasn't over, as Thompson's Mini was excluded after the race for being underweight, promoting Nathan to the win, with a surprised and delighted Smalberger and Van Roooyen rounding out the podium.

VOLKSWAGEN POLO CUP

Championship leader after Round 1, Daniel Rowe, set the pace im practice and qualifying - but the draw wasn't kind to him and he wound up fifth on the grid for both races.

A scrappy first few laps however, soon saw him challenging Dewald Brummer, who'd come up from the fifth row of the grid, for the lead - until Juan Brummer hit the tyre wall and put his Polo on its roof, perilously close to the circuit.

But before that safety car could get out on the circuit, Mathew Hodges and Eddie Rodriques had a clash of will that left Rodriques at the side of the road in a Polo that wasn't going anywhere for a long time, if ever.

By the time the marshals had cleared the debris, the field was closely bunched behind the safety car and there were only two laps in it - a flat-out sprint for the line that saw Brummer take the flag ahead of Rowe.

RACE 2

Both the ladies in the Polo series - Cape Town's Andrea Bate and Gauteng driver Tasmin Pepper, qualified in the top six and Lady Luck showed them some sisterly solidarity in the draw for the second race with pole position for Pepper and third for Bate.

It was Pepper's first pole in the series and she made the most of it by scorching away to an early lead while 14-year-old driving prodigy Sheldon van der Linde dealt with a determined challenge from Jano van der Westhuizen and Rowe - determined enough that at least one door mirror was seen flying up out of the melee under braking for Turn 5.

DRIVER OF THE DAY

In the closing stages however, Van der Linde broke the tow and reeled in the race leader, forcing her to work very hard indeed for her second win in VW Cup racing, just ahead of Van der Linde and Rowe.

Second in Race 1 and third in Race 2 was enough to secure the overall win for the day for Rowe, and keep him at the top of the championship standings, while a solid ninth for the day on only his second outing in a Polo and his first ever to Killarney earned series rookie Michael Gibson Driver of the Day.

Trevor Bland took the win in the Masters Class for drivers over 28, from Hodges and Shaun Holtzhauzen; Hodges retain the lead in the class standings but with the gap sufficiently narrowed to make the Masters category highly unpredictable.

No race info was available for the combined V8 Supercars at the time of publishing.

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