Veteran Willie Hepburn had motorsport scribes scratching their heads and consulting the record books when he won the second V8 Supercar race in the weekend's fifth round of the WesBank Super Series at the historic East London GP circuit.
It is almost certain that Hepburn, at 65, is the oldest driver to win a National championship circuit race. To make it perfect, Hepburn will retire at the end of 2008 and this was his East London farewell, 33 years after his first appearance there.
Hepburn, driving a Chev Corvette, took advantage of the series' traditional reversed grid for race two and came up from fifth to ease past Jaco Correia's Corvette and take the lead three laps from the finish.
Another veteran, Deon Auby - racing against two of his sons - also got past Corriea in the closing stages to finish second. Correia wound up third, ahead of local youngster Wade van Zummeren (Ford Mustang) and another veteran, Larry Wilford, also in a Mustang.
Robert Briggs (Jaguar) won the first race, ahead of Mark Auby's similar car and 2007 champion Hennie Groenewald (Chev Lumina), who started from the back of the grid. Groenewald did not have a happy day; he finished well down in race two but retained his series lead.
In the last race of the day, Gavin Cronje set an outright lap record for the 70-year-old circuit of 1min17.63 in one of the new Formula VW single-seaters.
Cronje is leading the inaugural championship of this class but had to take a back seat on the day to Christiano Morgado, who won both races.
Cronje went out on lap one of the first race after he and Wesleigh Orr touched wheels and Cronje picked up a puncture. Cronje's record-setting run netted him second in race two, ahead of Orr.
Two action-packed Production Car races produced several upsets. Michael Stephen (Audi A4) won both races, the second after a dramatic battle with tintop rookie Darryn Lobb in a Nissan 350Z.
Stephen took race one ahead of Johan Fourie (Audi A4) who was involved in an early incident with pole starter Tschops Sipuka (Nissan 350Z). Melvill Priest (Audi A4) picked up his best result in 2008 so far with third ahead of Etienne van der Linde (BMW 330i) and Marco da Cunha (Nissan 350Z).
Race two's inverted grid saw Lobb start from pole; he spent the whole race fighting off challenges from Anthony Taylor (BMW 330i) and Stephen. The latter finally muscled his way past Lobb on a dramatic last lap while Taylor fell into the clutches of first Watson-Smyth and then Priest.
Another veteran
Championship leader Graeme Nathan (Seat Cupra) and 2007 title holder Iain Pepper (VW Golf GTi) shared the Class T wins. Nathan was heading for a double until a altercation with Chris Silverwood's Mini Cooper dropped him down the pecking order.
Ben Morgenrood, another veteran campaigner, took both Class B wins in a Mazda RX-8 but was made to work for it in each race by Danie van Niekerk in a Ford Fiesta.
Bryan Morgan won the first VW Cup race after early leader Miguel Pasqualli dropped out and championship leader Gennaro Bonafede put paid to his chances with an early spin.
Pasqualli and Morgan then romped away with race two, ahead of a consistent Brennon Green, Divan Wentzel and Bonafede.
Results
V8 Supercars - Race 1
1 Michael Briggs (Jaguar)
2 Mark Auby (Jaguar)
3 Hennie Groenewald (Chev Lumina)
4 Wade van Zummeren (Ford Mustang)
5 Deon Auby (Jaguar)
Race 2
1 Willie Hepburn (Chev Corvette)
2 Deon Auby (Jaguar)
3 Jaco Correia (Chev Corvette)
4 Wade Van Zummeren (Ford Mustang)
5 Larry Wilford (Ford Mustang)
Production Cars - Race 1
1 Michael Stephen (Audi A4)
2 Johan Fourie (Audi A4)
3 Melvill Priest (Audi A4)
4 Etienne van der Linde (BMW 330i)
5 Marco da Cunha (Nissan 350Z)
Class A- Michael Stephen (Audi A4)
Class T- Graeme Nathan (Seat)
Class B- Ben Morgenrood (Mazda RX8)
Race 2
1 Michael Stephen (Audi A4)
2 Darryn Lobb (Nissan 350Z)
3 Shaun Watson-Smith (Audi A4)
4 Melvill Priest (Audi A4)
5 Anthony Taylor (BMW 330i)
Class A- Michael Stephen (Audi A4)
Class T- Iain Pepper (VW Golf GTi)
Class B- Ben Morgenrood (Mazda RX8).
Formula VW - Race 1
1 Christiano Morgado
2 Wesleigh Orr
3 S Moss
4 Michael Stephen
J Kruger
Race 2
1 Christiano Morgado
2 Gavin Cronje
3 Wesleigh Orr
4 Michael Stephen
5 G Connelly
VW Cup - Race 1
1 Bryan Morgan
2 Divan Wentzel
3 Brennon Green
4 G Gatland
5 R Johnson
Race 2
1 Miguel Pasqualli
2 Bryan Morgan
3 Brennon Green
4 Divan Wentzel
5 Gennaro Bonafede