WesBank Super Series/Kyalami/ July 7, 2007
Johannesburg, Saturday – Reigning champion Leeroy Poulter tightened his hold on this year’s Bridgestone Production Car Championship at a dramatic round five of the WesBank Super Series at a packed Kyalami today.
Poulter, in a factory Sasol AE Nissan 350Z, did not figure among the Class A winners but a fourth place and a second place saw the talented Pretoria driver edge further ahead of closest rival Johan Fourie in the JFR/MD Transport Audi A4. Fourie held on to win an exciting first heat by a toucher from surprise package Stephen Morris in a Lindenberg Racing Subaru Impreza.
Fourie and Morris led home Michael Stephen in the Xtreme Team Racing Audi A4, with Poulter and Shaun Watson-Smith, in the second Xtreme Team Audi, rounding out the top five. Fourie had to call on all his considerable talent and experience to hold off Morris, who looked to have the quicker car, in what was one of the best Bridgestone races in a long while.
An inverted grid and a rolling start, in place of the usual standing start, added a little extra to race two. Top contenders Melvill Priest (MiKar Audi A4) and Morris disappeared on the first lap, and the unfortunate Fourie went out before the halfway mark with mechanical gremlins.
The inverted grid played into the hands of multiple SA champion Gary Formato, in another of the factory Nissans, who dominated proceedings to win from Poulter. Stephen got into a tangle on the last lap and that allowed Watson-Smith and Tschops Sipuka, in a third factory Nissan, to sneak into third and fourth.
Championship leader Iain Pepper (PG Glass/Plastotech VW Golf GTi) and Garth Waberski, in the Castrol Mini Cooper, shared the victories in Class T. The race two win, with Robert Wolk (Afintapart Mini Cooper) in second place, saw the Mini Cooper drivers put an end to a string of wins from the VW Golf brigade.
Veteran Ben Morgenrood (Zoom Zoom Mazda RX8) won the opening heat in Class B with another veteran, Hector North (Sasol Toyota RunX) edging out Paolo da Cunha (Tubular Construction Fiat Palio) on the line.
Youngster Riyad Jaffer (Sasol Toyota RunX), the championship leader, bounced back to win heat two ahead of Morgenrood. North and da Cunha had another fine scrap and tangled on the finish line.
Infinity Agip Fiat Grande Punto pair Trevor Tuck and Theuns Eloff shared the Class C wins with championship leader Robi Beninca (BTS VW Citi Life) having an awkward time of it. He was second in heat one but was excluded from the results for a technical infringement, and Mark Silverwood (OKI Printing Solutions Ford Fiesta) inherited the first of his two second places.
On the WesBank V8 Supercar front Hennie Groenewald’s six race winning streak came to an end. Groenewald (SP Racing Jaguar), the reigning champion, had to be content with a fortuitous second in race one and a third in race two.
Arch rival and former champion Grant van Schalkwyk (Hi-Q Jaguar) took both wins to take a bite at Groenewald’s championship lead. Heat one saw van Schalkwyk lead home Groenewald and Jimmy Auby (Tyco/Jonnesway Jaguar) and Jade Gutzeit (Dezzi/Trysome Ford Mustang) who were the beneficiaries when Robert Briggs (Timken Jaguar) and Mackie Adlem (Fuchs Titan Ford Mustang) tangled at the last corner.
The customary race two inverted grid saw van Schalkwyk start from ninth with Groenewald a place further back. Van Schalkwyk finally laid to rest his inverted grid phobia and he and Groenewald took just three laps to scythe through the field. Groenewald lead briefly before dropping back to third place behind van Schalkwyk and Briggs.
For Briggs, the current VW Engen Cup champion, it was his best result of the season. The signs are there that he is coming to terms with the huge V8 power and will be a threat over the rest of the season.
The current VW Engen Cup championship leader, Lee Thompson (Xtreme Team VW Polo), was also missing from the winners enclosure – but tightened his hold on the title chase. Veteran Kosie Swanepoel (Barnett’s VW Polo) and Jared Mortimer (Azania Telecoms VW Polo) scored their first wins of the season, but a second and a third kept Thompson firmly in charge of championship proceedings.
Swanepoel was always in control of race one and won comfortably from Thompson and Mortimer. Race two saw Mortimer dominate with Miguel Pasqualli (Xtreme Team VW) bouncing back after a lean spell to finish second ahead of team-mate Thompson.
Two lusty CitiBike SA Superbike heats left Arushen Moodley (Dynamic Express Suzuki) and reigning champion Shaun Whyte (Nashua Mobile/Daikin Yamaha) separated by only a handful of points at the top of the championship ladder. The 2005 champion, Sheridan Morias (Ducati Café), back from overseas duty, fairly romped away with heat one.
In horse racing parlance Morias won going away with Whyte and Moodley joining him on the podium. Race two, however, saw Morias and veteran Trevor Crookes (Mitsubishi Electric Suzuki) tangle on lap one with both riders going down.
Moodley, Whyte and Clinton Seller, on a second Nashua Mobile/Daikin Yamaha then opened up a huge gap over the rest of the field. Moodley held on to win from Whyte and Seller with solid rides from Tertius de Lange (High Power Yamaha) and Brad Stark (Nashua Mobile/Daikin Yamaha) seeing them round out the top five.
Another winning streak was snapped when James Egan won the second heat of the CitiBike SA Supersport championship. Going into today’s event championship leader Chris Leeson (Team Suzuki) and Dane Hellyer (Kyocera Kawasaki) had between them won every race this season.
Hellyer dutifully took race one ahead of Leeson and veteran Graeme van Breda on the Springs Suzuki. Egan, one of a batch of talented youngsters in the Supersport series, grabbed his fist national win in race two with Hellyer taking second ahead of Leeson with van Breda fourth and youngster Eddy Alberts (Race Nation Suzuki) fifth.
Results:
CitiBike SA Supersport – Race 1: 1 D Hellyer (Kawasaki); 2 C Leeson (Suzuki); 3 G van Breda (Suzuki); 4 J Egan (Yamaha); 5 C Rudman (Suzuki). Race 2: 1 J Egan (Yamaha); 2 D Hellyer (Kawasaki); 3 C Leeson (Suzuki); 4 G van Breda (Suzuki); 5 E Alberts (Suzuki).
CitiBike SA Superbikes – Race 1: S Morias (Ducati); 2 S Whyte (Yamaha); 3 A Moodley (Suzuki); 4 L Isaacs (Honda); 5 C Seller (Yamaha). Race 2: 1 A Moodley (Suzuki); 2 S Whyte (Yamaha); 3 C Seller (Yamaha); 4 T de Lange (Yamaha); 5 B Stark (Yamaha).
Engen VW Cup – Race 1: 1 C Swanepoel (VW Polo); 2 L Thompson (VW Polo); 3 J Mortimer (VW Polo); 4 G Marais (VW Polo); 5 G van Heerden (VW Polo). Race 2: 1 J Mortimer (VW Polo); 2 M Pasqualli (VW Polo); 3 L Thompson (VW Polo); 4 K Swanepoel (VW Polo); 5 G van Heerden (VW Polo).
Bridgestone Production Cars – Race 1: 1 J Fourie (Audi A4); 2 S Morris (Subaru Impreza); 3 M Stephen (Audi A4); 4 L Poulter (Nissan 350Z); 5 S Watson-Smith (Audi A4). Class A – J Fourie (Audi A4); Class T – I Pepper (VW Golf GTi); Class B – B Morgenrood (Mazda RX8); Class C – T Tuck (Fiat Grande Punto). Race 2: 1 G Formato (Nissan 350Z); 2 L Poulter (Nissan 350Z); 3 S Watson-Smith (Audi A4); 4 T Sipuka (Nissan 350Z); 5 M Stephen (Audi A4). Class A – G Formato (Nissan 350Z); Class T – G Waberski (Mini Cooper); Class B – R Jaffer (Toyota RunX); Class C – T Eloff (Fiat Punto Grande).
WesBank V8 Supercars – Race 1: G van Schalkwyk (Jaguar); 2 H Groenewald (Jaguar); 3 J Auby (Jaguar); 4 J Gutzeit (Ford Mustang); 5 M Adlem (Ford Mustang). Race 2: 1 G van Schalkwyk (Jaguar); 2 R Briggs (Jaguar); 3 H Groenewald (Jaguar); 4 W Hepburn (Chev Corvette); 5 F di Matteo (Jaguar).