Heading the points standings after their fine win in the Osram Rally in the Free State in August are Hergen Fekken and Pierre Arries (S2000 BP VW Polo) with 112 points. Defending champions Enzo Kuun and Guy Hodgson (S2000 BP VW Polo) have 111 points, while former multiple champions Serge Damseaux/Robert Paisley (S2000 Castrol Toyota RunX) and Jan Habig/Douglas Judd (S2000 BP VW Polo) are tied in third place on 100 points.
The event will start from the Killarney motor racing circuit at 12.00 on Friday with the first of five stages, two of which will be on dirt roads in the Mooreesburg area followed by two super special stages at Killarney. Total stage distance on the first day will be 65 km.
There will be a further five stages on Saturday, four on gravel roads in the Mooreesburg area, with a central service park at the Mooreesburg Showgrounds. The last stage of the rally will be at Killarney. Total stage distance for the day will be 131 km, giving a total distance for the event of just under 200 km.
According to Clerk of the Course Robert Marle of the organising club, the Cape Peninsula Motorcycle and Car Club, the roads can be expected to be quite rough following the heavy rains that have fallen in the Western Cape in recent months.
Close finishes have become the norm in the 2007 Sasol Rally Championship and the Western Cape event this weekend can be expected to deliver another close-fought contest.
Fekken and Arries are the ‘young guns’ fighting for their first national championship, while Kuun/Hodgson, Damseaux/Paisley and Habig Judd are wily campaigners who have been there before. No-one wants to come second.
Also in contention for an outright and class S2000 win are Johnny Gemmell and Peter Marsh, winners of the Sasol Rally in April in the second factory Castrol Toyota RunX. Team Total’s Jean-Pierre Damseaux/Cobus Vrey and Etienne Lourens/Andre Vermeulen are both seeking their first win in their Toyota RunXs.
An impressive fifth overall in the championship, ahead of four of the S2000 crews, are leading Production Car and class N4 contenders Visser du Plessis and Dave Lewkowicz (Pirtek/Kreepy Krauly Subaru Impreza WRX). Their consistency – they have scored in all six events so far including two wins – sees them 18 points clear of defending production car champions Nicholas Ryan/Schalk van Heerden (Bosal/Jonnesway Subaru Impreza WRX) and 30 points ahead of Fernando Rueda/Gerhard Snyman (Team Total Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9).
With a different scoring system in class N4, they lead Rueda/Snyman by 11 points and Ryan/Van Heerden by 16 points.
Charl Wilken and Greg Godrich (Sasol/Konica Minolta Subaru Impreza WRX), winners of the season-opening Total Dealer Rally in the Western Cape in March, have had more than their fair share of problems, with crashes in two events effectively ruling them out of the championship. A good result this weekend will do much to restore their pride.
With Mark Cronje and Chris Birkin (Castrol Toyota RunX) having already wrapped up class A7 with six successive wins, interest switches to the battle for the runner-up spot. Four points separate Tony Ball/Alan Bissett (Bulwer Motors VW Golf), Chris de Witt and Dean Redelinghuys (Team Total Toyota RunX), who each have 18 points, and Barry Grobbelaar/Mike Burrows (Sasol VW Golf) on 14 points.
A first-time entrant in class A7 will be newly crowned A5 champions Gugu Zulu and Carl Peskin in a BP VW Polo.
Craig Trott and Carolyn Swan (Team Total Toyota RunX) enjoy a 15-point lead in class A6 with their main competition coming from Steve Wilken (Team Pannar VW Polo) and Salie du Toit/Gert Janse van Rensburg (Team Total Toyota RunX).
With Zulu and Peskin having clinched the class A5 championship in their BP VW Chico with their fifth win of the season in the last event, the Osram Rally in the Free State, the focus shifts to the battle for second place. Battling it out for the runner-up spot are Zulu and Peskin’s BP VW team-mate Andre Cleenwerck and Tjaart Conradie/Elvene Coetzee (Techwood Toyota Tazz), who are separated by a single point.
An unfortunate run of four non-finishes in the new-to-rallying Sasol Toyota Yaris will have Claudio Piazza-Musso and Greg Gericke more than anxious to finish this weekend. The little Toyota, being developed by Rod Hering’s Race Prep operation, has shown considerable promise and Piazza-Musso will be keen to add at least a podium finish to the third place he and Gericke achieved on the Sasol Rally in April.
Competition for outright honours in class N3 is as tight as in any other class. After winning the last two events, Mohammed Moosa and Henry Dearlove (Team Total Toyota RunX), lead with 27 points, two ahead of team-mates Rodney Visagie/Arno La Grange in another RunX and three clear of Michael Houghton/Hennie Botes in a third Team Total Toyota RunX. Kosta Koumantarakis/Barry White (Toyota RunX) are also still in the hunt with 19 points.
