Grobler and Mohr, in the Sasol Nissan Navara, dominated the entire weekend. They set the fastest time in the Friday prologue to determine grid positions, and then controlled the race from start to finish.
Unofficial scoring saw the pair come in just over five minutes ahead of the factory Ford Racing Ranger in the hands of Neil Woolridge and Kenny Skjoldhammer. Third, after a tremendous drive, were Chris Visser and Japie Badenhorst in the Castrol Toyota Hilux in what was their first podium finish of the season.
The factory Castrol Toyota Hilux of Mark Cronje and Chris Birkin, which lost wads of time through an electrical fault, limped home in fourth place with reigning South African driver’s champion, Duncan Vos, and Ralph Pitchford fifth in a second factory Sasol Nissan Navara. Vos and Pitchford, after a disastrous prologue, set off from the mass start at the back of the field and had to fight their way through the dust to salvage precious points.
The result sets up a tremendous finale to the season in November with Woolridge/Skjoldhammer, Grobler/Mohr and Vos/Pitchford all in with a chance of taking the overall and SP Class titles. Unofficial scoring sees Woolridge and Skjoldhammer leading Grobler/Mohr by just three points with Vos and Pitchford also very much in the mix.
“It looks as though it is going to be winner takes all at the final race,” said Vos who, for the second time in three outings, had to fight his way through the pack from the back of the field. “It is tough on the crews but good for the sport, and the final race is going to be a cracker.”
Grobler/Mohr had a clear run, Woolridge/Skjoldhammer were slowed by an intermittent misfire and Visser/Badenhorst lost power steering midway through the second of the two loops that made up the event. The electrical fault saw Cronje/Birkin drop behind the Ford crew and, although they had a clean run, Vos and Pitchford were hampered throughout the day by thick dust and a tough route which often made overtaking impossible.
“Midway through the season we knew we would have to win four races in a row to give ourselves a realistic chance of winning the championship,” said Grobler. “It is three down and one to go.”
A win in Class D saw brothers Henri and Maurice, in the Ryobi Nissan Hardbody, wrap up the Class D championship. Closest challengers Coetzee Labuscagne and Johan Gerber, in the Raysonics Nissan Hardbody, fell by the wayside and that put paid to their championship hopes.
Second in class, around 40 minutes in arrears, were reigning drivers champion Cliff Weichelt and Nico Els in the N1 4×4 Toyota Hilux D4D who were also part of the mass start at the back of the field. The husband and wife pair of Ramon and Maret Bezuidenhout (Team Barberspan Toyota Hilux) were in the same boat and were 18 minutes further back in third place.
After a lean spell reigning Class E drivers champion Jack Peckham and Lucio Santoro, in the factory Ford Racing Ranger, grabbed a win that adds some respectability to their season. Despite a steering problem over the last 30 kilometres, the Ford crew were around 15 minutes ahead of Jannie Visser and Joks le Roux, in the Team Barberspan Toyota Hilux, who tightened their hold on the championship.
Thomas Rundle and Rob Howie, in the Barden Tyre Services Nissan Hardbody, also came up with their best result in a long time. They picked up third place to edge out rookies Dewald van Breda and Johann du Toit, in the Potch Plastics Toyota Hilux.
