Vos, in the factory Nissan Navara, scored his third win on the trot on the recent Amathole 500 in the Eastern Cape to open up a huge 37 point lead in the driver’s overall championship. Vos has reeled off successive wins on the Sun City 400, the Toyota 1000 Desert Race in Botswana and the Eastern Cape event to move well clear of team-mate and reigning champion Hannes Grobler.
The Amathole 500 result took Pitchford, who missed the Toyota Desert Race because of overseas commitments, into a 12 point lead over team-mate Francois Jordaan in the co-driver’s championship. Third in the driver’s and co-driver’s championships are Castrol Toyota pair Mark Cronje and Chris Birkin who threw away wins in Botswana and the Eastern Cape by crashing within sight of the finish while in the lead.
There is a logjam in fourth place with Ford Racing Ranger crews Brandon Harcus/Juan Mohr and Neil Woolridge/Kenny Skjoldhammer tied with overseas pair Ivar Tollefsen / Quin Evans in a third factory Nissan Navara. The three crews trail Cronje/Birkin by just three points and are one point clear of Mark Corbett and Rudy Balzer in the Century Racing Nissan Navara.
As is the case in the Special Vehicle category anomalies in the allotment of points for overall and class finishes sees a slightly different picture in the premier Super Production Class. Vos/Pitchford still lead but Harcus/Mohr, with a 100 percent finish record, leapfrog Grobler/Jordaan with Cronje/Birkin in fourth place.
Cronje/Birkin has a two point lead over Corbett/Balzer with Tollefsen and Evans a further point in arrears. Only nine points separate Harcus/Mohr and Tollefsen/Evans.
Class D leaders Harold and Tiaan Coen, in a Land Rover, had a sorry time of it on the Amathole 500. For all that the pair still lead Class D but with a much reduced majority.
The Coen’s are now only three points ahead of off-road newcomers Ramon Bezuidenhout/Stefan Lock (Toyota Hilux) with veteran Coetzee Labuscagne (Rasonics Nissan Hardbody) tied with Bezuidenhout in the driver’s championship. Next up are Jurie and Andre du Plessis (BB Auto Nissan Hardbody) and brothers Henri and Maurice Zermatten in the Ryobi Nissan Hardbody.
Only eight points separate the Coen’s and the Zermatten brothers. After a dodgy start to the season the Zermatten’s have reeled off two wins in a row and are now distinct threats in a close fought championship.
The demise on the Amathole 500 of Ruwacon Toyota Hilux pair George and Sharon Barkhuizen and Castrol Toyota Hilux crew Brian Martin and Ockie Fourie has eased the logjam in Class E. Jack Peckham (Ford Racing Ranger) has a perfect finish record this season, and is now 10 points clear of Jannie Visser (Team Barberspan Toyota Hilux) in the driver’s championship.
But Lucio Santoro, who sits alongside Peckham, succumbed to a bout of severe car sickness on the Amathole 500, and Peckham finished the event on his own. That puts Joks le Roux, who shares the Team Barberspan entry with Visser, at the top of the co-driver championship.
The Barkhuizen’s now find themselves third in the driver and co-driver standings. Driver George is 11 points behind Visser and trails Peckham by 21 points.
The picture is a little rosier for wife Sharon who is only one point behind Santoro and 11 points behind Le Roux. Martin/Fourie slip to fourth on the log with Thomas Rundle and Brian Roberts fifth in the Barden Tyre Services Nissan Hardbody.
As is the case in the Special Vehicle championship competitors in the Production Vehicle classes also have to drop one result at the end of the season. This puts pressure on crews with one or two non finishes already to their names.
The next event is the Ford Motorite 400 at Meropa Casino & Entertainment World in Limpopo on September 7 and 8.
