There were many good performers at Zwartkops raceway in Pretoria this weekend, but none so stellar as Sasol Subaru driver Hennie Groenewald, who commanded class A of the Bridgstone Production Car Championship with a clean sweep of the three heats – significantly boosting his championship hopes.
The three wins now put Groenewald way ahead of main championship rival and defending champion Michael Stephen (Xtreme Team Audi), who was only two points behind going into round four but now sits 16 points adrift. For his part, Stephen didn’t go down without a fight, managing a third and a pair of second-placed finishes to maintain a decent range on the championship leader. Other notable class A efforts were Anthony Taylor (Afrox BMW F30) and Tschops Sipuka in the second Xtreme entry.
In Class T Graeme Nathan (IndyOil/Kaye Eddie VW Golf 6) came away with lion’s share of points when he bagged two wins and a second place, but the former champion’s main 2012 nemesis Gary Formato (BP/Castrol Ford Focus) made sure he didn’t get too far away in the Class T championship with a win of his own, as well as a second and third-placed finish.
The V8 Supercars field was a less hotly contested affair with the Auby clan having withdrawn from the series, but the GT1 and GT2 classes still produced some top quality racing from two heats. Jaco Correia (Omega Racing Corvette) and Franco di Matteo (Varta Batteries Jaguar) shared victores in GT1, while Patrick Seddon (Contact Refrigeration Lumina) and Ray Wilford (Fuchs Corvette) did the same in GT2.
It was a similar affair in the Engen VW Cup, with different winners for the two sprint races and feature event. Kyle Barnes (Gold Liberations VW Polo) took the first heat, Kosie Weyers (Xtreme Team VW Polo) the second and teenage championship leader Kelvin van der Linde (Ferodo VW Polo) romped away with the feature event.
In the Formula VW series, Jayde Kruger (First Freight FVW), Simon Moss (Tsogo Sun FVW) and Robert Wolk (Midas FVW) continued to switch it up between the three of them, with Moss taking the first heat ahead of Kruger and Wolk. Moss and Wolk were involved in a coming-together that saw the former retire, with Wolk dropping down the field in race two. This opened the door for Kruger, who finished ahead of Tasmin Pepper (PG Glass/VW Motorsport FVW) and Nicolas van Weely (Anglorand FVW).
Werner Scholtz (Motorvia/Scholtz Civils Mygale) and reigning champion Mathew Merton, in the Matsam Mygale, shared the Formula Midas 1600 wins. Jason Campos (Etana Mygale) took the final podium spot in race one and was joined by brother Keegan in the second heat.
Clint Seller (Bikefin Honda) tightened his hold on the SA Supersport championship with a pair of wins in the two-wheeled category. Clean sweeps for the Bikefin Honda team looked to be the order of the day, but the Kawasaki riders seemed determined to put a spanner in the Honda team’s spokes with Nicholas Kershaw finishing ahead of Cam Petersen and Lance Isaacs in race one and Ivan Torlage almost bested Petersen in race two, but Petersen managed to stay ahead to finish behind team mates Sellers and Brent Harran.
The Superbike action continued with Greg Gildenhuys (Motorrad BMW) and Dave McFadden (Pepper Kawasaki) tussling for command of the championship. Unfortunately, McFadden suffered a fuel tank problem before the start of race one – leaving Gildenhuys to lead a BMW clean sweep of the podium. But McFadden was back for race two to do battle and narrowly clinched the win ahead of Gildenhuys and Nicolas Grobler (Jonway BMW).
The next round of the season takes place in Kwa-Zulu Natal – a Durban Street Race – on 16 June.