Piet Haasbroek and Christo Bosch, the leading Toyota privateers in South African off-road racing, in a Class D Land Cruiser, are still in contention for the overall production vehicle championship after another reasonable run in the Caledon 400 in the southern Free State at the weekend. Haasbroek and Bosch were second in Class D, but still picked up enough points to put them second on the championship table behind Neil Woolridge and Kenny Skjoldhammer (Ford Ranger V8). –
– Multiple national champions Apie Reyneke and Robin Houghton, who won the opening event of the year in the previous generation Castrol Land Cruiser bakkie, were foiled in their attempt to score another win when they hit a rock hidden in one of the numerous mud pools on the 400 km route. –
– “We started behind the two Nissan Class T vehicles after qualifying third quickest in the prologue, and on the first loop of the race on Saturday started catching up with Hannes Grobler and Richard Leeke who started about 20 seconds ahead of us,” Reyneke said after reaching the finish in second position overall. –
– “We passed a stricken Hardbody a few kilometres form the start, and once we saw it was De Villiers, we knew Grobler couldn’t be too far ahead of us,” Reyneke, the former multiple driver’s champion said. But then disaster struck – the Castrol Land Cruiser hit a mud patch at full bore, making contact with a very solid rock that was invisible to Reyneke. –
– “We immediately stopped, but couldn’t see any damage and carried on, but as soon as we reached speeds of about 120 km/h, the vehicle developed a huge vibration, preventing us from going any faster,” Reyneke said. –
– Reyneke and Houghton pitted at the end of the first loop of 200 km to have the vehicle checked out and got the OK from Toyota’s Motorsport Manager, Wammy Haddad to carry on. The Ford Ranger V8 of Woolridge and Skjöldhammer passed them, and they rejoined the race in third position overall. –
– “But the vibration was so severe that we couldn’t challenge Grobler and the Ford for the lead and we settled down to defend our podium position,” Reyneke said. –
– Two other Castrol Land Cruisers in the Production Vehicle Category had similar difficulties – a misfire prevented championship contenders Piet Haasbroek and Christo Bosch to try to close the gap after losing even more race time due to two punctures, and they had to settle with second behind Class D winners Mark Corbett and Juan Möhr (Isuzu KB). Shumie van Vuuren and Steve Parker had to call it quits after another gearbox failure. –
– Toyota was dealt another blow in Class E with Kassie Coetzee and Ockie Fourie in the Castrol Condor having to pack up and go home early as well. But privateers Hannes Steyn and Ferdi Seegers flew the Toyota flag with a well-deserved third in Class E in their Hilux KX-TE, followed by Gawie and Elaine van Deventer in the privately-entered N1 4×4 Hilux. –
– Early championship leaders Hugo and Jaap de Bruyn managed to salvage 5th position in Class E, but lost their grip in the overall points standings by slipping down to 2nd position in the Class E championship. –
– Reyneke and Houghton are expecting a tough situation for the remaining two events with the Ford Ranger V8 and the Class D Nissan of non-finishers Duncan Vos and Mike Griffith sharing the lead in the Overall Production Vehicle Championship. –
– The next Bankfin Off-Road event is round 7 to be held in Tarkastad after the Lichtenburg 400 had been cancelled because of a lack of event sponsors.
