The O’Hagan’s/Kopanong Hotel Superteam has had a troubled season but if Superteam co-founder Andre Botha’s ultimatum to the team delivers the required result on the Sun City 400 they could walk away with the overall victory in the Special Vehicle category and four class wins.
The Superteam has one overall victory and four class wins from five outings in the SA Off Road Championship…presented by Absa but this is not good enough for Botha.
“The O’Hagan’s/Kopanong Hotel Superteam is professionally run, has the necessary resources, competitive vehicles and an excellent driver line-up but somehow we have not enjoyed the success we would have liked,” said Botha. “Four engine failures on John Weir-Smith and Geoff Minnitt’s Superteam Jimco and ongoing problems with the steering of Gareth Wark’s Superteam Mighty Mag have the experts puzzled but hopefully solutions will be found before the Sun City 400.”
“In John we have a driver with awesome ability, which was aptly proven when he came from behind to win the Toyota 1000, but I feel he needs to back-off a little and not make the kind of mistake he made on the Tarka 400 when he and Geoff went on an unscheduled three storey high, 75 meter long flight after mistiming a jump,” added Botha. “Nic Goslar has emerged as the star of the team and is fourth in the Special Vehicle championship and leads the Class S championship following class wins on the Nissan Sugarbelt 400 and the Queen Motor Spares Tarka 400.”
Botha and business partner Bean Heydenrych made their off road racing debut this season in the Superteam Chevy.
“It has been a steep learning curve for Beans and I but we have both got to grips with the vehicle and now know what is required of us in this extremely tough form of motorsport. We were delighted to come away from the Tarka 400 with our first finish and the Class F win to boot,” said Botha.
The Sun City 400 gets underway with a 40km Prologue at 13:00 on Friday, September 26. The main event, which consists of three laps of a 130km route, starts at 08:00 on Saturday, September 27 with the first car expected at the finish at the Sun City Sports Complex at 13:00.
