The Kopanong Hotel Superteam is hoping for better results on the Nissan Sugarbelt 400, round two of the Absa Off Road Championship, which takes place on April 23 and 24 in the Eston area near Pietermaritzburg.
Management has high hopes that Nic Goslar and Warren Bowie can pull off a repeat of their Class S win on the season opening Nissan Dealer 400, that the oil pressure problem caused by a faulty oil seal won’t affect John Weir-Smith and Geoff Minnitt in the Class A Jimco and that the overheating problems on Andre Botha and Beans Heydenrych’s Class F Chevrolet are now a thing of the past.
“The Kopanong Hotel Superteam is bullish about its chances for success on the Nissan Sugarbelt 400 especially from newcomers to the team, Chris Fick and Rob Knight in the Class D Land Rover 2.8,” said Andre Botha. “I am confident that we take home top three places in Class A, S and F and would be more than happy for rookies Fick and Knight to finish in their first event.”
Weir-Smith and Minnitt have some catching up to do in Class A after their non-finish in Darling and will have to contend with a host of BAT entries and Nissan Dealer 400 winners Atang Makgekgenene and Mike Stangl in the Jimco.
Goslar and Bowie will have to turn on the taps to stay ahead of hard charging Class S rivals Richard Schilling and Ashley Thorn and Buks Carolin and Archie Rutherford who between them have won seven national championship titles. Based on past performances Goslar has proven that he is a wily old fox that looks on while his rivals drive themselves into early retirement and then goes on to pick up the spoils.
For Botha and Heydenrych who compete in Class F for two-wheel drive vehicles it will be very much a case of getting the Chevrolet to the finish to pick up that elusive maiden class win and as for Fick and Knight’s chances in the hotly contested Class D, only time will tell.
