The Killarney round of the South African Single-Seaters (SASS) proved to be perhaps the most exciting one yet. Up front the Formula Volkswagen (FVW) competition was intense while the F1600 battle was a real white knuckle affair.
Formula VW
Robert Wolk has dominated the FVW category for a while now, leaving the rest of the field to fight it out amongst themselves for finishing order. At the Cape Town event an oil leak saw Wolk black flagged and removed from the results for the first race. Helpers arrived from the other teams to manage a high-speed engine swap and get the job finished in time for Wolk to take the grid for race two.
This opened the door in that first race for other drivers and Nicholas van Weely capitalised on his opportunity to claim the race win, followed by Wesleigh Orr and Werner Scholtz. The highlight was the second race, with Van Weely pushing hard to repeat his race-winning performance and Wolk determined to make up for the loss of race one.
The result was a side-by-side dice between the pair that lasted lap after lap after lap. It was a matter of inches that separated the pair down the straights and even less through the corners. It was a display of high-speed open-wheel racing at its absolute best. A second place to Wolk in race two saw Van Weely win the day overall with Orr taking second and Jason Campos bringing his Formula Volkswagen home for third on the day.
Formula 1600
The action was no less intense in the F1600 category. Here the racers do without wings and additional aerodynamic aids which means maintaining that delicate balance between speed and handling to keep their cars on the track.
Keegan Campos and Scott Temple duelled throughout the day, the lead changing almost continuously throughout the first race and resulting in a drag race to the line between Campos and Temple with the winning margin just 0,053 of a second – in favour of Campos. Race two, Temple tucked in behind Campos and bided his time. That time was two laps before the end of the race when he made a move down the straight, out-foxing Campos in the process and sliding into the lead by the second corner. It gave Temple all the advantage he needed to claim the chequered flag in race two – and first overall for the day. Graham Hepburn put in a g00d performance to claim third overall, even though his racing was overshadowed by the duel taking place up front.