While former champions Hannes Grobler and Francois Jordaan (Proudly South African Nisan Navara) lead the overall championship, another pair of former SA champions in Neil Woolridge and Kenny Skjoldhammer (Ford Racing Ranger) lead the premier Super Production Class. In the overall championship Grobler/Jordaan lead Woolridge/Skjoldhammer by eight points, while in the SP Class the Ford pair lead the Nissan pair by six points.<-> With two events left on the calendar it is all very interesting, and a little confusing, but in both championships the advantage lies with Grobler and Jordaan. The Ford combination have scored in every event so far this season, and must drop one result, something that gives the Nissan team a little breathing space.
Class E championship leader Manfred Schroder (Ford Racing Ranger) and Class D leader Chris Visser (Tyco Trucks Toyota Hilux) are third and fourth in the overall championship, but are too far back to be serious title challengers. Bevan Bertholdt (Castrol Toyota Hilux) is fifth among the drivers with only nine points separating Schroder and the two Toyota drivers.
Among the co-drivers Japie Badenhorst, who partners Visser, is third in the overall championship. There are, however, only six points separating Badenhorst, Ralph Pitchford (Proudly SA Nissan Navara) and Juan Mohr who partners Mark Corbett in the Century Property Developments Nissan Navara.
On the Class D front Visser and Badenhorst have a healthy 41 point advantage over Hugo and Jaap de Bruyn (Castrol Toyota Hilux) and Coetzee Labuscagne/Johan Gerber in the Raysonics Nissan Hardbody. A win on the recent Sun City 400 lifted the de Bruyn’s up the leader board after they missed the Lesotho Sun 400.
Behind the de Bruyn and Labuscagne/Gerber combinations there is a tough scrap going on between Cliff and Louis Weichelt (Bosal Toyota Hilux) and Andre and Jurie du Plessis in the BB Auto Nissan Hardbody. The Weichelt’s are seven points adrift of the de Bruyn’s and Labuscagne/Gerber and just five points ahead of the du Plessis combination.
Down in Class E it looks as though something out of the ordinary will have to happen to stop Schroder and Ward Huxtable from walking off with the driver and co-driver titles. Huxtable is the more vulnerable of the two, but the Ford pair are very much the ones to beat in Class E.
Consistency has taken brothers Mark and Stuart Moffat (Bosal Toyota Hilux) into second place in Class E. They are, however, only two points clear of Jannie Visser, brother of Chris, and Joks le Roux (Toyota Hilux) who have also put together a string of impressive results since joining the fray.
Where the manufacturers are concerned a good return on the Sun City 400 saw Toyota increase their lead over perennial arch rivals Nissan. The gap is now 45 points and Toyota crews will be gearing up for a huge effort on the Toyota Dealer 400 in Mpumalanga on October 27 and 28.
