The highly vaunted ‘rumble in the jungle’ between off road racing veterans Richard Schilling and Buks Carolin turned into somewhat of a murmur on the Nissan Dealer 400, which was the first round of the Absa Off Road Championship that was held in Darling in the Western Cape recently.
The veterans, who have between them won seven national championships, have a friendly wager on each event with the loser handing over a cheque of R1 000 to their nominated charity, Sunfield Homes in Muldersdrift.
Schilling and Ashley Thorn (Plastotech Raceco) scored an early knock down during Friday’s Prologue when they had a clean run compared to their rivals Carolin and Archie Rutherford. The Nashua Mobile Raceco lost its drive belts and Carolin had to be content with starting 41st, 28 positions behind Schilling.
Schilling and Thorn took advantage of their excellent starting position and opened up a comfortable lead in Class S for unlimited Special Vehicles fitted with trailing arm front suspensions but, as luck would have it, the gearbox cried enough 140km into the race and they were forced to retire.
All Carolin had to do was pass the stricken pair to claim victory and this he soon did only to retire with a blown motor 30km from the finish while comfortably leading Class S.
It was an expensive weekend for the rival teams but in the case of Schilling his bill was R1 000 higher with Sunfield Homes the winner.
The battle will resume on the Nissan Sugarbelt 400, which will be run in the Eston area near Pietermaritzburg on April 23 and 24.
