In the run up to Rounds 9 and 10 of the Wesbank V8 series, which will be held at Kyalami on Saturday, the four drivers at the top of the championship table are covered by just five points.
In the run up to Rounds 9 and 10 of the Wesbank V8 series, which will be held at Kyalami on Saturday, the four drivers at the top of the championship table are covered by just five points.
The four leading drivers – Grant van Schalkwyk, Mackie Adlem, Johan Fourie and Hennie Groenewald – have each won two races so far this year and are all in the running for the title.
Leader of the championship and the GT1 600 HP (475 kW) Class on 65 points is Van Schalkwyk (Hi-QW Jaguar) who won in the Free State and again at the last meeting in Port Elizabeth.
Young West-Rander Adlem (Fuchs Titan Mustang) has 61 points with wins at Killarney in Cape Town in April and in the Free State. He is tied on points with three times Wesbank V8 champion Johan Fourie (Ericsson Omega) who is gunning for a fourth title. Fourie took the opening race of the season at Kyalami in February and again at Port Elizabeth’s Aldo Scribante circuit.
Hennie Groenewald (Havoline Jaguar) from Gauteng won at Kyalami last time out, and scored another win in Cape Town despite a massive crash, on 60 points. The accident in Cape Town cost him two DNFs so he is on a charge to improve the situation.
Also in the GT1 class are Welkom’s Jaco Correia (Omega Spares Corvette). Correia, Steve Smith (Cool Cat Jaguar) and Nationwide Airlines boss Vernon Bricknell (Corvette) all have the racing experience to mix it up front with the others.
Zane Pearce (Hi-Q Jaguar) from KwaZulu Natal seems to have the GT2 550 HP (415 kW) Class buttoned up. Having finished every race this year, has five wins from eight outings. Terry Wilford (Fuchs Titan Mustang) driving his father’s Ford, has been a revelation this year, winning in Cape Town early in the season.
2000 Wesbank champion Roelf du Plessis (Corvette) from the West Rand and experienced Franco di Matteo (PF Hydraulics Jaguar) both like the Kyalami circuit. Meanwhile, a pair of flying youngsters, Wade van Zummeren (Border Towing Comaro) and Gordon Connelly (Cowan Signs Jaguar), has become a threat to all comers this year. Porsche star Franz Pretorius (Ford Mustang) and Richard Ransome (Ford Mustang), who only races in Gauteng events, will be in the line-up along with Andrea Taurino (Dischem Mustang).
The GT3 class for 500 hp (375 kW) Ford Thunderbirds has seen a new motor racing star emerge. Kurt Bakewell (All-Steel) with a hat-trick of wins not only leads the class with 36 points, but is sixth overall in the championship. He can’t afford to take it easy, however, as Rob Beaumont (Tyco Trucking) sits on 32 points.
Bakewell and Beaumont are followed by the winner of the class in Port Elizabeth, Deon Auby (Tyco Trucking), Nic de Jong (Village Timber Products), Chris de Klerk and Ross Lazarus.
