17 Nov POWER SERIES ROUND 6 THE BEST YET
Round 6 of Power Series racing presented by Wingfield Motors and Kfm 94.5 at Killarney on Saturday 14 November delivered the closest and most exciting racing of the season, with a number of red-flag incidents as some of the drivers tried a little too hard at this, the penultimate round of the 2020 series.
The headline Mikes Place Clubmans Saloons races were both won by Brennon Green, whose Weskaap Bakwerke Golf is fast developing a reputation for punching above its weight in a field dominated by BMW 3 Series ‘sixes’.
He was followed home in Race 1 by Rafiek ‘Fiekie’ Pather (LVTS BMW E46), Cody Alberts (Stylesy BMW E46 330i) and Sulaiman Effendi (Jimmy Motorsport BMW E30), with Imaad Modack (MIM Carriers BMW E46 M3) and Baby Jakes (Harcraw BMW E34) leading Class B in fifth and sixth overall.
Shane Smith (Truckport BMW E46) took Class C line honours, with Daanyaal Coetzee (A & M Plumbing BMW M3) at the front of Class D and Ryan Large (Akwasol Golf) heading Class E, just 1.374sec ahead of Ciara van Niekerk (Wingfield Golf 1 2L).
Class F competitor Nieyaaz Modack (MIM Carriers BMW E46 M3) ran as high as second in the early stages and finished an astonishing seventh overall, which would have placed him third in Class B.
Sadly, Modack did not come out for Race 2, which nevertheless produced its fair share of upsets as Class B veteran Wayne Wilson (DTM Helderberg Maxima) followed Green and Alberts home in third overall, ahead of Baby Jakes and Imaad Modack. Sixth overall was Class X rookie Ammaar Coetzee (A & M Plumbing BMW E46 M3), while Smith took Class D Honours, Van Niekerk won Class E and Class F driver Dylan Nel (Sentraal Bakwerke BMW E36) finished 12th overall, which would have placed him second in Class D.
Marco Busi (Automan Polo) took a hard-fought Race 1 in the Cheaper Cars Gti Challenge by less than half a second from Jason Coetzee’s Mint Golf GTi and Charl Visser in the Charl Electrical Polo 6 after early challenger Jurie Swart (G-Energy/Alpine Autohaus Polo 6) got it all wrong on lap four and dropped back from second to fifth behind Mario Roux (Automan/Pro Logistics Jetta 2L).
Eden Thompson (TCL/Mad Performance Polo R) led Class B in sixth overall, with Calvin Wiltshire in 12th overall at the head of a five car Class C train, all of whom finished within little more than a second after the dice of the race.
Swart made no mistakes in Race 2, blitzing Busi on lap four and taking the win in fine style, while Visser dropped back from third to fifth and eventually wound up in the kitty litter at Fastron Corner on lap seven, gifting the last podium spot to Coetzee, with Roux fourth and Thompson leading Class B in fifth overall.
Class C delivered another cracker as Kyle Wiltshire (VW Golf MK1 1.8L) beat brother Calvin for the class win by just 0.162sec, with Colin Smith (Carsmith Golf MK1 1.8L), Marc Thompson (Somerset Refrigeration Polo), Wayne Field (Coetzee’s Auto Jetta 2), Chris Roberts (Roberts Racing Jetta MK2 2L), and John-Henri Vaughn (Maps Racing Golf) all finishing within five seconds of the Wiltshire brothers of eight laps of door-handle-to-door-handle racing.
The top dogs in the Bejo Trustees Fine and Millstock Classic Cars field – Franco Donadio and his Ford Escort, Charles Arton’s Datson 240Z and Michael Hitchcock in the Cross Cape Mustang – dominated proceedings in both races, finishing in that order both times, but there was plenty of action in midfield as well.
Jaco Lambert and his VW Jetta came home a lonely fourth in Race 1 but behind him the battle for fifth between Malcolm Uytenbogaardt (Carter Boys Granada V8), Class B leader Keith Schenck (Autolift Jetta 2) and Class C front-runner Andrew Honeywill’s Porsche 944 Turbo went all the way to the flag, as they finished in that order, all three covered by six seconds.
Even closer was the battle for eighth, where Trevor Hutchings (HSC Scirocco 1.8L), Arnold Lambert (Ford Capri), Deon Conradie (Garage 86 Conquest Rsi) and Herman de Kock (Ford Escort 1.6L) swopped places on almost every lap before finishing in that order within less than four seconds.
Melani Cook, out for only the second time in her father Albert’s 2.5-litre BMW E36, chased Rob Toscano’s Technoparts MX5 all the way to the line but was unable to pass the nimble roadster, missing out on Fine Cars line honours by just 0.407sec.
Hitchcock and Uytenbogaardt got into it in a big way in Race 2, but Hitchcock made the decisive move two laps before the end, leading the Granada home by just 0.190sec, while Schenk dropped back in the closing stages to finish 1.769sec behind Honeywill.
Ms Cook’s BMW led the Fine Cars field the whole way, ahead of Toscano and Theo Claassen (Nissan Skyline GTX) and was in fact the only Fine Car not to be lapped by Donadio.
The first V8 Masters and Makita Formula Supercars race started with a bang – a four-car collision in G-Energy Corner that took out Mark Ridgeway, Rob Warrington, Alister Brown and Roderick Simpson, and brought out the red flags.
Richard Schreuder grabbed the lead at the restart, ahead of Silver Class leader Jason Ibbotson and Rui Campos. By lap three however, Campos had moved up to second, and he passed Schreuder two laps later for a well-earned win, while Sean Moore put in a superb late charge to blitz Ibbotson and finish just 0.001sec (one thousandth of a second!) behind Schreuder, and Ryan McCarthy, Hilton Pieters and Glen Phillips led the way in the Formula Supoercar category.
Moore continued his charge to glory in Race 2, leading from lights to flag from Campos, Schreuder and Fabio Tafani, while Pieters, Andrew Moffitt and Phillips delivered an exciting scrap for Supercar line honours, finishing in that order after McCarthy went out on lap two.
The expected clash in Sports & GT between master tuner Steve Humble in the Judd 3.4-litre V8 powered Harp Pilbeam MP91 and visitor Franco Scribante’s Porsche 997 produced superb racing and near-record lap times. Humble got a poor start in Race 1 (due to cold tyres, he said) as Scribante and Marcel Angel (Autohaus Angel Ferrari 488 GT3) set the pace, but moved up to take the lead on lap four.
The finishing order was Humble, Scribante, Marcel Angel and Dayne Angel (Autohaus Angel Porsche GT2).
Lack of heat in the Pilbeam’s rear tyres sent it skating into the infield in Kfm Corner at the start of Race 2, and by the time he got back on the circuit Humble was stone last. “The red mist came down in a big way,” he said later, and he set about slicing through the field – ninth on lap two, eighth on lap three, the fastest lap of the race (1min08.369sec) on lap four, sixth on lap five, fifth on lap six and a kamikaze last lap that saw him pass both Nick Adcock in the Aidcall 247 Ligier JS 53 EVO 2 and Marcel Angel to finish a hard-earned third.
Andrew Rackstraw (VW Reynard 2L) and Byron Mitchell delivered superb racing to lead the field home in the first Formula Libre race, but the real fun was in midfield as usual, where Ryno Pentz (Dico VW Omega), Ricky Anderson (Parow Auto Body VW Forza 1.4L), Kelly Fletcher (Dolphin Engineering VW Forza) and veteran Cyril Somerville (Dolphin Engineering Sting 1.4L) finished eighth, ninth, tenth and eleventh respectively, covered by just 1.170sec after a race-long dice.
In Race 2, Mitchell passed early leader Rackstraw on lap four to win by less than a second with Dee-Jay Booysen (Bidvest McCarthy Reynard 2L) third. Richard Carr (VW Sauber) led Class C in fourth overall and Graham Knight was fifth overall and first in Class B in the Eloff Transformers Ray 1.6L.
Thanks to Funky Franky Petersen for the picture!