RACE REPORT – CARS 1 May 2021 Power Series #3

RACE REPORT – CARS 1 May 2021 Power Series #3

ACTION-PACKED POWER SERIES RACING AT KILLARNEY

 
Fans watching the May Day Power Series racing presented by Wingfield Motors and Kfm 94.5 at Killarney on Saturday 1 May were treated to an action-packed day of close racing and spectacular crashes, fortunately with no serious injuries.
 
The Mikes Place Clubmans Saloons fielded no less than 36 entries, of which only 21 survived an incredibly destructive Race 1. Sulaiman Effendi crashed out in Kfm Corner on lap two, and early leader Nieyaas Modack (NSI Racing/MIM Carrriers E46 M3) went out on lap three.
 
Zack Groenewald led two laps in the G&A Promotions/Alpine Autohaus V8 Lumina, only to retire the fast but fragile Chev after colliding with Danie van Niekerk’s Wingfield Motors E36 in Turn 2 on lap four. That left Clint Rennard (G&A Promotions Golf 2L) to chase Van Niekerk all the way to the line, just 0.258sec adrift in a cliffhanger finish. They were followed by Imaad Modack in the second NSI Racing/MIM Carriers E46 M3 (first in Class B) and Cody Alberts’ Stylesy/JVT/GT Graphics BMW E46 330i.
 
Class C honours went to Ederees Achmat (EA Performance E36) in sixth overall, Class D was won by Dewald Theron (Delcon Construction Golf Mk1) in 11th overall, Class E by Ciara van Niekerk in the Wingfield Motors/Best Price for My Car Golf 1 2L (15th overall) and Class F by Eugene Gasperl, just 0.7sec behind Van Niekerk in his BMW E46.
 
Race 2 was red-flagged on lap two, with Van Niekerk leading from Rennard and Alberts, when Theron and John Kirsten (G&A Motorsport Polo Vivo) tangled in Car Care Clinic and both wound up in the kitty litter.
 
Pole-position holder Alberts was unceremoniously mugged by Van Niekerk at the re-start, who then led every lap of the five-lap sprint to the line, with Rennard and Alberts in hot pursuit – too hot for Alberts, who suddenly slowed on the final lap and dropped back to sixth over the line, gifting Nieyaas Modack with a distant third, which was then promoted to second when Van Niekerk was given a 30 second penalty, dropping him back to ninth overall.
 
Anwar Levy (Armien Levy Motorsport BMW E30) led a tight group of three Class B finishers, third overall ahead of Shane Smith (Truckport Logistics E46) and Achmat Achmat (Beta Machine & Tool 135). Stacy Wilson led Class C in the DTM Helderberg Maxima, Anton Jacobs (All Scale Sentra 2L) took Class D, Ciara van Niekerk aced Class E and Gasperl made it a Class F double.
 
Cheaper Cars GTi Challenge arch-rivals Jurie ‘Umpie’ Swart (Alpine Autohaus Polo 6 2L) and Marco Busi (Automan Polo) picked up where they left off last time out, battling all the way in Race 1 to finish less than three seconds apart, with Swart in front when it counted. Charl Visser (Charl Electrical Engineering Polo 6) was third, seven seconds further back, with Eden Thompson (Mad Performance/Somerset Refrigeration Polo) taking Class B by a scant 0.075sec from Giordano Lupini’s Bullion IT/Banhoek Chilli Oil Jetta, while Kyle Wiltshire (VW Golf Mk1 1.8L) and super-talented teenage rookie Tate Bishop headed Class C.
 
Busi jostled his way to the front on lap one of Race 2, with Swart in hot pursuit until the Alpine Autohaus Polo went sick on lap four, leaving Busi to romp home for a three-second win over Dillon Joubert (Powder Coating World/TAC Steel Polo 6) and Colin Meder Jr (International Tube Tech Polo), who battled it out all the way to finish in that order, less than half a second apart.
 
Lupini won Class B, finishing an impressive sixth overall, and Chase Herholdt (Powerflow Salt River Golf) beat Wiltshire by 0.447sec to win Class C in 15th overall.
 
Franco Donadio started the SDC Classic and Bejo Trustees Fine Cars races in his usual fashion with pole position and a Race 1 win in his wide-bodied Ford Escort Mk1, but Charles Arton laid down his marker by chasing the Escort all the way in his Datsun 240Z, finishing only 3.6 seconds in arrears. Geoff Bihl (Lynx Porsche 944) was the only Class B finisher in sixth overall after Bruce Avern-Taplin’s Toyota Corolla stopped going right on lap four, Herman de Kock headed Class C, one place further back, and Niel Mouton took Class E honours in his Alfa Giulia Super.
 
Albert Cook showed the Fine Cars the way home in his BMW E36 325, ahead of Robert Toscano (Technoparts MX5) and his father Maurizio (Volkswagen Passat GLX5).
 
Race 2 saw a major upset, however, as Arton passed Donadio on lap six and held off a spirited late charge from the Escort to win by two seconds, with Michael Hitchcock a distant third in the Cross Cape Forklifts Mustang. Bihl took sixth overall again, while Deon Conradie (Garage 86 Conquest RSi) beat de Kock by just 0.074sec for eighth overall and Class C honours, and Mouton’s Alfa was the sole Class E survivor.
 
Cook and the Toscanos made the running again in the Fine Cars category, with Cook’s daughter Melani a well-earned fourth in her Volkswagen Fox.
 
The first combined V8 Masters and Makita Formula Supercars race was red-flagged on lap two when Silver Class V8 drivers Menno Parsons and Sander le Bon collided in Kfm Corner and both cars wound up stuck half on and half off the circuit. Defending champion Fabio Tafani got the holeshot at the re-start and led all the way to win by less than a second from Sean Moore and Rui Campos.
 
Makita Formula Supercar champion Ryan McCarthy chased Nian du Toit until they touched in Kfm Corner at the start of lap four, spinning McCarthy out. He recovered to finish stone last while Du Toit came home unchallenged, four seconds ahead of the dice of the race between hot rookie Hilton Pieters and veteran Glen Phillips, who finished in that order, 0.113sec apart.
 
Campos got the hole-shot at the start of Race 2, followed by Moore, Rob Warrington and Tafani, but by the second lap normal service had been resumed as Tafani took over the lead and held it to the end to win by almost five seconds from Campos, Warrington and Barry Ingle, while Moore held a strong third until he suddenly dropped back on the final lap to finish 12th.
 
McCarthy got the best of an incident-packed Makita Formula Supercar race-within-a-race to win by less than three seconds from Glen Phillips and Hilton Pieters.
 
Class S hotshots Byron Mitchell (Dolphin Engineering Formula VW) and Dee-Jay Booysen (Dico/Burner Factory Reynard) set the pace in both Formula Libre races, followed at a respectful distance by the Class A cars of Troy Dolinschek (Industrial Abrasives Z-Tech) and James Beaumont (Squared Technologies Reynard).
 
But the big bunfight, as always, was among the Formula Vees, where Elroy Vice (Dolphin Engineering Forza), veteran Cyril Somerville (Dolphin Engineering Sting 1.4L) and Zane Amundsen (Lantis) fought it out for Class C honours, finishing both races in that order covered by less than six seconds.
 
Steve Humble, his Opel-powered Mallock Mk14B neatly repaired after being used as a ramp by Gary Kieswetter’s Porsche in the recent Ons Huisie 100, was expected to set the pace in the Laude Sports & GT Cars races, and did so in Race 1, romping away to win by 15 seconds from Harp Motorsport team-mate Francis Carruthers’ Pilbeam MP84, with Martin Pugh (Class B Appleberry Shelby Canam) third.
 
Louis de Jager (Lola T212) led Class C in fourth overall, with Arno Church (Ford FVH 7) fifth overall and leading Class D.
 
The fuel-tank breather pipe on Humble’s Mallock had come off, however, and was spilling petrol onto the left rear tyre in hard right-handers, causing Humble to spin twice in Race 2. Nevertheless, he fought back to finish a hard-earned second, with Pugh, the only Class B runner, in third overall again.
De Jager led Eric Salomon’s Elf S06 home to claim Class C honours for the day but Church’s FVH 7 cried enough on lap three, leaving Henni Trollip’s Lotus 7 as the only Class D survivor.