RACE REPORT – ONS HUISIE 100 10 April 2021 Power Series #2

RACE REPORT – ONS HUISIE 100 10 April 2021 Power Series #2

ONLY THE FITTEST SURVIVE THE ONS HUISIE 100

Any endurance race is by its very nature a process of attrition – although sometimes that attrition can be dramatic indeed. The second annual Ons Huisie 100 for Sports and GT cars at Round 2 of the Power Series presented by Wingfield Motors and Kfm 94.5 at Killarney on Saturday 10 April delivered all the drama fans watching the live-streaming could have asked for.

Harp Motorsport team-mates Francis Carruthers (Pilbeam MP84) and Steve Humble (Opel Mallock Mk14B) were expected to set the pace, and so they did, with Humble leading the first few laps before Carruthers steamed past and grabbed a lead he was never to relinquish. Humble was able to stay with the more powerful Nissan V6 powered Pilbeam until about half distance, but then gradually fell back towards the Advanced Packaging Technology Porsche GT3 Cup of Gary Kieswetter, who’d been running a steady third since the start.

Martin Pugh, sadly, completed only five laps before the Appleberry Shelby Canam went out, handing fourth to Mike Verrier in the RBR/Aidcall 247 Shelby CanAm, while WPMC president Dr Greg Mills, who’d had almost no seat time in the Team Africa Le Mans Ginetta G55 since the SA Endurance Series 9 Hour in December 2020, gradually moved up after a conservative start.

Mills caught and passed the Shelby on lap 21, just before a momentary lapse of judgement turned the race on its ear. Kieswetter had finally reeled in the Mallock, but Humble was not about to hand the Porsche driver second overall just for the asking. Kieswetter tried a couple of unsuccessful overtaking moves and then, at the start of lap 23, he outbraked both himself and Humble into Kfm Corner, ramped right over the low-slung Mallock, and flew straight into the kitty litter and out of the race.

Humble, fortunately wasn’t hurt, but the Mallock was too badly damaged to continue; suddenly Mills in the orange Ginetta found himself in second overall and leading Class C, while still trying to stay ahead of Verrier’s theoretically faster Class A Shelby Canam.

Mills posted his fastest lap time of the race on lap 25, while Carruthers concentrated on bringing the Pilbeam home in one piece to claim the overall and Class A wins. After 31 laps – a little more than 101 kilometres of racing – the Ginetta was less than seven seconds adrift, with Verrier a further 2.5 seconds in arrears to finish third overall and second in Class A.

There were no Class B finishers, while veteran Louis de Jager finished a lap down in his Lola T212 to take second in fourth overall and second in Class C, well clear of Eric Salomon’s Toyota Elf S06 and Class D winner Emile Botha in the Financial Planning and Investments Nissan 350Z.

On lap further back, the Lotus Sevens of Ray Farnham and Hennie Trollip finished second and thirds respectively in Class D, just 1.097 seconds apart after 29 hard-fought laps.