RACE REPORT: Power Series 5 June 2021 Cars

RACE REPORT: Power Series 5 June 2021 Cars

CLUBMANS LEAD THE CHARGE AT POWER SERIES ROUND 4

With no less than 40 entries the Mikes Place Clubmans Saloons were by far the biggest category at Round 4 of Power Series racing presented by Wingfield Motors and Kfm 94.5 at Killarney on Saturday 5 June – and they delivered some of the most dramatic racing.

Race 1 was a seven-way showdown between Nieyaaz Modack’s MIM Carriers/NSI Racing BMW E46 M3, Danie van Niekerk (Wingfield Motors BMW 325 E36), Clint Rennard (G&A Promotions/Speed Precision Golf Non Turbo), Ebrahim Levy in the brand-new Armien Levy Motorsport Lumina V8, Class B hotshot Raaziegh Harris (Panic Plumbers Golf Mk1), Mansoor Parker (Armien Levy Motorsport BMW E30) and Cody Alberts’ JVG Roofing/Stylesy BMW E46 330i, all of whom were within 2.5 seconds when the Lumina blew its engine going into Turn 2 on lap six, dumping copious quantities of oil and bringing out the red flags.

The results were taken at the end of lap five with Modack, Van Niekerk, Rennard, Levy, Harris, Parker and Alberts classified in that order.

Achmat Achmat (BMW 135) was eighth overall and second in Class B, Willem Swart (WFS Motors) led Class C in 10th overall, with Clive Smith (Porsche 924) taking Class D honours in 14th overall, Eugene Gasperl (BMW E46) at the top of Class E) in 22nd overall and Rodney Becker (Car Care Clinic Civic) leading Class F in 32nd overall.

Modack led all the way in Race 2, from Alberts, Van Niekerk and Rennard, who mugged Van Niekerk on the final lap to grab third by just 0.161sec, while Achmat finished fifth overall while leading Class B ahead of Harris.

Class C went to Swart again in eighth overall, Class D to John Kirsten (G&A Motorsport Polo Vivo) in 12th overall, Class E to Ryan Large (Akwasol Citi Golf) in 20th overall and Class F to Darrell van Niekerk (Cool Touch Golf Mk1) in 25th overall.

Late entry Jurie ‘Umpie’ Swart (Alpine Autohaus Polo 6 2L) took the first Cheaper Cars GTi Challenge race after a race-long dice with Jason Coetzee (Mint Wrapworks/CK Coachworks Golf Gti), Dillon Joubert (Powder Coating World/TAC Steel Polo 6) and Marco Busi (Automan Polo) that saw Busi take third away from Joubert on the final lap, with all four of the front-runners covered by just 1.243 seconds.

Class B honours went to defending champion Eden Thompson (Mad Performance/Somerset Refrigeration Polo 6) in eighth overall, by less than a second from Giordano Lupini’s Bullion IT/Banhoek Chilli Oil Jetta Mk2, while Schalk Gerldenhuys (G&A Motorsport Golf Mk1) beat Kyle Wiltshire (Volkswagen Golf Mk1 1.8L) by an even smaller margin to claim the Class C laurels in 16th overall

Busi led all but the final two laps of Race 2, then suddenly slowed and dropped back to finish 18th, while Coetzee got the better of an intense duel with Swart to take the win by 2.897 seconds with Kai van Zyl (Unlimited Auto Angri Polo) third and Joubert a distant fourth.

Lupini got the better of Thompson to win Class B in fifth overall, while Wiltshire (in 16th overall) beat 14-year-old Tate Bishop (Angri Golf) by just 0.157sec for the Class C win.

Defending V8 Masters champion Fabio Tafani led the first combined V8 Masters and Makita Formula Supercars race from lights to flag, chased all the way by long-standing rival Marcel Angel, with Barry Ingle third after Sean Moore dropped back from an early third to finish eighth. Nian du Toit, Andrew Moffitt and Hilton Pieters led the Makita Formula Supercars, finishing in that order within less than four seconds after a splendid dice.In Tafani’s absence,

Race 2 turned the form book on its ear in the best possible way as Alister Brown, Ingle, Rob Warrington and Mark Ridgway finished in that order in less than two seconds, with Jason Ibbotson, Angel and Moore two seconds further adrift. The finish in the Makita Formula Supercars was even tighter as Du Toit, Pieters, Moffitt, Glen Phillips and Gary Thomson came home covered by just 3.246 seconds.

Father and son Arnold and Dewald Lambert, each in a VW Jetta, led the first Bejo trustees Fine Cars race, with
Albert Cook (BMW E36) and Jan Koekemoer (Mazda RX7) in close attendance.

Lambert Sr led the first lap of Race 2, only to fall back and retire after three laps, handing the lead to his son. On lap four, however, Cook muscled through to the lead, while Dewald Lambert also fell back in the closing stages, to finish eighth. Cook was followed home by Gunther Applegryn (BMW E36), Robert Toscano (Mazda MX5) and Koekemoer.

Byron Mitchell (Dolphin Engineering Formula VW) got the better of national FF1600 contender Andrew Rackstraw (Investchem/RDSA Formula VW) and Dee-Jay Booysen (Dico/Burner Factory Reynard) in the first Formula Libre race. Rackstraw then got the holeshot in Race 2 and took half a second off his lap times to hold off a race-long challenge from Mitchell and win by a scant 0.298sec, followed at a respectful distance by Booysen.

The Class A cars of Troy Dolinschek (Industrial Abrasives Z-Tech) and James Beaumont (Squared Technologies Reynard) finshed fourth and fifth in both races, ahead of the usual midfield brawl, which saw Bertus Engelbrecht (CS Cleaning Solutions/TRUSC Speads RM08) leading Class B from Graham Knight (Eloff Transformers/Claw Security Ray) in Race 1 and ahead of Hadyn Elwood (Swift S92) in Race 2.

Elroy Vice (Dolphin Engineering Forza) led the Formula Vees home in Class C, with veteran Cyril Somerville (Dolphin Engineering Sting 1.4L) and Zane Amundsen (Lantis) second and third respectively in Race 1. Race 2 was even closer however, as Vice fought off a late challenge from Zane Amundsen (Lantis) to take class honours by less than a quarter of a second.