21 Sep RACE REVIEW – EXTREME FESTIVAL THERMO FIRES CLUBMANS – 17 SEPTEMBER 2022
THERMO FIRES CLUBMANS HARD ON CARS, GREAT FOR FANS
Shane du Toit in the Skilpadvlei Wine Farm/CM Auto Parts Golf 1 came off the second row of the grid to lead the opening lap of the first Thermo Fires Clubmans Saloons race at the Extreme Festival powered by the City of Cape Town at Killarney on Saturday 17 September, but fell victim to an on-form Clint Rennard (G&A Motorsport Golf) on the second time around. Du Toit clung on in second until two laps from the flag but then gave way to a late charge by Achmat Achmat in the Beta Machine and Tools BMW 1 Series and finished a close third.
Daanyaal Coetzee in the A&M Plumbing BMW E46 M3 was the first Class B driver home, just 0.582sec ahead of Shane Smith (Truckport Logistics BMW E46), in sixth and seventh respectively overall, JP Share headed Class C in his BMW E36 in 11th overall, and Steven Gouws aced Class D in the Thermo Fires E Gas Jetta 3, in 19th overall.
Gouws has been consistently punching above his weight this season; he leads the points standings both in Class D and overall for the category, and finished three places ahead of the next Class D car, which was Denver Benjamin’s Speed Precision Golf 2.
In the absence of any Class E entries, Philip Venter (Young Guns Plumbing/Hair Tonic Golf 1) was the first Class F driver home in 28th overall.
Top qualifier Alex Johnson (Executive Decision Audi A4 T) got the hole shot in Race 2 and held off determined challenges from oval-track veteran Jesse Huggett (Philwest/Rico Barlow Racing Jetta 2), Joshua Dolinschek (Industrial Abrasives and Tool Supplies BMW E36) and Du Toit until lap seven, when Du Toit moved into the lead, to win by 1.477 seconds from Johnson, Dolinschek, Huggett and Achmat.
Coetzee and Smith shared the honours in Class B again, just 0.702sec apart in seventh and eighth respectively overall, but Share was made to work very hard for the Class C win, with Eugen Gasperl’s BMW E46 less than half a second adrift as they came home 12th and 13th respectively overall.
Gouws had no such problems in Class D, however, finishing 20th overall with the next Class D competitor, Anton Jacobs in the All Scale Sentra, eight seconds further back in 22nd overall. Veteran Jan Tischendorff (Opel Monza Gsi) took Class F from rookie Izzat Isaacs’ Volkswagen Golf 1 by less than 2 seconds.
It’s a measure of how hard the racing was at this showcase event that only 30 of the 41 qualifiers finished both races. Thanks to Patrick Vermaak for the great action picture!