14 Jul RACE REVIEW – POWER SERIES #5 CARS 9 JULY 2022
MIDWINTER MAGIC AT KILLARNEY POWER SERIES
Eric Mouton and his gynormous Chev De Ville V8 took the early lead in the first combined Laude Classic Cars and BEJO Trustees Fine Cars race at Round 5 of the 2022 Power Series presented by Wingfield Motors on Saturday 9 July but was soon under attack from top contenders Michael Hitchcock (Cross Cape Forklift Services Mustang) and defending champion Franco Donadio (Ford Escort Mk1). Mouton faded towards the end as Hitchcock and Donadio swopped places on almost every lap, finishing in that order with only 1.316 seconds between them.
Gunther Appelgryn (BMW E36) led the Fine Cars race-within-a-race all the way, coming home seven seconds ahead of Coenraad Matthee (Porsche 928), followed by Natasha Tischendorff (Volkswagen Jetta CLi) and Jo-Anne Fourie (Volkswagen Golf 2 Jumbo).
Donadio was back to his accustomed position at the head of the field for most of Race 2 while Hitchcock, Eric van der Merwe (Lynx Porsche 944T) and Mouton debated second. Sadly, Mouton went out after two laps, while Van der Merwe pushed the Mustang down to third and went after Donadio. It took him the whole race, but he was able to pass the Escort on the final tour to take the win by 2.335 seconds, with Hitchcock a distant third.
In Appelgryn’s absence Matthee (Porsche 928) aced the Fine Cars, finishing well ahead of Fourie and Tischendorff.
Nian du Toit, out for the first time in the NDT Racing/Powerflow Exhausts Skyline, led every lap of the first Thermo Fires Clubmans Saloons race to come home 1.597 seconds ahead of Joshua Dolinschek’s Industrial Abrasives BMW, with Mansoor Parker a very close third. Charl Visser, starting from pole, was right there with Du Toit at the start but went out on lap two.
He was back for Race 2, however and got into a race-long dice with Dolinschek and Parker. After Du Toit went on lap five Dolinschek put in three superb laps to take the win by 0.011sec (eleven thousandths of a second!) from Parker with Visser just 0.136sec further adrift.
Marcel Angel made the early running in the first combined Pirelli V8 Masters and Kaltron Formula Supercars race but dropped back a little in the second half of the race to finish third behind Sean Moore and Mark Ridgway. Nian du Toit, who seems to able to pedal anything with wheels and an engine, led the Supercars home, eight seconds clear of Glen Philllips.
Ridgway didn’t come out for Race 2 but Angel was back with a vengeance in Race 2, never out of the frame and finishing second to Barry Ingle by just 0.359sec with Moore third, while Du Toit was the only Supercar not to be lapped.
Byron Mitchell (Dolphin Engineering Wheel Collision Reynard) and Dee-Jay Booysen (Dico Racing/Burner Factory Formula VW) produced their usual speed festival at the front of the Formula Libre races (Mitchell posted a 1:10.543 in the second race on a cold, damp track!) Booysen took line honours in Race 1 unchallenged after Mitchell went out while leading on lap eight, with Jason Coetzee second in the Mint Wrapworks Mygale and Troy Dolinschek third in the SuJean Investments Mygale.
But the spice in the race was the fight for the Formula Vee class win, with Zane Amundsen (Repsol Lantis), Kelly Fletcher (who is improving with every outing in the Dolphin Engineering Forza) and Donovan Ramsay swoppping positions on almost every lap to finally finish in that order, covered by just 1.475 seconds.
Mitchell was back for Race 2, romping away to win by more than 30 seconds from Booysen, Dolinschek and Coetzee – but Amundsen, Fletcher and Ramsay delivered the dice of the day, a superb battle that saw them finish in the same order within less than a quarter of a second.
The Spitfire Furniture Sports & GT competitors were battling for grip in the wintry conditions but once the tyres on Francis Carruthers’ Pilbeam MP84 came up to temperature he was able to pull away from Harp Motorsport team-mate Steve Humble and his Mallock Mk14B to win Race 1 by two seconds.
Dawie Joubert, out for the first time at Killarney in a new Porsche 991 GT3 Cup, put in a superb late charge to pass the older Porsche of Gary Kieswetter on the last lap and take third by a scant 0.343sec. After a number of superbikes went down in the rain during their second race, however, Race 2 was called off due to safety concerns.