RED FLAGS RULE AT KILLARNEY POWER SERIES

RED FLAGS RULE AT KILLARNEY POWER SERIES

Danie van Niekerk and the Wingfield Motors BMW E36 pipped Brennon Green’s Weskaap Bakwerke Golf 5 GTi for pole position by just 0.026sec in qualifying for the Mikes Place Clubmans Saloons, with Sulaiman Effendi (Jimmy Motorsport BMW E30) only half a second slower.

Race 1 lasted less than two laps, however, before a huge crash brought out the red flags. Due to time constraints the race was abandoned. Race two was shortened to seven laps, led all the way by Van Niekerk and Effendi, albeit 14 seconds apart.

Steve McCarthy, out for the first time in his Nissan 350Z, got the best of a four-way battle for third with Class C leaders Shane Smith (Truckport Logistics BMW E46) and Daanyaal Coetzee (A&M Plumbing BMW E46 M3),  While Stacy Wilson (DTM Helderberg Maxima) took Class D honours in ninth overall, Faris Manan (Rismo Solutions BMW M3) finished 13th overall and first in Class F and Ciara van Niekerk won Class E in the Wingfield Motors Golf 1 2L, finishing 16th overall.

While the Class S cars of Byron Mitchell (Dolphin Engineering Formula VW), Dee-Jay Booysen (Bidvest McCarthy Formula Reynard) and James Beaumont (Formula Reynard) fought it out at the front of the first Formula Libre race, Richard Carr (Formula Vee Sauber) led the usual Formula Vee bunfight.

This saw Graham Knight (the odd man out in the Eloff Transformers Formula Ford Ray, the only Class B entry), Cyril Somerville (Dolphin Engineering Sting 1.4L),  Zane Amundsen (Lantis), Ricky Anderson (Parow Auto Body Forza 1.4L), Donovan Ramsay (Dolphin Engineering Rhema) and singer Kelly Fletcher in an entertaining race-long scuffle for sixth overall and second in Class C.

Beaumont didn’t come out for Race 2, leaving Mitchell and Booysen to debate the lead, while Formula Vee contender Peter Hills (Liqui Moly Stealth) Carr, Formula M driver Albertus Engelbrecht (the only Class A entry) and Knight put up a superb dice for third overall, finishing in that order within 3.5 seconds.

A lap down, the fight for eighth overall was even closer, as Amundsen, Anderson, Fletcher, Ryno Pentz (Dico 4×4 Accessories Omega) and Ramsay came home in that order in just 13 seconds.

The first outing of the combined V8 Masters/Makita Formula Supercars was red-flagged after a serious incident on the opening lap. The restart, a seven-lap sprint, was led all the way by Sean Moore, while Rui Campos, Fabio Tafani and Mark Ridgeway battled it out for second, finishing in that order covered by 2.5 seconds.

Alister Brown was the first Silver Class V8 driver home in fifth overall, while Ryan McCarthy, Hilton Pieters and Cedric Le Bon had a real ding-dong for Makita Formula Supercar honours, finishing in that order within seven seconds.

Race 2 delivered a spectacular dice for the lead, as Tafani, Ridgeway, Moore and Campos mixed it up on almost every corner, finally crossing the line in that order within 1.666sec. Brown was fifth overall again, at  the top of the Silver Class.