Official start of the 2024 season at Zwartkops Raceway with our competitors sporting the decals of the new sponsor.
Due to the full program, all practice and qualifying sessions took place on Friday, 26th Jan. Race 1 kicked off at 07:30am for our Pursuit competitors.
Historic Tour Round 1 – Raceway 27 Jan 2024 Passion for Speed
Race 1 Start Grid
1. 124.1 Paul Manegold (HM) 1978 Alfa Giulia
2. 225.1 Tegan Leyshon (HM) 1977 VW Scirocco
3. 3.2 Jen Abbot (HF) Porsche 914/6
4. 7 Wynand du Plessis Snr (HF) 1990 Porsche 944 S2
5. 58 Gerrit Murray (HM) 1972 Alfa Romeo GTV
6. 46.1 John Bronner (HM) 1977 Alfa GT Junior
7. 555 Derick Smalberger (HM) 1969 Ford Escort
8. 21.2 Machiel Oberholzer (HF) 1982 Mercedes Benz 190E
9. 33.1 Jandre Bezuidenhout (HF) 1985 Porsche 944
10. T4 Gary Stacey (HM) Ford Sierra XR8
11. 137 John Gouws (HM) VW Scirocco
Not our usual field as anticipated but we did welcome back the guys from Retro Racing and welcomed Derick Smalberger in his Shield Racing Ford Escort MK1 and Jandre Bezuidenhout in a beautiful Porsche 944 of Team Perfect Circle to their first handicap race.
Paul Manegold led the start this time around, 40sec ahead of Tegan Leyshon. Jen Abbot could not make her way to the start line as they were sorting an oil cooling problem. The rest of the competitors took off shortly after, Derick and Machiel had to share their start time of 1:05. With another 15sec gap, Jandre had Gary short on his tail. Our fastest man for the day, Johan Gouws, had to make up the 16sec gap between himself and Gary Stacey and 1:37 in total to catch Paul. Weather and track conditions were perfect and had the field closing in nicely on the last few laps, the 1st race win for our Modified Class went to Gary Stacey, with Johan and Paul in 2nd and 3rdplace. Fines wins went to the two 944’s, Jandre in 1st, Wynand 2ndand Machiel in 3rd with his Mercedes Benz 190E. Unfortunately, the break outs went to Tegan in her VW Scirocco and Gerrit Murray in his Alfa GTV.
Race 2 started quite late in the day due to various challenges and incidents throughout the day and with weather conditions rapidly changing – the lineup and first few laps were met with a drizzle; we could only hope the rain held back long enough for the remaining races to be completed. With a slight change in the start positions, we had our lead man, Paul in the Alfa Guilia set the pace once more. Followed by Jen (Porsche 914/6), John (Alfa GT Junior) and Wynand (Porsche 944). With Machiel not on the start line, Tegan and Gerrit had a split-second start, followed by Derick, and the shared start – this time between Jandre and Gary at 1:21, and Johan Gouws this time at 3sec earlier than race 1 at 1:34.
They were able to complete the race with no rain (I could only say thank you
). Lap times were much slower as the grip had been compromised and left John Bronner, Derick Smalberger and Johan Gouws on the receiving end, spinning out in turn 2 and 5, luckily no damages and no break outs. Taking the flag for our Fines were the trio of Porsche’s of Jandre, Jen and Wynand. Modified went to Gary, Johan and Paul.
). Lap times were much slower as the grip had been compromised and left John Bronner, Derick Smalberger and Johan Gouws on the receiving end, spinning out in turn 2 and 5, luckily no damages and no break outs. Taking the flag for our Fines were the trio of Porsche’s of Jandre, Jen and Wynand. Modified went to Gary, Johan and Paul.Overall Results:
Top 4 positions for Fine went to:
1st Jandre Bezuidenhout – Porsche 944
2nd Wynand du Plessis Snr – Porsche 944 S2
3rd Machiel Oberholzer – Mercedes Benz 190E
4th Jen Abbot – Porsche 914/6
Modified top 5 went to:
1st Gary Stacey – Ford Sierra XR8
2nd Johan Gouws – VW Scirocco
3rd Paul Manegold – Alfa Giulia
4th Derick Smalberger – Ford Escort
5th Tegan Leyshon – VW Scirocco
Our next event is at RedStar on 23 March and excited for the newcomers who will be joining us
