A slightly chilled day greeted the Pre-1980 Historic Saloons competitors the past weekend, the 23rd of March, at the Midvaal Raceway for Round 1 of their championship season. With a new sponsor onboard for 2019, Universal Healthcare, the guys arrived very motivated to put on a display to honour this new sponsor. However, besides the excitement of the new sponsor, aspirations for podium positions were not lacking either. Joining the Saloons on the grid for the day was a handful Pre-1990 Sports & GT cars and were welcomed with open arms by the Saloons brigade.
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As expected, the field was led by the beautiful Porsche 911 driven by Stefan Snyders. He would go on to take the overall wins in both races from pole. Behind him however there was plenty competitive racing to the joy of the spectators. In the first race Alan Green (Ford Escort Mark I) took the win in front of a challenging Mike O’Sullivan (Chevrolet) with Frank Davies (Ford Escort Mark I) trotting over the line in third for Class D.
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Class E saw a great ding-dong battle between Terence Ladner (Ford Capri) taking the win, Pieter Jenkins (Ford Escort Mark I) finishing a close second and Rene van Rensburg (Ford Escort Mark II) taking the third sport on the podium in close proximity. Even though mixing it up with the Class D guys, Sean Hepburn (Datsun 120Y) took an easy win in Class F. Class G saw Stewart McLarty (Mazda 323) make a break early in the race and maintaining the gap to finish in front of second placed man Jan Jacobs (Alfa). Finishing in third not too far behind was Fanie Kloppers (Mercedes). Michael Bishop (Datsun) took an easy win in Class H in front of William Kelly (MG) and Rob Clark (Citroen) finishing third.
The second race saw Alan Green take another victory with Frank Davis finishing in second. Battling with binding brakes Johann Smith (Mazda Capela) occupied the third step of the podium finishing off a very challenging day for the new chairman of the Historic Saloons.
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Another nail-biting battle between Ladner and Jenkins saw Ladner eventually getting the better of his challenger to take the double win in Class E for the day. Jenkins settled for second place. After suffering brake issues in race 1 Daniel Lotter (Ford Escort Mark I) put in a more solid race to take third. Hepburn also completed his day with a double win in Class F. Experiencing mechanical issues halfway through the race saw Fanie Kloppers take the win in the second race ahead of Jan Jacobs in third this time. Paulo Mateus (BMW) was very satisfied with his second spot in race 2. Kelly rounded off his day with a win in Class H in the second race and Clark finishing in second.
The next round will take place at Phakisa on 27 April 2019.
