Gauteng motorsport fans were treated to a full day of historic and inland touring car racing at Zwartkops Raceway on Saturday as the venue marked Heritage Week with its Braai Weekend meeting.
Packed grids of classic machinery and close-fought action made the event one to remember, with something on offer for every taste.
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Larry Wilford proved the class of the Legends of the 9 Hour field, bouncing back to take a double victory in his stunning 1969 Lola T70 MK3B. Seef Fourie Jr drove his 1995 Opel Astra to second place in both heats, while James Temple's 1965 Daytona Cobra and Mark du Toit's 1965 Lola T70 Spyder each claimed a turn on the third step of the podium.
Further back, Peter Bailey's 1966 Ford GT40, Uli Sanne's newly acquired 1976 BMW 3.5 CS, the Daytona Cobras of Djurk Venter and Marc Miller, George Avvakoumides' Porsche 911 RSR, Allistair Simpson's Capri Perana and the Mustangs of Ben Morgenrood and Jonathan Needham kept the crowds entertained.
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Hennie Groenewald proved the wildcard in the Evapco HRSA Sprint races, his Ford Capri upsetting the regular front-runners and leaving Class B and C winners Nicky Dicks and George Avvakoumides, both in Porsche 911 RSRs, to scrap over the remaining places with Willem Botha's Mazda R100 and Reg Sutton's Ford Escort. Cor Kraamwinkel took Class D in his Datsun 240Z, with Terence Ladner's Volkswagen Scirocco, Travis Jensen's Datsun 1200, Philip Pantazis in another 240Z and Class E winner Grant Cramer's Scirocco in pursuit.
In the historic saloon car category, Kraamwinkel's Datsun 240Z claimed Little Giants honours ahead of the Ford pairings of Jonathan Needham's Cortina and Carel Pienaar's Escort, with Philip Pantazis in another Datsun 240Z and Djurk Venter's Escort following. The Alfa Romeo contingent of Marc Miller's 1965 Giulia, Francesco Lombardi's Sprint GT, Ishmael Baloyi's GSM Dart Alfa and Roger Houston's Giulia Super came home ahead of John Ten Doeschate's GSM Dart Ford.
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Among the single seaters, Class B driver Ian Schofield was untouchable in his Reynard, taking a double Historic win over Class C man Ryan Ludik's Titan on each occasion. Pat Dunseith's Merlyn and Ryan Budd shared the third-place spoils, with James Derbyshire's Lotus 51A, Class E winner Michael Hillary's Lotus 23B and leading Class D man Michael Kernick's Capital Vee in close attendance. In the Monoposto races, Allen Meyer's Formula VW held off Joss Chaikin's Formula GTi Swift, Mikel Bezuidenhout's Formula Ford Kent, Phillip Bellingan's Vee and Justin Gower's Formula M.
The Dunlop ATS Lotus Challenge delivered three races. David Jermy beat Rudi Barnard and Clive Wilmot in Friday's red-flagged and restarted opening heat, before getting the better of Mackie Adlem and Barnard in race two. Adlem then took the final race from Jermy and Barnard. Nick Hodgson was unbeaten across all three Locost races, with Pieter van Heerden his closest challenger as Juan du Toit and Braam Muller shared the third places. Devin Robertson, meanwhile, got the better of Tyler Posthumus and Dylan Fourie in both INEX Legends encounters.
Giulio Airaga enjoyed a standout day in the contemporary saloon car classes aboard his Mazda Tigra. He shared the larger Car Care Clinic SilverCup 2.0 victories with Wessel Mostert's BMW M3 Turbo before completing a Clubmans double as well. Louis Cloete's Beetle finished third in the opening SilverCup race ahead of JP Nortje's Golf, Jonathan Visser's Polo and Dewald Smith in a BMW 330i, while Faudo Sidique's Civic beat Cloete, Nortje and Visser in race two. The smaller SilverCup 2.0 races were a Volkswagen Golf 1 benefit, with Richard Potgieter beating Dane Thompson and Ronald van Rensburg in both outings.
Airaga also won the opening Real Pro Clubmans, NSCC, MHCC & Trofeo race from David Jermy's Lotus 7, with Tjaart Visser's Ballade, Wessel Mostert's BMW M3 Turbo, Quintin Duvenage's Golf and Rodney Kruis' Ballade in tow. Mostert finished second to Airaga in the red-flagged second race, ahead of Duvenage, Kruis, Victor Dias' Ballade and Gable.
Zwartkops has two major race weekends still to come. The National Extreme Festival finale takes place on Saturday 17 October, followed by the Northern Regions Extreme Festival finals on Saturday 21 November.
Colin Windell for Colin-on-Cars in association with
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