I received the entry list for the Secunda Rally to be held next weekend this morning and got all excited. The rally has attracted altogether 31 entries. But then I had a closer look and some of my excitement went away. Of course 31 entries for any rally is great.
But on closer inspection it turned out that only 14 of the entries were for the National Rally Championship. These entries consisted of five S2000 cars one NRC 4 entry and eleven S1600 entries.
I was going to comment on this , but decided against it since I would be labelled “negative” again. So you can draw your own conclusions.
The rest of the entries is made up of eleven regional; cars en five NRC2 entries.
Toyota tops the S2000 entries with three entries. The two “works” entries of Leeroy Poulter and Giniel de Villiers, and the privateer entry of Ernie van der Walt who seems to have been able to pull a miracle out of the bag getting his car ready for the event after his major accident on the Sasol.
The two Ford entries come from Luke Botha and Wilro Dippenaar from Namibia, while Theuns Joubert has entered the NRC 4 class in a Toyota Auris.
Leading the S1600 contingent is Guy Botterill in a Toyota Etios R2. The other Toyota Etios is entered by Chris Coertze. Four Volkswagen Po0lo R2 cars have been entered.
Barry White will be bacvk in the co-driver’s seat with Luke Botha after the retirement of Mark Cronje, while Janine Lourens who navigated for Botha on the Sasol will be doing duty with Louis Venter in a NRC2 Toyota Tazz.
The Secunda Rally will consist of fourteen stages with a total stage distance of 155km. Two tar stages are included while the rest are gravel stages. Only four stages will be run on day one and the rest on Saturday 21 May. The rally headquarters is Lake Umuzi.
The event is being organised by the Sports Car Club East Rand Branch and the Clerk of the Course is John Ogden. It is the third round of the SA National Rally Championship that consists of seven rounds and not eight as in the past.