Local driver Lance Trethewey and Geoff Minnitt romped to a Special Vehicle victory on the Sugarbelt 450, round two of the Donaldson Cross Country Championship, which ended here this weekend.
Trethewey and Minnitt, in the LT Earthworks BAT Venom, came home ahead of former South African champions Evan Hutchison and Danie Stassen (Motorite BAT Viper) with the two crews tied at the top of the championship after a win and a second apiece. Hutchison and Stassen won the season opening RFS Endurance ahead of Trethewey/Minnitt, with the two crews once again in dominant form.
“It has been a near perfect weekend with a second in the qualifying race, and a win today,” said Minnitt who lives in Plettenberg Bay and works in Johannesburg. “We had a trouble free run and Lance was always on the pace.
”The route and the organisation were out of the top drawer and we enjoyed ourselves.”
A popular result saw Brett Parker and VZ van Zyl finish third in the Sizanani Plastics Jimco. It was Parker’s maiden podium finish and van Zyl’s first in 13 years, with the pair recovering from a coming together with a tree on the first of the two 160 kilometre loops that made up the race.
“There was a fair bit of damage to the right front suspension, but the guys in the pits did a good job,” said van Zyl. “You could say it was about time I found myself on the podium again.”
Trethewey/Minnitt and Hutchison/Stassen started the race behind Mark Corbett and Juan Mohr, in the Century Racing CR5. Corbett and Mohr were still out in front at the end of the first lap, but later retired with a broken steering.
That left Trethewey/Minnitt and Hutchison/Stassen in control of proceedings. The race settled into a pattern with Trethewey/Minnitt gradually easing away from Hutchison and Stassen in tricky conditions made more difficult by dust aplenty.
The two lead cars opened up a gap of more than 12 minutes over Parker and van Zyl. They, in turn, were well clear of Class P winners John Thomson and Maurice Zermatten in the Zarco Magnum who were a solid fourth.
It was a timely win for Swaziland based Thomson and Zermatten who were among the non-finishers on the opening event of the season. With RFS Endurance winners James Watson and John Thompson (BAT) among the non-finishers this time out, Thomson and Zermatten, the 2013 champions, bounced back into the championship picture.
A trademark steady run took veteran Coetzee Labuscagne and daughter Sandra, in the ChemSystems Porter, into the top five in only their second outing in the premier Class A. They were a couple of minutes clear of Sarel van Biljon and Philip Herselman in the Atlas Copco BAT.
The van Biljon/Herselman adventures included a coming together in heavy dust with Production Vehicle team-mates Gary Bertholdt and Siegfried Rousseau. The pair then beached the car on a bridge but recovered sufficiently to pick up valuable points.
Adventure was also the name of the game for KwaZulu-Natal crew Bryant Meyer and Hugh Hedgcock making their national series debut in a BAT. They managed to roll the car in the qualifying race, but bounced back to be the last of the seven classified finishers among the Special Vehicles.
The next outing on the Donaldson calendar is the Toyota 1000 Desert Race in Botswana from June 26 to 28, with the race the only marathon event in the national series.