With the new Spectator friendly route bringing the sport closer to the Nelson Mandela Metro, the traditional stages in Longmore Forest was limited to 2 stages only.It still warrants the title of “King of Longmore” or “King of the Mountain” as the 2 stages made up one third of the total distance !
Mark Cronje
Lets start with the notorious Sinkdam Stage.Normally the stage is swept due to the use of Culturama in the other direction, but with no Culturama, it was virgin roads and loose as hell.
To add some spice and all things nice, the heavens opened up and for those not in the know… a LOT of parts in Longmore forest is white clay based.
Traction changes in an instant , especially under braking when wet. So , having done the recce in full sunshine and dry conditions, not many crews would have added “slippery when wet”above a few calls.
The 1600 class had their own little dices going on and the stage victor this year was Chad van Beurden. Maybe still in shock from 2014 when Chad thought his 15seconds lead should be enough to take the class win, just to be out foxed by Guy Botterill who beat him by 26seconds and to steal the lead and trophy.
Tough ask to go for Stage records in the wet, and the times reflected that sentiment with Chad’s 2015 wining time of 12:19.8 .
Which is somewhat off the pace from Guy’s time in 2014 at 11:40.0 (current standing 1600 record ).
But someone clearly did not pass on the Memo to Monsieur Cronje and Houghton it seems.They used this opportunity to put the fox inside the chicken pen and locked the doors in a bid to outsmart Leeroy Poulter and Elvene Coetzee.
Leeroy’s time of 10:46.9 seemed a fair time in the wet conditions considering the stage record stands at 10:31.7 set in 2014 by Cronje and his Ford.Cronje decided to make Robin scream like a girl by posting a time of 10.35.5, that’s 3.8seconds off the Stage record in wet conditions. Give that man a Bells !
A difference of 11.4seconds gives the King of Longmore advantage to Mark with one stage to go…PPC Ultimate Now if ever there was a stage worthy of legendary status, this was it. 47.8 km of forest heaven. It changes character 5 times in surface and terrain.
To summarise , it has some flat and flowing sections, with some blind rises taken at full tilt, a few hillclimbs coupled with steep descents , three Max Velocity runs winding through narrow tree lined roads, and for 2015 extremely soaked mud and clay.
Since this is the first time this stage has been run in this format, no records exist.
It is safe to say that if everyone had their wish, the rally could just as well have done this stage 4 times and everyone would be extremely happy to go home with a smile (and minus the rain obviously).
The 1600 battle was a 2 horse race between Paulus Franken in his R2 Polo vs Matthew Vacy Lylle in his R2 Etios weapon. With roughly 30 seconds separating the two, it had to be an all out attack from both these crews to make it or break it.
From the racing lines that I noticed on the muddy surface, it was clear someone of the two had made an unscheduled pit stop next to the road at the midpoint, nearly ending their rally there.Once the times were available and stories told , the stage winner was Franken by over a minute and Matthew the recipient of the “drive-through-some-plantation penalty”.
In the S2000 class , it was the gladiators who needed to put in every effort to win the rally.Leeroy the first to enter the stage (holding a 26 second lead over Mark) was forced to push his Yaris to avoid a Sinkdam repeat or worse, and with the ever threatening Giniel de Villiers 47seconds adrift it was still anyone’s stage and rally to win.
Leeroy’s time of 29 minutes and 21.7 seconds seemed like a lifetime and then he had to wait for Mark’s time which must have felt like eternity at the stage end.Mark had crossed the Flying Finish control with a time of 29:22.4, that is only 0.7 seconds slower, or seven tenths of a second slower over a monster 47 km stage, remarkable how close the times are.
And to prove how hard they were pushing… third best time was set by Henk Lategan on 30:12.0, or 50 seconds slower than Leeroy’s time.
So that leaves us with who won the King of Longmore title?
Due to the “damage” caused in Sinkdam stage, the Polka Dot jersey / Title of King of Longmore goes to Mark Cronje and Robin Houghton (Ford Fiesta S200) with total time difference of 10.7seconds.
The 2014 time difference was 46seconds. Certainly getting closer ….
In the S1600 class , the White jersey / title of Prince of Longmore title goes to Paulus Franken and Henry Kohne in their VW Polo R2.
Written by: Rikus Fourie
Bring on the 2016 edition….