The sign will read under “new management” but the positive spin is that eight-time South African champion, Evan Hutchison, will be back in harness in the 2017 Cross Country Championship at the Lichtenburg 400, the first round of the recently rebranded South African Cross Country Series (SACCS) Auto championship, on March 31.
Hutchison was left in limbo when Motorite Racing, the most successful privateer team in the history of cross country racing, was disbanded at the end of the 2016 season. The off season, however, has seen the birth of the King Price Extreme team with Hutchison again linking up with Danie Stassen in a two-car squad with newcomer Schalk Burger and South African rally champion Elvéne Coetzee in a Porter.
Hutchison and Stassen, in a BAT Viper, will immediately be installed as overall favorites for the North West province outing. Burger has a good pedigree in rallying, Coetzee is equally at home in a rally or cross country environment and both have fathers who were contemporaries and top notch rally drivers in days gone by.
The Class A field sees some tried and tested driver/co-driver combinations take on the two King Price Extreme cars, but a highly interesting development sees Class P champions John Thomson – who is based in Swaziland – and Maurice Zermatten (Zarco) move up a notch. After dominating Class P in recent seasons the pair will move into Class A, and bring a reputation for consistency and reliability that is their hallmark.
The father/daughter combination of Coetzee and Sandra Labuscagne (4×4 Mega World Porter) enjoyed a season full of promise last time out with their major weapons reliability and perseverance. The Labuscagne recipe is unlikely to change this season, and Keith Makenete and Taelo Mochebelele (BAT) will also be out to add those qualities to a 2016 campaign that had its moments.
The husband and wife team of Marius and Jolinda Fourie (PHB BAT) are widely experienced and on their day are a threat to anyone. The same applies to Botswana crew Keith du Toit and Robbie Coetzee (BAT) and Lesotho based Stefan van Pletzen/Jaco Pieterse (Chenowth), while results at sporadic appearances last season provide Lourens and Carien Booysen (BAT) with plenty of encouragement.
The Class A field is bolstered by Makara Matekane and Ntaote Bereng (Aceco), and two entries from Naeem Moosajee’s Tyre Rack Racing team. Moosajee and Rayhaan Bodhanya will be out in the team’s Jimco with the other car in the hands of brothers Talha and Taahir Moosajee.
Talha is 21 and Taahir 17 making them the youngest competitors in the field. Both of them, however, have kart and quad experience and have done well in practice sessions.
The defection of Thomson and Zermatten throws Class P wide open. The focus will now be on teams like Nic Goslar/Andrew Massey (Zarco), Werner Kennedy/Thinus Venter (Aceco), Grant Watkins and Paul Mare, in another Zarco, and John Telford/Victor Ntsekhe in the Calcamite Hellcat.
After a strong start to last season Goslar and Massey finished runners-up to Thomson and Zermatten, only made the decision to enter the Lichtenburg event after a successful test session this week.
Kennedy, who is also domiciled in Lesotho, and Venter featured among the 2016 race winners with victory on the Vredefort Super Sprint. But missing a number of events meant they fell far short of Thomson and Zermatten in the final Class P standings.
Watkins/Mare and Telford/Ntsekhe were only a handful of points behind Kennedy and Venter last season, and will be looking to improve on that showing. Former quad racing champion Brian Baragwanath and Leonard Creamer (CRT) and the VRC Racing pair of newcomers Shaun van Rooyen and Gene Rogers (CRT), will be under scrutiny for signs as potential dangers as the season wears on.
Only 14 points separated second from fourth in last year’s Class P championship, and with Thomson/Zermatten out of the picture there is little to choose between the teams. It all points to a highly competitive championship.
Event headquarters, the start/finish and designated service park will be located at the Lichtenburg show ground on the outskirts of the North West province town with public entry to these areas and spectator points along the route free of charge. A 50 kilometre sprint to determine grid positions for the race will start at 14:00 on March 31, and the race gets underway at 08:30 on April 1.
Enthusiasts worldwide will be able to follow the event from the office or home via the RallySafe app which tracks the cars on a detailed map with access to split times and results. The app is downloaded free of charge for use on Apple or Android devices