Castrol Team Toyota Hilux crew Leeroy Poulter and Rob Howie clamped a vicelike grip on the Production Vehicle championship when they won the Nkomazi 450, round four of the Donaldson Cross Country Championship, here today.
The result also gave the factory Castrol Toyota Hilux team a clean sweep of
wins in the overall and premier Class T category so far this season.
Poulter/Howie won the RFS Endurance and Sugarbelt 450, and shared heat wins
with team-mates Anthony Taylor and Dennis Murphy on the Toyota 1000 Desert
Race in Botswana.
After a faultless performance that saw them also win the 100 kilometre
qualifying event to determine race grid positions, Poulter and Howie were
well clear of second placed Jurgen and Max Schroder in the Regent Racing
Nissan Navara. For the German crew it was their best Donaldson result with
the pair two minutes and 44 seconds ahead of local favourites Johan and
Werner Horn (Malalane Toyota Hilux), who staged a stirring comeback from the
back of the field to claim a place on the podium.
“It was a terrific route but you had to be wide awake,” said Poulter. “It
was tight and tricky in places, wet and slippery in other places but we had
a clean run.”
The Schröders also had a good outing on the Toyota Desert Race and carried
their good form into this race. The pair started seventh on the road, took
no chances and profited from the misfortune of crews who started ahead of
them.
The two factory Ford Performance Ford Rangers of Lance Woolridge/Ward
Huxtable and Chris Visser/Japie Badenhorst were among the casualties, along
with Gareth Woolridge and Boyd Dreyer in the Neil Woolridge Motorsport
Ranger. Suspension damage side-lined Woolridge/Huxtable, with former South
African champions Visser/Badenhorst retiring after a slow roll when they hit
a bank.
An unhappy weekend for Ford was completed by the retirement of the younger
Woolridge and Dreyer who perched the car on a dangerous ledge, and a
non-finish for Australian crew John Purshouse and Murray Hynes (Ford Ranger)
on their Donaldson debut. A broken prop shaft 29 kilometres into the race
put the Aussie out of action with the crew committed to the rest of the
championship.
With Anthony Taylor suffering from motion sickness the second Castrol Toyota
Hilux was also among the retirements. The retirement of Taylor/Murphy who
went out with suspension damage was a blip on the radar for the Castrol
Toyota team, but the safety first tactics brought its reward for the
Schröders.
“Our only problem on a very tight route was a puncture,” said Jurgen
Schroder. “We are really happy and the scenery was fantastic.”
After starting from the back of the field the Horn brothers did well to
fight back. The local heroes also profited from problems for other crews to
finish two minutes ahead of Jason Venter/Vince van Allemann (4×4 Mega World
Toyota Hilux) who reported a clean run.
There was further success for the Regent Racing Nissan Navara squad with
Sean Reitz/Riaan Greyling taking a top five finish. They led home a trio of
Regent Racing Nissan Navara entries with Terence Marsh and disc jockey DJ
Fresh sixth ahead of Johan van Staden and Mike Lawrenson, who also did well
from the back of the field.
The Regent Racing cup overflowed when Portuguese crew Rómulo Branco and João
Serôdio finished ninth behind Hennie de Klerk/Johann Smalberger
(RFS/Treasury 1 BMW X3) to win Class S for cars up to four litres with solid
rear axles. It gave the Portuguese crew their second win of the season, with
the Regent Racing squad romping away with the team award.
The final top 10 place went to North West crew Heine Strumpher and Henri
Hugo (4×4 Mega World Toyota Hilux) who went into the race with a narrow 12
point lead over Branco and Serôdio. Strumpher and Hugo were another crew
that needed to fight from the back of the field after problems on the
qualifying race.
The next event of the Donaldson championship calendar is the Vryburg
Endurance in North West on September 11 and 12.