Top teams in the Special Vehicle category will be under plenty of pressure
on the Nkomazi 450, round four of the Donaldson Cross Country Championship,
in Mpumalanga on August 7 and 8.
Lance Trethewey
In a championship in danger of turning into a two horse race teams occupying positions in the upper echelons of the championship table will be under
pressure for different reasons. The top two crews need to consolidate – and
behind them those who are still in the title mix from a mathematical
standpoint need to keep their championship hopes alive.
Evan Hutchison and Danie Stassen, in the Motorite BAT Viper, go into one of
three sprint events on the Donaldson calendar with a comfortable 27 point
advantage over Lance Trethewey and Geoff Minnitt, in the LTE BAT Venom.
Hutchison/Stassen and Trethewey/Minnitt are the only Special Vehicle crews
with 100 percent finish records this season, and that in itself tells a
story.
Reliability issues have hit the likes of Mark Corbett/Juan Mohr (Century
Racing CR5), Brett Parker and VZ van Zyl (Sizanani Plastics Jimco) and Colin
Matthews/Rodney Burke in the Century Racing CR3. Behind Matthews/Burke in
the championship standings only Class P crew John Thomson and Maurice
Zermatten (Zarco) have any mathematical interest in the title race and,
facing a deficit of 86 points, are effectively out of the running.
Former champions Hutchison and Stassen went into the Toyota 1000 Desert Race
in Botswana level on points with Trethewey and Minnitt. Wins in both heats
lifted the Motorite pair into a position of strength, and Trethewey/Minnitt
need a good comeback result on what will be a tight and technical Nkomazi
route.
Corbett/Mohr had a good Toyota Desert Race that lifted them into third in
the championship ahead of Parker and van Zyl. Corbett and Mohr, however, are
62 points behind Hutchison and Stassen and also need to come up with
something special.
The same applies to Jimmy Zahos/Zaheer Bodhanya (Cobalt Stryker) and the
likes of Sarel van Biljon/Philip Herselman (Atlas Copco BAT) and the
father/daughter combination of Coetzee and Sandra Labuscagne (ChemSystems
Porter) and taking their A Game to Malalane is a necessity. The Class A
brigade could, however, again find themselves under the whip from Matthews
and Burke.
There is no doubt that if they manage a clean run Matthews and Burke have
the pace to win overall. Reliability is the problem for the Century Racing
pair who will go into the weekend co-leaders of the Class P championship
with Thomson and Zermatten.
Thomson and Zermatten will again place their faith in consistency, and the
battle between the two Class P leaders offers a contrast in styles with
plenty at stake from a championship point of view. In this respect the two
crews are only eight points clear of veteran Richard Carolin and Andrew
Massey in the SA Clinics Zarco.
Carolin/Massey took full advantage of the double points on offer at the
Toyota Desert Race to leapfrog into third in the championship. A win in the
second heat also saw Carolin, after a three year break from racing, add to
the overall victory he scored with brother Buks in Botswana 20 years ago.
Race headquarters, the start/finish and the designated service park will all
be located at the Riverview Preparatory School on the outskirts of Malalane.
Public entry to these areas and spectator viewing points along the route is
free of charge.
The weekend will be made up of a 100 kilometre qualifying race to determine
grid positions on August 7, with the main race on August 8 to be run over
two laps of approximately 175 kilometres each. The qualifying event will
start at 11:30 and the main race at 08:30 with a compulsory 20 minute
service halt at the end of the first loop.