Jwaneng, Botswana – Reigning South African champions Anthony Taylor and
Dennis Murphy led a Toyota lockout of the podium positions on the Toyota
Kalahari Botswana 1000 Desert Race, round four of the Donaldson Cross
Country Championship, which ended here today.
Taylor and Murphy finished 32 seconds clear of Team Castrol Toyota Hilux
team-mates Leeroy Poulter and Rob Howie, with privateers Johan and Werner
Horn, in the Malalane Toyota Hilux, continuing their dream start to their
premier Class T career with their third podium place in three races. The
Horn brothers were around 10 minutes behind Poulter and Howie, but never
dropped out of the top three throughout the only marathon event on the
Donaldson Cross Country Championship calendar.
The win for Taylor/Murphy, their second in a row in Botswana, also took them
to the top of the Production Vehicle championship. The race counted for
double points with Taylor/Murphy moving clear of Atlas Copco Ford Racing
crew Manfred Schroder and Japie Badenhorst, with the two teams tied at the
top of the ladder going into the Toyota 1000 Desert Race.
“It was just about the perfect weekend,” said Taylor. “We had no major
issues but there is always a little extra pressure on the factory team on
the Desert Race.
“A clean sweep was reward for plenty of hard work from the entire team.”
The Atlas Copco Ford Racing Ranger teams of Gary Bertholdt/Siegfried
Rousseau and Manfred Schroder/Japie Badenhorst completed the top five. There
was a bonus for Bertholdt/Rousseau who won the Dakar Challenge to win a free
entry to next year’s Dakar Rally in South America.
After a racing section one five minute penalty dropped them from fourth to
seventh, Schroder and Badenhorst fought back to claim a top five finish.
Fifth place also did some championship damage control for the pair.
There was also a good fight back from Brazilian pair Reinaldo Varela and
Gustavo Gugelmin in a third Castrol Toyota Hilux. After winning the
qualifying race to determined grid positions they hit a tree on racing
section one, and dropped to 10th at the overnight halt.
They gradually fought their way through the field today to finish sixth
ahead of Class S winners Jannie Visser and Joks le Roux in the Ruwacon
Racing Toyota Hilux. The former South African champions revelled in the
conditions and finished well clear of Hennie de Klerk/Johann Smalberger
(RFS/Treasury One BMW X3) and Terence Marsh and Springbok rugby legend
Stefan Terblanche in the Regent Racing Nissan Navara.
A second Ruwacon crew, Louw de Bruin and Riaan Greyling in a Ford Ranger,
completed the top 10 and were second in Class S ahead of Deon Venter and Ian
Palmer in the 4×4 Mega World Toyota Hilux. It was a brave fight back from
Venter/Palmer after racing section one woes, but the result saw them
surrender the Class S championship lead back to de Bruin/Greyling who have
been models of consistency this season.
The new Class G category was competing in a Toyota 1000 Desert Race for the
first time, with a comfortable victory going to Gareth Woolridge and Boyd
Dreyer in a Polaris. They were well clear of Daniel van Rooyen/Thys
Greyvensteyn, in another Polaris, with Leander Pienaar and Jaco Swart
completing the podium positions in a Can-Am Maverick.
HISTORY REPEATS ON TOYOTA KALAHARI BOTSWANA 1000 DESERT RACE
Jwaneng, Botswana – The Toyota Kalahari Botswana 1000 Desert Race invariably
produces a sting in the tail, but no one was prepared today for the high
drama that surrounded the finish of the Special Vehicle category on round
four of the Donaldson Cross Country Championship.
History, with a little twist, repeated itself with Wichard and Hermann
Sullwald, in the Elegant Fuel Stryker, winning the only marathon event on
the Donaldson calendar for the second year in a row. Only this time it was
Wichard doing the driving with father Hermann navigating in a race that
counts double championship points.
There was, however, a dollop of fortune involved in a win that, as it did
last year, brings the Sullwald crew solidly back into the championship
picture. The uncertainty that is motor racing played a cruel trick on
reigning South African champions Evan Hutchison and Danie Stassen, in the
Motorite BAT, when the car caught fire two kilometres from the flying
finish.
Hutchison and Stassen started the final 225 kilometre loop of the race in
second place behind Quintin and Kallie Sullwald (Elegant Fuel BAT). There
was a gap of one minute 46 seconds between the two crews, but when the
Sullwalds ran into trouble Hutchison and Stassen moved into the lead and
looked certain to revive their back to back championship hopes.
“What can I say, I’m devastated,” said Hutchison. “This certainly hasn’t
been our year.”
The final 450 kilometre racing section wreaked havoc among the Special
vehicles and only five cars – three of them Class P entries made it to the
finish. In a dream result KwaZulu-Natal pair Arthur Barnes and Anthony
Usher, in a BAT, finished second on their Toyota 1000 Desert Race debut and
also leaped up the championship ladder.
Another KZN crew, James Watson and John Thompson, in a BAT, completed the
podium and clinched Class P after late race problems for Colin
Matthews/Rodney Burke (Century Racing CR3) and reigning champions John
Thomson and Maurice Zermatten in a Zarco.
In their best career finishes Keith Makenete/Moaliso Borotho (Zarco) and
Sean Reitz and Michael Abramson (Regent Racing Jimco) completed the top five
and were the last of the finishers.
The day also started off on a dramatic note with overnight leaders Laurence
du Plessis and Gielie le Roux (Zarco) failing to start. With du Plessis’s
brother Gerhard and his son Hardus, leading the championship before this
weekend, excluded from the results on racing section one, the overall
championship has been given a severe shake-up with the Sullwalds and
Barnes/Usher the major beneficiaries.
BERTHOLDT/ROUSSEAU WIN FREE ENTRY TO DAKAR RALLY 2015
Jwaneng, Botswana – Atlas Copco Ford Racing crew Gary Bertholdt and
Siegfried Rousseau booked a free berth in next year’s Dakar Rally in South
America, when they won the Dakar Challenge race within a race at the Toyota
Kalahari Botswana 1000 Desert Race here today.
Fourth place on the Toyota 1000 Desert Race saw Bertholdt and Rousseau
finish just outside the podium places in the Production vehicle category,
but a win on the Dakar Challenge, run in conjunction with the main event,
provided for plenty of compensation. The pair finished well clear of Hennie
de Klerk/Johann Smalberger (RFS/Treasury One BMW X3) with Terence Marsh and
Springbok rugby legend Stefan Terblanche the only other finishers in the
Regent Racing Nissan Navara.
Bertholdt and Rousseau were in contention in the Dakar Challenge throughout
the three days on the race. They won the qualifying race and were second to
Special Vehicle crew Evan Hutchison and Danie Stassen (Motorite BAT) after
the first racing section on Saturday.
Bertholdt and Rousseau, however, profited hugely when the racing gods
played a cruel trick on Hutchison and Stassen. The pair were leading the
Special vehicle category until two kilometres from the flying finish when
the Motorite BAT caught fire.
The final 450 kilometre racing section two took a heavy toll of both
Production and Special Vehicle challengers who one by one fell by the
wayside.
DAKAR CHALLENGE OVERALL RESULTS
TDR 2014 – OVERALL Production Vehicles
TDR 2014 – OVERALL Special Vehicles
TDR 2014 – Side-By-Side OVERALL Results
SA NATIONAL OFF ROAD CAR RACING ASSOCIATION
Charmaine Fortune