The recent Nkomazi 450, round four of the Donaldson Cross Country
Championship, has added a touch of tension to the Special Vehicle
championship.
Former champions Evan Hutchison and Danie Stassen, in the Motorite BAT
Viper, went to the Mpumalanga race with a relatively comfortable 27 point
lead over Lance Trethewey and Geoff Minnitt, in the LTE BAT Venom. After a
win on the qualifying race to determine grid positions, electrical problems
saw Hutchison and Stassen listed among the non finishers.
A 10 point swing saw Trethewey and Minnitt close the gap at the top of the
overall championship to 17 points. A comfort zone has been replaced by a
touch of uncertainty, but from a Hutchison/Stassen viewpoint it could have
been worse.
Trethewey and Minnitt also had a difficult time of it. They were eventually
classified as the last of the six Special Vehicle finishers with a tight and
tricky route taking its toll, and Hutchison/Stassen got away with some
damage control.
But with two events remaining on the Donaldson series calendar and a maximum
60 points available, only three crews are now left in the overall and
premier Class A title chases. Mark Corbett and Juan Mohr (Century Racing
CR5) also ran into problems on the Nkomazi 450, but move into third place in
the championship where they are 44 points behind Hutchison/Stassen.
The Vryburg race is one of two endurance races on the Donaldson calendar,
and will be run over a distance of between 650 and 700 kilometres with a
qualifying race, to determine grid positions, of 200 kilometres. That also
adds a little intrigue to the championship situation, and the
Hutchison/Stassen and Trethewey/Minnitt camps will head for North West
province amid some nervous tension.
A maiden win on the Nkomazi 450 lifted Jimmy Zahos and Zaheer Bodhanya
(Cobalt Racing Stryker) into fourth place in the championship, but it was a
case of too little coming too late. Like Brett Parker and VZ van Zyl
(Sizanani Jimco) and Sarel van Biljon and Philip Herselman (Atlas Copco
BAT), who are next up in the championship, consistency has been a problem
throughout the season.
In the Class A championship the gap between Hutchison/Stassen and
Trethewey/Minnitt is down to 12 points with Corbett/Mohr a further 25 points
adrift in third. Parker/van Zyl and Zahos/Bodhanya share fourth place with
Coetzee and Sandra Labuscagne (ChemSystems Porter) completing the top five.
Former champions John Thomson and Maurice Zermatten (Zarco Magnum) were
fifth overall on the Nkomazi 450 and the only finishers in Class P. That has
given them a 15 point advantage over Colin Matthews/Rodney Burke (Century
Racing CR3) with Richard Carolin/Andrew Massey (SA Clinics Zarco) still in
third place.
The next event on the Donaldson calendar is the Vryburg Endurance in North
West province on September 11 and 12. The event will also incorporate a
round of the Northern Regions Cross Country Championship.