A number of top crews will be looking to bounce back to form on the LMC Mega Centre Barberspan 500, round two of the Northern Regions Cross Country Championship, in North West Province on February 27 and 28.
The opening round of the championship last month, the Vredefort 250, saw some of the more fancied teams come up with some disappointing results. They will be looking to quickly get matters back on an even keel – and double points provide additional incentive in the catch up game.
By the same token those who got off to a fast start on the Vredefort event will be looking to keep the momentum going. With the Barberspan event enjoying a rich history in South African cross country racing, the weekend is a highlight of the Northern Regions Championship being the first 500 km Regional cross country car race.
“The route is interesting and should provide for good racing with a number of spectator points along the route,” said Barberspan Motor Club chairman Jannie Visser, who is a former South African Production Vehicle champion. The event has this year attracted sponsorship from LMC Land Rover Mega Centre in Kempton Park run by former South African champions Jack and Sarel Oosthuizen.
“After years of competing at national level, it is a pleasure to put something back into the sport at grass roots level,” said Jack Oosthuizen. His sons, Sarel and Jaco, will be competing in the LMC Land Rover in Class D in the Production Vehicle category.
Werner Kennedy and Thinus Venter got their season off to a flying start by taking the Special Vehicle overall and Class P honours in Vredefort with a first time out win in a recently revamped Aceco. They came in ahead of Henri and Stoffel Lategan (Raceco) and Andrew and Zelma Beer (BAT), third in their first Cross Country Race.
All three teams will find it tougher going this time out with Tony and Michael Gouveia, hit by clutch problems in round one, out to improve on a disappointing fourth in Vredefort. Veteran Giel Nel and Ferdi Pieterse (Zarco Truggy), François Conradie and Jaco Van Aardt (BAT) will also have high hopes along with Francois Smit in the Jetpatcher/Isuzu Racing Zarco who also want to put a ‘did not finish’ entry in the results column behind them.
A second Class B win will be top of the agenda for the father/son crew of Marthinus and Tiaan le Roux in a Sandmaster. The pair won ahead of John Boxhoorn (WPP) and Lodewyk Lesch (Mightymag) at Vredefort, with veteran Wolf-Peter Pfumfei (Jetpatcher/Isuzu Racing) the danger after failing to see out the distance in the opening round.
Also in contention will be the other members of the Jetpatcher/Isuzu Racing Team being Chris Hooman (Sandmaster) and Suma Smit in another Mightymag. Smit is the only lady pilot in the field and will be keen to upstage the men.
On the Production Vehicle front the fight for overall honours is likely to see plenty of rivalry between the Class D and Class E entrants. The first round honours went to Class D pair Dylan Venter and Vince van Allemann (4×4 Mega World Toyota Hilux), ahead of Ignus and Gerhard du Plessis, and that will be enough to make them outright favourites for a repeat win.
Sarel and Jaco Oosthuizen (LMC Land Rover) will be determined to fly the sponsor flag, while Reagan Austin and Warren Voss (Toyota Hilux), moving up from Class E, and Andre Geldenhuys and Victor Fincham will be other crews looking to put Vredefort blues behind them.
Reigning Class E champions Dirk Putter and Koos Claasens also find themselves in the unusual position of having to recover from a did not finish result. Former national champion Henri Zermatten and Johan Gerber (Ford Ranger) won round one ahead of David Huddy and another former national champion, Buks Carolin, in what looks likely to develop into a highly competitive category.
Huddy will this time link up with regular navigator Mike Fehrsen while Bertus Kriel and Anton Muller (Ford Ranger) also got off to a solid start with third place on the Vredefort race. Rob Reid and Bodo Schwegler (Nextgen/Mastercraft Pajero) will be looking to improve on fourth place while Andries Mynhardt/Hein Kruger (Ford Ranger) and Theuns du Toit/Arnold Nortje (Toyota Hilux) will also throw their hats into the ring.
The Club class the battle between Gert Steyn, now partnered by his son in law Johan Burger (Hilux) and Willie Welman and Marcus Fourie (Ford Bantam) should resume but they will be joined by Louis and Nic Kruger in the Chev LUV that hasn’t raced for many years.
Additional interest will be added by a number of national Donaldson Cross Country Championship crews who will take the opportunity to put in some preseason testing, and the event will also see the debut of the new Century Racing Truggy which will be eligible to race nationally in Class P. The Truggy will be crewed by Colin Matthews and designer Julian Hardy, with a number of these cars already on order.
The 100 kilometre qualifying race to determine grid positions will start at 13:00 on February 27, and the race – to be run over two 200 kilometre loops – at 07:30 the following day. Race headquarters, the start/finish and Parc Ferme will all be located at the Barberspan Motor Club at Leeupan. S26°31,259’ and E25°36,484’.