One crew is running away with the Production Vehicle category in the Donaldson Cross Country Motor Racing Championship, and two others will be involved in a fascinating battle at the top of their class at the Nkomazi 450 in Malalane on 26 and 27 August.
On top of running away with the overall and FIA Class championships, Toyota Gazoo Racing SA Hilux pair Leeroy Poulter and Rob Howie will be intent on preserving their unbeaten record this season. Poulter has also not been beaten this season in the South African rally championship where he is partnered by Elvéne Coetzee in the Toyota Gazoo Racing SA Toyota Yaris.
Poulter/Howie and team-mates Anthony Taylor/Dennis Murphy have, in fact, not lost a qualifying race or round of the Donaldson series since the start of the 2015 season. Poulter and Howie have taken a commanding 40 point lead over Taylor/Murphy with the rest of the FIA Class and Class T runners not in the frame.
The focus now has inevitably switched to the battle between Jason Venter/Vince van Allemann (4×4 Mega World Toyota Hilux) and former SA champions Chris Visser and Ward Huxtable in the Neil Woolridge Motorsport/Ford Performance Ranger. After a devastating fire at the NWM workshop in Pietermaritzburg which destroyed the Ford Ranger campaigned by Visser/Huxtable and Gareth Woolridge/Boyd Dreyer, the pendulum has swung towards Venter and van Allemann.
Visser/Huxtable will again be out in the NWM-built Ford Ranger on loan from Kobus van Tonder’s Uni Freight team. A troubled run at the Lichtenburg 450 saw the NWM/Ford Performance crew slip eight points behind Venter/van Allemann in the overall championship, with 17 points the difference in Class T.
There is a 52 point gap between Venter/van Allemann and Johan van Staden/Mike Lawrenson (Red-Lined Nissan Navara), and the Class T battle is still a fight between the North West youngsters and Visser/Huxtable who are a pair of battle hardened veterans. With three class wins this season Venter/van Allemann have a slight edge, although Visser/Huxtable will probably be the sentimental favourites.
With Woolridge/Dreyer more than likely out for the season and Christian du Plooy and Henk Janse van Vuuren (RFS VW Amarok) missing the Lichtenburg race, Gary Bertholdt/Geoff Minnitt (Atlas Copco VW Amarok) and Luke Botha/Andre Vermeulen (Red-Lined Nissan Navara) took the opportunity to score impressive podium finishes. That lifted them up the championship ladder with Bertholdt now partnered on the Mpumalanga race by Philip Herselman in an Amarok that is starting to look menacing.
All and sundry in Malalane and surrounding areas will be rooting for local boys Johan and Werner Horn (Malalane Toyota Hilux) who have not had the best of seasons so far. But a good result will make all that go away, and the Horns deserve a little bit of luck.
Much the same applies to Hennie de Klerk and Adriaan Roets in the Treasury One BMW X3. They are dangerous “floaters” in the field and are due a good result.
An interesting combination in Class T sees rally star Japie van Niekerk out in a Red-Lined Nissan Navara. Van Niekerk will have the advantage of former rally and cross country champion Robin Houghton as his co-driver, but it will be interesting to see how he makes the transition between special stage rallying and cross country endurance competition.
The Class S championship also has an interesting look about it, and a non finish last time out hit Heine Strumpher and Henri Hugo (4×4 Mega World Toyota Hilux) where it hurts. Second place for Otto Graven and Bobby Brewis, in the Graven Motorsport Toyota Hilux, has moved them into the championship lead for the first time this season.
There is a nine point difference between the two crews with a win on the Lichtenburg outing also lifting former SA champion Jannie Visser and son Chris to within six points of Strumpher and Hugo. It is game on in Malalane with Ronald Graven and Lohan Faber not out of the picture in a second Graven Motorsport Toyota Hilux.
The Class S ranks will be bolstered by Terence Marsh and celebrity co-driver Hlubi Mboya Arnold in a Red-Lined Nissan Navara. Marsh and the celebrities have so far this season campaigned in the FIA Class but the pair will give the other Class S runners something to think about.
The event has a new partner on board with RCL FOODS joining Malalane Toyota in backing the race. Around 60 percent of the route runs on RCL FOODS property, and the route is technical and will prove a sure test of race-craft and reliability.
The Nkomazi 450 will be run in conjunction with a round of the Northern Regions Cross Country Championship. Race headquarters, the start/finish and designated service park will all be located at the Riverview Preparatory school with public entry to these areas free of charge.
There will also be free public entry to spectator points along the route, with spectator guides available at race headquarters and Malalane Toyota. The national qualifying race to determine grid positions will start at 11:30 on August 26 and the race at 08:30 the following day.