Young Guns End Cross Country Series On a High Note

Richard Leeke and Henry Köhne, aka the ATS Motorsport Young Guns, have signed off their 2017 off-road campaign with an emphatic win in class S of the South African Cross Country Series, the final round of which took place on October 27 and 28.

The Atlas Copco Gold 400 started with a qualifying session – as is the norm – on Friday, and it didn’t go well: the Young Guns qualified fourth, well behind the class leaders, and knew they would have their work cut out for them on Saturday.

“We had a misfire and then a puncture, so in the end we were last in our class,” fumed Leeke, who a week ago narrowly missed out on winning the South African National Rally Championship. “The miss started about halfway into the 45-km loop and soon after that we popped a left front tyre – which Henry and I were able to change really quickly, fortunately.”

The duo thus started Saturday’s main event 23rd of 32 entries, fortunate that a number of other competitors had experienced troubles on Friday and would start behind them. Nevertheless, they were still last of the class S bakkies.

The day dawned cool and overcast, moody skies under which Leeke/Köhne staged a comeback which they rate as their best of the year.

With their misfire sorted the first of two 153 km loops went well and they set the pace in the class, moving into second place on elapsed time, this despite a period sitting in the dust of a slightly slower competitor.

The second loop, which saw the field regroup and then restart with two-minute dust gaps, held even more promise. The Ranger was running like clockwork and the crew inside had now settled into a steady and high-speed rhythm. Alas, the car before them in the re-start sequence proved to be considerably slower than the mount of the Young Guns – yet unwilling to let the Ranger past.

Köhne estimates that they sat in heavy dust for almost 20 kilometres, before they were able to force their way past and get back to their natural pace. The race was on, and it was a case of ‘Home James, and don’t spare the horses…’

“We then saw the class leaders standing next to the road and we knew the win could be ours if we just kept cool heads,’ said Köhne. “So, with the realisation that we no longer needed to attack, we made the decision to drive for the win which seemed to be beckoning.”

But there was a final act in the drama and just four kilometres from the finish, drive to the front wheels was lost and they limped home, holding on the lead in class S and also classified seventh in production vehicles and 11th overall.

It was also enough to elevate them to third in class for the year.

“Our goal for the year – our first season in Cross Country – was to finish every event and end 2017 with the maximum race mileage covered,” said Leeke. “It hasn’t worked out that way and that’s motorsport for you but to get two class wins in our maiden season is very satisfying. When it has all gone according to plan we’ve been quick and we also know there’s quite a lot which we can do to the Ranger to make the engine more powerful but also to make the bakkie lighter overall.”

And that, as everyone knows, will translate into more speed for the Young Guns.