Long Tom sports for off-roaders
2012-04-02 12:06
THE STALWARTS SULLWALD: A number of star entrants will be lining up for the Donaldson Prologue of the Toyota Dealer 400 in April 2012, including the popular Sullwald crew.
Round 2 of the Absa Off-road championship will head for Mpumalanga later in April for an event that promises interesting developments in the Special and Production Car categories.
The Toyota Dealer 400 will be run near Lydenburg, over April 13/14 with a 60-strong field to contest the course over a 60km prologue plus two 175km loops.
The Special Vehicles category will see a return to action by the former Toyota Desert Race winner Rob Wark along with former motorcycle racer Chris Davis in an Aceco. Botswana crew Mogrey Mabille and Lepsy Mosope will debut at this race in their Zarco Lite.
MANY MOVERS
The Production Vehicle category is bolstered by a third BMW X3 campaigned by the father-and-son team Willem and Dana Vos, along with regulars Hannes Grobler/Hennie ter Stege and Christiaan du Plooy and Henk Janse van Vuuren.
Faces new to the series include Jaco Visser/Werner Weiss in the Vos team’s previous Toyota Hilux and Johann Griffioen/Willem Marais (Toyota), who have graduated from the Northern Region off-road championship, and Rowan Lamb/Lyle Parker (Ford).
Motorsport SA off-road car racing commission president Richard Schilling said: “It's nice to see new faces coming into the sport, particularly through the ranks of the Northern Region and KwaZulu-Natal Regional championships.
'GRASSROOTS'
“That shows us that the sport is healthy at grass-roots, and the commission will continue to place a great deal of emphasis on further developing these championships.”
The Toyota Dealer 400 race HQ and service park will be at Lydenburg Toyota on the road to Long Tom Pass.
A field of 60 cars is expected to come under starter’s orders for the 60km Donaldson Prologue on Friday, April 13 for grid positions.The race will be run over two 175km loops the following day.
Public access to these areas and to 14 spectator points along the route will be free.
