Share

SA rally championship heats up

Mark Cronje and Robin Houghton (Ford Fiesta) took a big step towards winning their first South African rally championship when they took the honours in the championship’s penultimate round in Limpopo.

The Ford pair completed the two-day 13-special stage Polokwane Rally in 2hr 7min 9sec, edging out former champions Hergen Fekken and Pierre Arries (VW Polo) by a comfortable 1min 19sec. 

Giniel de Villiers and Celeste Snyders (Toyota Auris) enjoyed their best result of the year with third, 26 seconds behind the VW pair.

UNFORESEEN CIRCUMSTANCES

Cronje and Houghton’s championship cause was helped by the retirement three stages from the finish of closest challengers Johnny Gemmell and Carolyn Swan (Auris). 

The Toyota pair led the championship from Cronje and Houghton by five points going into this weekend’s event. While Cronje and Houghton led after the eight special stages, Gemmell and Swan struggled to find their pace and could only manage fifth at the overnight stop in Polokwane.

The Toyota Motorsport team changed the diff of the Auris and Gemmell showed improved pace in the first two stages on Sunday. When the Toyota’s engine temperature climbed dangerously, Gemmell called it a day to preserve the engine.

With their chief rivals scoring no points to their full-house 25, Cronje and Houghton now enjoy a 20-point lead with one round remaining and a maximum of 25 points on offer.

Complicating matters is the National championship rally requirement which states competitors drop their worst score of the year.  If this were to be done now, Gemmell would drop this weekend’s zero score and would reduce the gap to Cronje (whose worst score is 10) to 10 points.

All this means the outcome of the championship will go down to the wire and make the Garden Route Rally in the Western Cape all the more intriguing.

Japie van Niekerk and Gerhard Snyman (VW Polo) achieved their best result of the year when they finished fourth, 2min 24sec behind the winners and 30 seconds ahead of Mohammed Moosa and Andre Vermeulen(Auris), who enjoyed their best performance this season and were delighted to win the final gravel stage of the rally on Sunday morning.

EACH MINUTE COUNTS

Jean-Pierre Damseaux and Grant Martin (Auris), who lost fifth overall on Friday after losing a minute in the final corner of the last stage of the day when their car’s engine stalled, improved on their seventh place overnight position to claim sixth behind their team mates.

Former champions Jan Habig and Robert Paisley (Ford Fiesta) were second overall on Friday night, 47 seconds behind Cronje and Houghton, but their challenge came to an end on stage 11 on Sunday morning when they were slowed by a misfire and having to stop between stages to replace the power-steering belt.

This resulted in them arriving late at the next control and incurring a 1min 20sec penalty. They eventually took seventh, 3min 32sec behind the winners and 1min 3sec ahead of team mates Charl Wilken and Greg Godrich.

Leeroy Poulter and Elvéne Coetzee were ninth in the second Castrol Toyota and would have come close to winning for the second year in succession had they not had mechanical problems on the first stage on Saturday, October 6. A front suspension bolt broke, costing them 45 seconds on the stage to winners Cronje and Houghton.

They were forced to complete the next two stages with a roadside repair before their service crew could attend to the problem. 

They went on to dominate the rest of the rally, winning four of Saturday’s eight stages and two more on Sunday.  The 5min 39sec gap between them and the winners at the finish almost equaled the 5min 20sec penalty for lateness that resulted from their suspension problem.

Rounding out the top 10 overall and in the premier S2000 class for four-wheel drive cars were Jon Williams and Cobus Vrey (Ford Fiesta) who distinguished themselves by winning Sunday’s two short tarmac stages that opened and closed the day’s programme, the final one watched by a huge crowd at the Peter Mokaba Stadium on the outskirts of Polokwane.

FINISHING OFF

Gugu Zulu and Carl Peskin (Polo) virtually wrapped up the S2000 Challenge for the older specification four-wheel drive cars with their fourth category wins of the season. They finished 12th overall and 15min 20sec ahead of second-placed Henk Lategan and Barry White, who were the only other finishers, coming in 18th overall.  Namibians Wilro Dippenaar and Morne du Toit (Toyota RunX), who had been second in the Challenge category on Saturday night, fell out on the third stage this morning with mechanical problems.

Ashley Haigh-Smith and Craig Parry (Ford Fiesta R2) put the finishing touches to their two-day domination of the S1600 class for two-wheel drive cars to take their second category win of the season, the only crew in the hotly contested class to manage this. They were 11th overall and 1min 15sec ahead of second-placed Tjaart Conradie and Kes Naidoo (Toyota Auris). 

Former champion Craig Trott and Robbie Coetzee pulled off yet another point-scoring finish in Trott’s ageing RunX with third place to put themselves within a handful of points of winning the Two Wheel Drive championship.

Megan Verlaque and Hilton Auffray (Polo) kept themselves in the hunt for a top-three finish in the class championship with fifth, ahead of the Lourens twins, Janine and Michelle, who recorded their first National championship points in a Toyota Conquest.

We live in a world where facts and fiction get blurred
Who we choose to trust can have a profound impact on our lives. Join thousands of devoted South Africans who look to News24 to bring them news they can trust every day. As we celebrate 25 years, become a News24 subscriber as we strive to keep you informed, inspired and empowered.
Join News24 today
heading
description
username
Show Comments ()