 |
|
Hurley’s advantage as Phakisa challenge looms
|
|
| Round three of the exciting Comsol Volkswagen Challenge takes place at Welkom’s much liked Phakisa Freeway motorsport complex on Saturday 26th April and once again Free State fans are promised two action packed races. |
| There’s no doubt that the VW Challenge is one of South Africa’s most successful motorsport categories. 2014 marks the 25th anniversary of the series, which was then known as GTI Challenge and formed part of the GTI Club of South Africa which became a branch of the Sports Car Club. In those days it was an arena where tuners could showcase their developments and the almost unlimited modifications allowed in class A resulted in some wild, if not brutal machinery. Today it is no longer a case of bolting on a set of side-draught Webers and grinding a lumpy cam which made idling almost impossible, rather it is engine mapping and suspension expertise that are the main criteria. |
no images were found |
no images were found |
|
| James Hurley (The Starter Pack Company/Polo) heads the overall and class A championship table having scored a full house of wins and he has an eight point cushion over class B leader Darren Nathan (Sex Trader/Polo). Despite racing on a miniscule budget, class B contender Lyle Ramsay is holding third just one point clear of class A racer Waldie Meintjes (Performance Masters/Marty’s Body & Spray/Polo). Another point further back is class C leader Francois van Zyl in the Jesus Saves Citi Golf, but he is only two points clear of class C sparring partner Elke van Vledder (Batmobile/Citi Golf). |
| Former kart racer Rory Atkinson (Comsol/Polo) lies third in class A and a good result at Phakisa will put him back in contention for the title. Teammate Ian Stevenson is five points behind while sixth in the class A standings are Etienne Prinsloo (Sasfin/Bizhub/Polo) and Peet Visagie (Polo) who each have 11-points behind their name. |
|
Class B is also a closely contested affair and reigning VW Challenge champion Henry van Vledder is third in his unsponsored Golf2. Gerhard Henning (Toyota Replacement Parts/Polo) is just one point behind him as Ryan Tholet (Prend Properties/Polo) and Tyrell Govindsamy (Petroplast International/Citi Golf) round off the top six in the class.
|
no images were found |
no images were found |
|
| The class C battle promises to be a fascinating contest as Zander Roos (Polo) is currently third but in no-man’s land, eight points behind Elke van Vledder and seven ahead of Wayne Masters who had a guest outing in a car from the Gossman family fleet at Midvaal, so is unlikely to be at Phakisa. Christian de Wet’s car was badly damaged in that spectacular multicar shunt at Zwartkops but as he is tied for sixth with Wayne Crous (X35 Energy Drink/Polo) he’s trying desperately to get on the grid at Phakisa. |
| By: Steve Wicks |
