CLUBMANS NEWS – Posted: 04/03/2010

With a depleted BMW entry at the season opener the BMW faithful had their hopes pegged on Roshan Khan who had ensured he stayed inside the desired time slots at the last meeting of 09 and he opened the first race of the day, and the season with a sprint into turn one and was not headed for the rest of the race. A far too rare visit by Kobus Claasen in the legendary Nissan Primera was a great sight on the circuit and he shadowed the leader all race long to post a solid second with Bennie Lodewyk a few seconds adrift keeping the VW boys semi happy. Class B was dominated by the new series chairman Gavin Cerff with Shando Hendricks in the super nifty Opel not far behind with Adrian Mossop all of the back of him. The Escort is average through the tight bits but showed an immense turn of speed in the straights. Mark Smith, Dave Beecroft and Mark Hope drew quite a bit of attention nearer the rear of the field with a close battle for class C and eventually ended in that order with a mere 2.3 seconds dividing the top three. Class D was surprisingly spread out in heat one with Tony Leca putting in a faultless performance to post his first race victory ahead of the improving Lance Arendse and then a distant 3rd being posted, by a smoking at times, Wayne Wilson in the Nissan Maxima. Class E and F are virtually entry less and will probably receive a few entrants from the gaggle of class x cars from this event.

Heat two was a well attended affair with all the classes on the grid and I must say it is an awesome sight from the commentary box to see 38 cars coming under starters orders after such a long off season.

Roshan cleaned up in class A with almost seven seconds back to a hard charging Bennie in the Golf and this gave them first and second overall in class for the day with Ashey pulling off the fastest lap of the day and a 3rd overall to bump Kobus out of the top three after Kobus was listed as a non starter for heat two. Gerhard Cloete put in a storming 2nd heat to lift himself to the front of class B overall with Gavin posting a 3rd behind Adrian being enough to take 2nd overall in class with Adrian securing 3rd overall. Class C top five were split by 14 seconds on the circuit with Mark Smith taking two wins on the day to lead the class overall. There is little to choose from between Mark, Dave, Dale and Christopher and baring breakouts this is going to be a prolonged dice all season long. Tony Leca took a second victory for the day but was closely shadow by Leon Swart who was all over his back bumper. Leon spun while leading heat one and baring that, would have been right up front all day long based on his second outing. Class D ended up with Tony from Lance from Wayne, with Ernst Roos and Leon Swart under achieving due to throttle body and spinning problems and they are going to make for great entertainment at the next outing.

Overall as a season opener the racing was good but there is going to be a lot of log changes after the end of the second event with a lot more entrants having their cars ready and a hoard of x entries being dealt into their time slots.

A big warm welcome is extended from all the drivers to the new series sponsors and to you the public for being so enthusiastic on race days around the circuit, thank you for your input as well.

Till we meet again ... racing is not a way of life, it is what life is all about. GARY FLEMING