Cheers for hometown crew at Nkomazi 450

Reigning production vehicle champions Anthony Taylor and Dennis Murphy got back to winning ways when they scored their second win of the season on the Nkomazi 450, round three of the Donaldson Cross Country Championship.

For the Team Castrol Hilux crew it was an emphatic response after a non-finish last time out on the Toyota Dealer 450 in Mooi River.

Most of the cheers, however, were reserved for hometown crew Johan and Werner Horn, in the Malalane Toyota Hilux, who had the local community in raptures with their second podium finish in a row.

The final podium place went to Atlas Copco Nissan Navara pair Johan van Staden and Mike Lawrenson after a steady drive. It was their best performance of the season on a tight and tricky route.

“We never got out the car the whole weekend, and that is the key to winning races,” said Taylor. “It was a tough route but we kept it smooth and never made any mistakes. We knew the Horns were within two minutes of us, but we controlled the pace perfectly.”

It is a little ironic that the Horns are campaigning the car in which Taylor and Murphy won last year’s championship with a race to spare. For the Horns two podiums in their first three outings in a hi-tech Class T car left driver Johan stunned.

“We would have laughed had anyone suggested before the season that we would be on the podium twice in three races,” he said. “In front of our home crowd this was a special result.”

Taylor and Murphy inherited the lead early on the first of the two 175-kilometre loops that made up the race. Teammates Leeroy Poulter and Rob Howie lost a front wheel when studs came loose and, once in the lead, Taylor and Murphy were in complete control.

Van Staden and Lawrenson produced another workmanlike performance, and profited from the retirements of Poulter/Howie and Christiaan du Plooy/Henk Janse van Vuuren (RFS Ford Ranger) who started ahead of them. For du Plooy and Janse van Vuuren it saw the continuation of a series of disappointing results.

There was also a season best from fourth-placed Mike Whitehouse and George Myburgh in the Regent Racing Nissan Navara. Whitehouse/Myburgh finished a comfortable 75 seconds ahead of Deon Venter and Ian Palmer, in the 4×4 Mega World Toyota Hilux, who grabbed their second Class S victory in a row via an impressive top-five performance.

“We had a good run, but on a tight track and with the dust it was almost impossible to pass anyone,” said Venter. “All the cars we passed today were stranded on the side of the road.”

Venter and Palmer were well clear of the factory Atlas Copco Ford Racing combination of Manfred Schroder and Japie Badenhorst who went into the event with 11 points in hand over Poulter, and a lead of 15 points over Taylor/Murphy. After starting 12th on the road Schroder/Badenhorst salvaged a sixth overall and fifth in class to leave the overall and Class T championships poised on a knife-edge.

Multiple SA motorcycle champion Brian Capper and Jaco Swart (Regent Racing Polaris) scored a comfortable win in the fledgling Class G or Side-by-Side category. With Leander Pienaar and Stephan Marais (Can-Am Maverick) among the non-finishers it was a win that took Capper and Swart to the top of the championship.

Second went to Gareth Woolridge, in another Polaris, with Werner Mosterd and Henno du Plooy third in the Motgo-Netix Polaris completing the podium.

The next event on the Donaldson Cross Country Championship calendar is the Toyota Kalahari Botswana 1000 in Botswana, June 27 to 29.