Rocky road claims heavy toll in Malalane
Malalane experienced plenty of vroom-vroom over the weekend of August 7 and 8. There was a lot of dust and dare I say, an unexpected number of cars not finishing round four of the Donaldson Cross Country Production Vehicle championships.
“Yesterday (Friday) was really tough on the tyres,” said Evan Hutchison and Danie Stassen when I spoke to them before the start of the second day. “We had to replace tyres within the first 90km on the first day – the rocky bits are really rough this year and some areas along the route dictates sharp as tack focus, but otherwise the car runs like a clock.”
Little did they then know or expected their race to be turned upside down when about 40km into the second day, the brute Motorite BAT Viper was stopped in its tracks as a result of a worn wire connecting the computer box with various sensors on the car, causing them to retire. This resulted in their 27-point lead over Lance Trethewey/Geoff Minitt becoming smaller – but still offering a margin to finish the season as champions in class.
This of course allowed for another upset of sorts in the special vehicle class when Jimmy Zahos/Zaheer Bodhanya in their Cobalt Racing Stryker scored their maiden national series win ahead of Sarel van Biljon/Philip Herselman (Atlas Copco BAT) in second place.
Punctures, no power steering, and no spare wheels over the last 60km brought Mark Corbett/Juan Mohr into the finish on a limp and with plenty of bodywork damage to their Century Racing CR5.
In the Production Vehicle Class the day belonged to Leeroy Poulter/Rob Howie after a tough but faultless performance in their Hilux. Jurgen/Max Schroder followed in second place in the Regent Racing Navara with local lads Johan (Jr) and Werner Horn in their Malalane Toyota Hilux, fighting from the rear and also profiting from various retirements ahead of them, to finish in third on the podium. “It was a truly tough race – many tight areas – lots and lots of dust which forced everybody, at times, to slow down but the car was good. We incurred a time penalty yesterday (Friday) which cost us but we are happy with finishing on the podium,” said Johan.
It was a seriously unhappy weekend for Ford – and for the many supporters all the way from Mbombela, as none of the Fords made it to the finish. Lance Woolridge/Ward Huxtable retired as a result of suspension damage and Chris Visser/Japie Badenhorst crashed out after hitting an embankment. Australian crew John Purshouse/Murray Hynes in another Ford, and on their debut, had a broken propshaft 29km into the race which left them stranded.
But as the saying goes – its not over till the fat lady sings and the next event in the series, the Vryburg Endurance in North West on September 11 and 12, may just present more surprises.
