Racing pair start season strong
KYALAMI ESTATE - Evan Hutchison and co-driver Danie Stassen of Nelspruit finished second in the Motorite Racing BAT Viper in the Special Vehicle category of the season-opening RFS 450 on 1 March.
The racing pair were the 2013 South African cross country car racing champions, and they aim to defend their title this year.
If it wasn’t for an engine misfire that slowed them down towards the end of the 450km two-day race and a puncture just 40km from the finish, they would have enjoyed a well-deserved victory, instead of finishing as frustrated runners-up.
“That’s cross country racing,” said Hutchison, who is seeking his sixth national cross country championship in 10 years. “We did everything we could to win today after missing out on winning Friday’s [28 February] qualifying race by just three seconds. This meant we had to start behind [eventual winners] Quintin and Kallie Sullwald [BAT Venom] today [1 March]. Although it was very dusty and overtaking was not easy, we managed to reach the halfway compulsory service stop in Harrismith in first place, 53 seconds ahead of Quintin and Kallie. We stretched this out to over a minute and a half before the misfire slowed us and then we had the puncture, which cost us several minutes when we stopped to change the wheel.”
He congratulated the Sullwalds on their victory. “We are happy with the points we scored today, which provide a good platform to build on in the seven rounds remaining,” said Hutchison.
