21/03/09 - Darling, Saturday- Duncan Vos and Ralph Pitchford got their season
 off to a perfect start when they won the Adenco 400, opening round of
 the Absa Off Road Championship, which ended here today.

 Vos, the reigning South African driver's champion, and Pitchford
 brought their Donaldson Nissan Navara home 41 seconds ahead of
 team-mates Hannes Grobler and Juan Mohr. It was Nissan's seventh
 straight win on the Western Cape event which this year produced one of
 the toughest routes for an Absa event in recent memory.

 Chris Visser and Japie Badenhorst, in the RFS Toyota Hilux, came in
 third to spoil what earlier in the day looked like developing into a
 Nissan clean seep of the first three places. Norwegian Ivar Tollefsen
 and his British co-driver, Quin Evans were third until a puncture 30
  kilometres from the finish dropped them down to fourth.

 The top five were rounded out by Castrol Toyota Hilux stalwarts
 Anthony Taylor and Robin Houghton. The pair were always intent on a
 top five result and did just that.

 "It was a great way to start the season, but it was more than hard work,"
 said Vos. "It was a really tough route, and with Hannes and Juan
 pushing us all the way there was absolutely no chance to relax. It was
 a tough event for the co-drivers and Ralph did a brilliant job."

 Grobler and Mohr were always in with a sniff but Vos and Pitchford
 never put a foot wrong. The Tollefsen/Evans and Visser/Badenhorst
 battle was always close but it was cruel luck on the overseas pair.

 Before the puncture we took a wrong turn and had to back track," said
 Tollefsen. "That cost "us time and when we had the puncture it allowed
 the Toyota to get ahead of us.

 "It was a pity but we are happy with fourth on what was a hard event."

 Visser/Badenhorst had a clean run to upstage the factory squad. A
 puncture on the second of the two 160 kilometre loops that made up the
 event cost Taylor and Houghton time, but they had around four minutes
 in hand over Terence Marsh and Pieter Groenewald who were making their
 debut in the Regent Racing Ford Ranger.

 There was also a great result for Christiaan du Plooy and Henk Jansen
 van Vuuren in their first time out in the premier SP Class in a new
 RFS Toyota Hilux. Du Plooy's father, Chris, and Ewald van Rensburg
 were not so lucky and were taken to hospital for observation after
 suffering back injuries in an off road excursion in another RFS Toyota
 Hilux.

 The tough route took a heavy toll on vehicles and crews in Class D and
 Class E. Eighth overall and first in Class D went to former Class D
 drivers champion Cliff Weichelt and son Louis.

 The pair revelled in the tough conditions and came home around 20
 minutes ahead of Dewald van Breda and Johan du Toit (Northam Toyota
 Hilux). Van Breda and du Toit were Rookies of the Year last season and
 moved into Class D after a debut season in Class E.

 A brave effort saw Johan Fouche and Wentzel Pretorius finish third in
 Class D in a Mitsubishi. The Weichelt's, van Breda/du Toit and the
 Mitsubishi were the only classified finishers in Class D.

 Class E winners Deon Venter and Ian Palmer, in the 4x4 Megaworld
 Toyota Hilux, overcame a myriad of suspension problems to win Class E.
 They came in ahead of Louw de Bruin and Riaan Greyling in the Ruwacon
 Ford Ranger with a
 14 minute gap between the two cars.

 Another brave effort saw reigning champions Jannie Visser and Joks le
 Roux, in the RFS Toyota Hilux, salvage third place. A broken radiator
 on the Friday prologue saw them playing catch up over the rest of the
 race.

DREAM START FOR MOTORITE ON ADENCO 400

Darling, Saturday - A win first time out in a new and untried Revo1
4x4 car provided the Motorite pair of Evan Hutchison and Achim
 Bergmann with a dream result on the Adenco 400, round one of the Absa
 Off Road Championship, which ended here today.

 Giving the Motorite Revo1 4x4 its first outing Hutchison and Bergman
 came in around three minutes ahead of Naeem Moosajee and Mohammad
 Moultson, in the TyreRack Jimco, with the event providing a dramatic
 sting in the tale.
 Hutchison and Bergmann, who designed and built the new Revo1, went
 into the lead when reigning South African champion Kallie Sullwald and
 son Quintin, in the Sullwald Racing BAT, broke down 10 kilometres from
 the finish after leading throughout the race.

 It was a result that also provided Hutchison/Bergmann and
 Moosajee/Moultson with a complete reversal of fortunes from last
 year's event when the two crews were involved in a huge accident.
 Third over the line in the provisional results were Nick and Ryan
 Harper, in the Atlas Copco BAT, who came in 90 seconds ahead of the
 steady Mike Whitehouse and Mathew Carlson in the Regent Racing BAT.

 Brothers Johan and Etienne Bezuidenhout, in the Adenco BAT, came up
 with a huge result for the sponsors of the race. They took fifth place
 overall and were first in Class P where they were the only classified
 finishers.

 The Bezuidenhout's are the reigning Class P champions and a top five
 finish was a terrific effort. The Bezuidenhout and Adenco cup
 overflowed when Bes Bezuidenhout and son Deon took the Class B
 honours.

 They were exactly a minute ahead of Simon Beckett and Steve Harris in
 the Century Racing BAT. For Bezuidenhout senior it was his second win
 in a row on the event.

 "What a way to start the season on what was one of the toughest races
 in recent years," said Hutchison. "You have to feel sorry for the
 Sullwald's but we'll throw a big party tonight.

 "Achim is a genius and he deserves all the credit for designing and
 building a car that wins first time out and has enormous potential."

 Moosajee said after the Friday prologue to determine start positions
 that all he was interested in was to finish. He did more than that
 and, despite a clutch problem, a steady and careful drive saw the
 Limpopo pair come up with a confidence boosting result.

 The tough route proved too much for a couple of high profile Class A
 runners. Among them were Jimmy Zahous and Stefan Coetzee (Atlas Copco
 Porter) who started from second place and broke a gearbox, and former
 SA champion Shameer Variawa and Siegfried Rousseau (Total Porter) who
 called it a day after they broke a CV joint.

 Herman and Wichard Sullwald, in a second Sullwald Racing entry were
 also among those who fell by the wayside. High profile retirements in
 Class P included Don Thompson and Don Blakey (Zarco), former Class S
 champion Richard Schilling and Chris Davies (Cultura Aceco RS) and
 brothers David and Gary White in the Ruwacon BAT.