21/03/09 - The popular Pro-Tour National championship series opened at Cape Town’s picturesque Killarney circuit and a large crowd witnessed some of the best racing seen for a long time.

The Shelby Can-Am event saw former champion Darryn Lobb (DK Woodcraft) take two wins, each time ahead of current Champion Rui Campos (Hugo Boss) who kept him under pressure throughout.

They set such a pace in the opening race that they pulled away from the pack at the rate of over a second per lap and were 12-seconds clear of third placed Jean Paul Bredenhann (Panel-Rite) by the end of the 10-lap race. A brilliant three car battle for fourth saw Brian Algar (Thuthuka Welding) get the verdict by less than half a second from local ace Bertil Hoffman (IOU Music) with Sean Greve (Vulcania Reinforcing) a car length adrift.

As in the past, race two was combined with the GT Challenge which saw Toby Venter’s thoroughbred Le Mans spec Porsche 911 GT2 take the outright win as Lobb drove a tactical race to come through the field to claim the Shelby Can-Am win with second overall.

Alan Eve (Phakisa) led the Shelby charge initially and was an eventual third as another sensible drive netted fourth for Bredenhann who managed to get the Porsche of Laurent Gross between himself and Algar while Greve claimed the points for sixth.

The newly named Altech GT Challenge had a very successful start to the season with no less than 31 entries taking to the grid at the Killarney raceway in Cape Town on Saturday.

Toby Venter in the Porsche 911 GT2 resumed his winning ways, after dominating 2008, when he picked up two untroubled wins on the day. Oscar de Oliviera impressed in a last minute entry with a Ferrari F430 but only competed in the first heat. The introduction of the Laurent Gross Porsche 997 GT2 in its beautiful black martini livery was another sight to behold in a field replete with exotic machinery.

Jeremy Pougnet took his first overall class win in Class B with Mike Wilson in the Fine Metals 997 Porsche GT3 Cup in second ahead of seven other Ferrari’s in the class.

Barry Nel in the B-Tech racing Porsche 944 Turbo Cup took overall victory in Class C followed by Nicky Dicks in the Curvent 996 Porsche GT3 Cup. Although “Rocket” Rod Cole-Edawrdes did not complete heat 1 he finished 3rd overall after a storming second heat drive.

Anthony Blunden in a Porsche 911 RSR took overall victory in Class D in his debut drive in the Altech GT Challenge Series, after failing to qualify, which was an impressive recovery for the “Rookie”. Charl Arangies was 2nd overall in class, followed by the Cape entry Porsche 917 of Ferdi van Niekerk. Dave Fourie, Altech Porsche champion in 2007 finished 4th overall after a poor second heat and a spin which ended a competitive day for him.

Mathew Merton got his assault on the Investchem Formula Ford championship off to a perfect start as he took two convincing wins.

Driving the Matsam Supplies backed Mygale, he started from second on the grid as pole position was claimed by the Magnificent Paints Van Diemen of Nicholas van Weely.

Van Weely led from the start with Merton glued to his exhaust but on lap two Van Weely spun entering the first corner and dropped to the back of the field. That left Merton with a handy lead and he went on to win by a massive eight seconds.

Werner Scholtz (Investchem Mygale) was promoted to second, but spun and dropped behind Dean Hirschowitz (Knightsbridge Investment Mygale). A lap later it was Hirschowitz’s turn to go off the track which gave the runner-up position back to Scholtz as Hirschowitz recovered to finish third ahead of James Temple (Mygale). A controlled drive saw Jayde Kruger win the Zetec Challenge class with fifth place in the Knottsberry Foods Mygale as van Weely fought back superbly to take sixth.

Race two saw Merton lead off the line but van Weely soon took over at the front and led until a coming together with Merton on lap seven saw him retire and Merton take his second win. This time it was Hirschowitz who got second with Temple a solid third.

Kruger was fourth, and again the Zetec Challenge winner, with Scholtz in fifth ahead of visiting British Formula Ford legend Rick Morris (Investchem Mygale) who was runner-up in the Zerec Challenge class.

There was another double victor in the two 10-lap Red Square Kawasaki ZX10R Masters Cup races as home town hero Danie Maritz was ahead of Gavin Lightfoot (Execuline/Emtek).

Third in the opening race was Pieter de Vos (Essential Hardware) with four seconds to spare before Jayson Lamb (Buffalo Motorcycles) as Joe Shearer ((O’Mage) and Sergio da Silva completed the top six.

Lightfoot led the early laps of race two before Maritz used his home track advantage to haul him in and take the lead at half distance as the pair finished well clear of De Vos who was third again.

Fourth went to Lamb while Delvin Pearce (T&M Design) pipped Shearer for fifth place.

The popular Altech Porsche Club 924 Challenge handicap series which has run for a number of seasons once again saw a close finish. Mark Saunders took the chequered flag ahead of Greg Parton but it was Greg Parton who had the last laugh when Mark was disqualified for exceeding his break-out time.

Piet “Slick” Nortje incurred the wrath of the MSA stewards when he dropped oil all over the circuit receiving a hefty fine for the misdemeanour.

Heat 2 saw Braam van Niekerk take a well earned victory after a mixed bag of results in 2008. Marius Wait finished second and Greg Parton managed a third.

After recovering from heat 1 “Slick” Nortje and a tube of Pratley putty re-built his motor and finished a respectable 4th in the race.

Round two of the Pro-Tour series takes place at Zwartkops near Pretoria on 18th April.


A full field of exotic machinery, led to by Toby Venter's Porsche
911 GT2 thunders into turn 1 at Killarney on Saturday. Pic Tony Alves