26/04/09 - The 2009 Sasol Rally produced one of the most thrilling spectacles in its 18 year history, with two of the country’s top gravel racers locked in a battle so close they were tied after 12 of the 14 stages, with the winner taking line honours on the final 13km forest stage.

Johnny Gemmell and his Zimbabwean co-driver Peter Marsh held their nerve to blast their S2000 Castrol Toyota Auris through the Spitskop stage a slender four seconds faster than their rivals, the current SA Rally Champions Hergen Fekken/Pierre Arries (S2000 BP Ultimate Volkswagen Polo).

The battle for Sasol Rally honours was a titanic three-way fight between the two drivers and Mark Cronje/Robert Paisley in the second S2000 Castrol Auris but as the rally headed to a breathtaking finale, Cronje backed off to bag his first podium of the season.

Fekken took charge of the Sasol Rally with two early stage wins, building up a 13 second lead after the opening day’s six stages. Gemmell in second place was a single second ahead of team mates Cronje/Paisley, so the stage was set for an incredible fight over the remaining eight stages.

Fekken and Gemmell set identical times over the SuperSpecial stage in the heart of Nelspruit before the Toyota driver put the hammer down in the first gravel stage and slashed his deficit by seven seconds. The gap was back up to 11 seconds after Fekken responded but Gemmell wasn’t done yet. He won the 10th stage by 5 seconds and with mileage rapidly running out, dropped another three seconds to Fekken after stage 11.

Stage 12 was the decider at 20,5km. Gemmell dug deep and beat his rival by nine seconds, leaving the two drivers tied at the head of the timesheets. The thousands of spectators waited breathlessly for the Sasol-sponsored SMS results from stage 13…Firstly, Fekken shot through the stage fully eight seconds faster than he managed over the same stage the previous day, an impressive performance.

It wasn’t enough, for Gemmell went 13 seconds faster than his previous time and had his four second gap. The smile on Gemmell’s face at the end of the stage said it all. He knew he drove as hard as he could and snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.

With just 320 metres through the Nelspruit Showgrounds to go, it was unlikely that things would change, and the pair duly set identical times to end one of the greatest Sasol Rallies of them all.

Cronje was delighted with his podium place after a tough start to the season. He pushed Gemmell hard, briefly taking second place on Saturday but gave up the fight mid way through Saturday in the interests of building his championship points tally.

Former champions Enzo Kuun/Guy Hodgson brought their S2000 BP Volkswagen home 4th after clean run, nearly 1½ minutes ahead of their team mates, 2007 champions Jan Habig/Douglas Judd, who lost 2½ minutes in stage two having driven 13km with no right front tyre. The ever-spectacular Habig charged up the leaderboard from his unaccustomed 10th place overnight in a crowd-pleasing display of flat-out motoring.

Charl Wilken and Greg Godrich, the reigning Production Car and class N4 Champions, dominated for the third time, taking the Sasol/Konica Minolta Subaru to an unchallenged category and class win. Wilken overcame a broken shock absorber on Friday, which he bent again on Saturday, ending his defense of 5th place from the hard-charging Habig.

Fernando Rueda/Cobus Vrey (S2000 Team Total Toyota RunX) ended 7th overall, the car plagued by a misfire for most of the event and out of the running for a top placing. They lost a further 75 seconds in stage 10, driving 13 km on a flat tyre. Nicholas Ryan/Geoff Tyrer brought their similar RunX home 8th after battling without power steering, no easy feat in the twisty forest and town stages.

The remaining S2000 entries of Jean-Pierre Damseaux/Andre Vermeulen (Team Total Toyota RunX) and the similar New Africa Developments RunX of Japie van Niekerk/Robin Houghton both retired from the rally.

Damseaux charged out of the blocks, winning stage 1 but was stuck in Habig’s dust in stage two as the Polo limped through on three wheels. The Total RunX developed starting problems which persisted and forced their withdrawal on Saturday morning. Van Niekerk lost 5½ minutes in stage two when he stopped to change a flat wheel, but went off the road on Saturday after the car’s handling deteriorated.

Visser du Plessis/Gerhard Snyman, second in class N4 and 9th overall, had a rally to forget after the Pirtek Subaru ground to halt on the side of the road between stages 1 and 2. For 26 minutes, the crew tried to trace the fault, eventually identified as a loose earth wire leading to the petrol pump. 19th overnight, Du Plessis drove as hard as he could to claw back the ground lost to his rival.

Tjaart Coetzee and former rally driver Etienne Lourens (SAC Trucks Subaru Impreza) ended third in class N4.

Theuns Joubert/Hennie Botes brought their S2000 Salom VW Polo home 10th overall after another steady drive, but they should have been 7th overall. They too had a puncture in stage 4 and lost 5½ minutes, dropping from 7th to 18th overnight. A quick spin in stage 12 didn’t hinder their final result too much.

Schalk Burger and Armand du Toit, the defending Northern Regions Rally Champions, took control of class A7 to claim their first national class wins in their very potent Spike Energy Drink Toyota Corolla. The pair led from start to finish - in spite of a misfire - their task made easier by the problems faced by Evan Hutchinson/Elvene Coetzee.

The multiple off road champion’s Motorite Toyota RunX was stuck in dust behind the ailing Chris de Wit/Dean Redelinghuys Total Toyota RunX in stage 2, losing 30 seconds to the flying Burger. A misfire set in during the later stages and Hutchinson settled for second, taking the shared class A7 championship lead. De Wit retired with a broken gearbox, extending the torrid season for the defending class A7 champions, who failed to even start the two opening rounds.

Stevan Wilken/Greg Gericke (A7 Pannar Seeds Volkswagen Polo) crashed in the shakedown stage on Thursday, damaging their car beyond immediate repair and was a non starter after two back-to-back wins.

Mohammed Moosa/Grant Martin have taken the class A6 championship leaderboard by storm following their second straight win for the Team Total Toyota Auris. Moosa split the two bigger-engined A7 finishers, such is the A6 Auris’ speed. A stuck throttle in stage three and an overshoot in stage 12 didn’t deter the Tzaneen businessman.

2nd and 3rd in class respectively, was the off-form Rodney Visagie/Carolyn Swan, who put in a strong drive on Saturday and Craig Trott/Robbie Coetzee, separated by just nine seconds in their similar Team Total Toyota RunXs.

Dave Compton and Pierre Jordaan survived a stage 10 off road excursion, planting their class N3 Sasol Toyota RunX neatly between two trees after skidding off on a muddy piece of road. The RunX, sporting Sasol’s bright new livery, survived and Compton duly romped to his third straight class win, seeing off the challenge from Riaan/Hester Erasmus (Toyota RunX) and the twin Ford Fiestas of Tony Barbosa/Kenny Hill and Lourens du Plessis/Herman Groenewald, the latter excluded for running on the wrong tyres.

Vusi Mabanga/Shaun Visser claimed a career first class A5 win in their Team Total Toyota Yaris, but had an eventful rally after breaking two shock absorbers on Friday, unbeknown to the crew. Mabanga ran five stages before they were replaced, the spares taken out of the Sasol Toyota Yaris which was upside down in stage two, 125 metres down the mountain after Riyad Jaffer/Henry Dearlove rolled seven times, without injury to the crew.

After stage 9, the Total Yaris was tied with the Port Elizabeth teenager Morne J van Rensburg/Dewald Hattingh (GC Diesel Volkswagen CitiGolf). Van Rensburg had a puncture in stage 13, leaving the way clear for Mabanga to take top honours.

The BP VW CitiGolf twins, double winner Gugu Zulu/Carl Peskin and the current A5 champions Andre Cleenwerck/Des de Fortier, both retired with broken engines. Zulu was 1½ minutes in front of the pack when trouble struck in stage 8.

Ashley Haigh Smith/Hilton Auffrey (React Toyota Yaris) had a great run which ended with the car beached in stage 12.

The next round of the Sasol SA Rally Championship is the SCC Pretoria-organised rally in Ermelo on 12 and 13 June.