26/07/10 - With 204 entries it was promising to see the regional and club championship racers at full throttle. Spectators filled the embankment and stands as the racing got underway at 10h00. Loads of serious action and thrilling moments.

Regional championship categories such as the Tata Super Saloons had 30 cars on the grid with some awesome racing cars such as the BMW of Sav Gualtieri, Kris Budnik, JJ Kleynhans, Wayne Emmenis and Paul Munro, the Opel Rekord V8 of Willie Hepburn and the spectacular Chev Camaro of Jonathan du Toit.

From the start tension was building for the overall victory as the Super Saloons are a huge crowd pleaser. Sav Gualtieri showed his muscle with an overall win from Willie Hepburn in the Opel. Class B honours went to Amos Cockeram Snr and Shaun O’Connor. Class B-2 was dominated by Anton Cronjé in his Subaru WRX and with Jonathan du Toit close on his heels. Class B-6 belonged to Kris Budnik and JJ Kleynhans in their BMW’s and class C victory went to Wayne Odendaal in his VW Golf.

The Tata Modified Production Cars was a fierce battle between George Bezuidenhout and George Economides as they were leading the pack. George Bezuidenhout finally took the victory with his ex-production Nissan Primera. Brendan Hall was third in class A in his Honda Ballade. Old stalwart Jannie van Rooyen put up a great performance in his VW Golf and took class B honours from Adrian Dalton and Jose Sardinha. Class C was won by Tomasz Muszko in his Ford Bantam Bakkie.

The Goldwagen MotoEuro SuperHatch category never fails to impress the crowd with the biggest field on the day. The grid was packed with 36 racing hatch cars ranging from VW Golf, Honda, Opel, Ford, Mini, Fiat and Toyotas. Local favorite Mark du Toit in his Honda Civic met a woman in turn two, Claudette Vorster and had to retire after his radiator was severely damaged. The Overall victory went to none other than 17 year old Jeffery Kruger, followed by Claudette Vorster in second and Linda Henning in her Polo. These Ladies are proving to be serious contenders for the SuperHatch boys. Nic Martin won class B followed by Chris Davison and Louis Scholtz. Also putting up a brave performance was Melanie Spurr, but unfortunately was taken out of the lead by another competitor. Class C went to youngster Hilton van Niewenhuizen, Jeff Langeveldt and Vernon Stoltz. Class N was won by Jacques Joubert followed by Warren Dodd and Dirk Lawrence.

Silver Cup is one of the most popular categories of a club championship and Saturday’s racing was no different. As 9 class A entries battled it out for the lead the class B drivers were also joining the fun. Victory went to Johann Snyman in class A followed by Joe de Sousa. George Economides was up there with the leaders and took class B honours followed by Adrian Dalton. Class C was won by Kevin Paynter and class D by current Silver Cup Champion Gary Gordon in his Honda CRX.

SRA – Sports Racing Association (endurance racing series) was a fun event as they had the last race of the day with a 45 minute race. Everyone joined the fun and entered for the race. Some cars had already broken down through the day but the ones that did make the finish had plenty of action and stiff arms. The Overall index victory went to Greg Gossman in a VW Golf, second was Hilton van Niewenhuizen and third was Adrian Dalton also in his VW Golf. Overall was Simon Murray from Shaun Dodd with Jeff Gable in third position.

With the single seaters in Formula M the race was won by Willer Simioni followed by Ryan Sapsed. In class B, Tiaan le Roux and Charles Williamson took their trophies home with first and second. Combining the race with the Formula Libre guys, the fastest competitor proved to be Lappies Steenkamp in his Suzuki engines vehicle followed by Johan Botha and George Frost.

Formula GTI had some new leaders as Elna Croeser failed to finish the race. Oliver Calkoen took honours followed by JP Nortje. These two competitors fought all to the end for the victory.

None other than Durban boy Rohan Jarvis won the Alfa Trofeo race, Mark Klinkert second and Gino Allasio third.

The very quick 250 Super Karts was won by category representative Giles Moore followed by On the track magazine editor, Vaughn Oblidal. Fabio Tafani lost out on the second race which made the final result more interesting.

Some excited spectators were enjoying the show from the gallery while the Zwartkops Thunderbikes took to the grid. Spectacular talent was yet again seen by these riders. Local favorite Stephen “Wonder” Steenkamp had a big crash last weekend but repaired his bike just in time to take the overall victory of the day. 2009 Thunderbike Champion Jannie Stander was hot on Stephen’s heels but could not manage to pass. Johan le Roux and Brian Bontekoning were put up a great performance and were rewarded with third and fourth. Werner Mostert kept his lead in class B and took the victory from Abrie Marais on his Suzuki GSXR, a close race between Stephen Smit and Dylan Bowles for the class podium. Stephen Smith managed to hold on to third place. Cheyne Venter is climbing the championship leader board with another win in class C. He was followed by Carl du Preez in second and youngster Ryan van Aswegen in third place.

Spectacular racing cars and bikes, crowd pleasing entertainment, fun for the family, and some memories to remember this sunny Saturday afternoon. Zwartkops Raceway is known for “half the size twice the fun“ and never fails to entertain the crowd. Another great day’s motor racing at the Big Z.

The next motor race will be on the 21st August 2010, with the Pro Tour Series third and final round at Zwartkops Raceway.