MOTORSPORT NEWS OFF ROAD

D-DAY FOR PRODUCTION VEHICLE CREWS CHASING CHAMPIONSHIP LEADERS

The Nkomazi 450, round four of the Donaldson Cross Country Championship on
August 7 and 8, will be D-Day for Production Vehicle crews chasing the two
Castrol Team Toyota Hiluxes, leading the overall and premier Class T title
races.

Leeroy Poulter
Leeroy Poulter

Between them Leeroy Poulter/Rob Howie and reigning champions Anthony
Taylor/Dennis Murphy have done all the winning so far this season.
Poulter/Howie won the RFS Endurance, the Sugarbelt 450 and heat one of the
Toyota Kalahari Botswana 1000 Desert Race with Taylor/Murphy taking the
honours in heat two in Botswana lifting the two Castrol Team Toyota teams
into championship comfort zones.

Those doing the chasing are flying distress signals, and unless they manage
to halt the Team Castrol charge at the Mpumalanga outing – one of three
sprint events on the six race calendar – they could be waving white
surrender flags. The Poulter/Howie and Taylor/Murphy domination is reflected
in the championship standings, and simple mathematics paints a grim picture
for the chasers.

Poulter/Howie enjoy a 14 point lead over Taylor/Murphy, but the gap between
the leaders and Lance Woolridge/Ward Huxtable (Ford Performance Ranger) and
Gary Bertholdt/Siegfried Rousseau (Atlas Copco Ford Ranger), who share third
place in the championship, is a massive 67 points. That is more than two
wins, and the gravity of the situation for the likes of Woolridge/Huxtable
and Bertholdt/Rousseau is exacerbated by the fact there are only 90 points
up for grabs over the last three events.

Woolridge and Huxtable will be rueing a wasted opportunity in Botswana,
while Bertholdt and Rousseau will want to build on a performance that took
them from nowhere in the championship to joint third. Further down the
championship ladder there is plenty of scope for drama on a race route and
format that offers a complete contrast from the Toyota 1000 Desert Race.

Youngster Gareth Woolridge and Boyd Dreyer (NWM Ford Ranger), in their debut
season, are only four points behind Woolridge’s elder brother and Huxtable.
But it is behind them that things start to get interesting with only nine
points separating Woolridge/Dreyer and the next five crews on the points
table.

Chris Visser
Chris Visser

Lumped together in that mix are Jason Venter/Vince van Allemann (4×4 Mega
World Toyota Hilux), the consistent Johan van Staden/Mike Lawrenson (Regent
Racing Nissan Navara), Chris Visser/Japie Badenhorst (Ford Performance
Ranger), Heine Strumpher/Henri Hugo (4×4 Mega World Toyota Hilux) and local
brothers Johan and Werner Horn in the Malalane Toyota Hilux. The Horns would
like nothing more than a strong performance on home turf, but the stand out
crew in a tight mix is Visser/Badenhorst with the former champions desperate
to finally make an impact this season.

Other crews who will be looking to make an impact are the Regent Racing
Nissan Navara trio of Terence Marsh and disc jockey DJ Fresh, Jurgen and Max
Schroder and Sean Reitz and experienced Free State based Riaan Greyling. The
Schröders had a good Desert Race, and Hennie de Klerk/Johann Smalberger (RFS
Treasury One BMW X3) will also look to build on a Botswana performance that
saw them bag their first points of the season.

The debut of Australian pair John Purshouse and Murray Hynes, in the
ex-factory Ford Ranger in which Manfred Schroder/Japie Badenhorst won last
year’s Toyota Dealer 450, adds a fair dollop of interest to the Class T mix
over the rest of the season. Purshouse is a former Australian rally
champion, and the pair bring plenty of experience to the table – along with
a further international boost for the Donaldson series.

John Purshouse
John Purshouse

An outstanding performance with two top five finishes on the Toyota 1000
Desert Race lifted Strumpher/Hugo into the upper echelons of the overall
championship, but also saw the North West pair take the lead in the Class S
championship for cars up to four litres with solid axle rear suspension.
Strumpher/Hugo revelled in the Desert Race conditions, but might find it
tougher going on the tighter and more technical Nkomazi 450 route.

Strumpher/Hugo lead the Portuguese pair Rómulo Branco and João Serôdio, in
the Regent Racing Nissan Navara, by 12 points. Unlike Strumpher/Hugo the
Portuguese pair will probably be more at home in Mpumalanga conditions, and
the sprint race format could also be a factor in their favour.

After a pair of non-finishes pre-season favourites Deon Venter and Jaco van
Aardt (4×4 Mega World Toyota Hilux) revived their championship hopes with
two solid results in Botswana. Luke Botha and Andre Vermeulen return to
action in a second Regent Racing entry, but in a class where no crews can
boast 100 percent finish records reliability is again likely to be a major
factor.

Race headquarters, the start/finish and the designated service park will all
be located at the Riverview Preparatory School on the outskirts of Malalane.
Public entrance to these areas and spectator points along the route will be
free of charge.

The weekend will open with a 100 kilometre qualifying race to determine grid
positions on Friday at 11:30 with the race starting at 08:30 on Saturday to
be run over two laps of approximately 175 kilometres each. During the race
there will be a compulsory 20 minute service halt at the end of the first
lap.