SA Cross Country Series champions
Cross Country Correspondent
The weekend’s Gold 400, the final round of 2018 SA Cross Country Series in Gauteng’s West Rand, saw a rough and rocky route testing crews and vehicles to the full.
It also produced the year’s overall champions, spread over six classes.
Giniel de Villiers and Dennis Murphy won the race and the year’s Production Car championship overall in their Toyota Gazoo Hilux. A second place in the race bagged the season’s FIA Class title for Toyota Gazoo Hilux team Henk Lategan and Barry White.
The Gold 400 was also the deciding event for the Class T championship title. It was clinched by Lance Woolridge and Ward Huxtable in the Ford NWM Ranger, after finishing second behind Gary Bertholdt and Geoff Minnitt (Atlas Copco Toyota Hilux) on Saturday afternoon.
David Huddy/Gerhard Schutte (Nissan Navara) just needed a finish to be crowned the new Class S champions, and they did just that.
Jannie Visser and son Chris in the Toyota Hilux won the weekend’s race from Archie Rutherford and son Kent (Toyota Hilux).
The Special Vehicle category saw father and daughter, Coetzee Labuscagne/Sandra Labuscagne-Jonk (4x4 Mega World ARB Porter), crowned as Class A and overall champs via a cautious third place. They were the only pairing that started and finished all six races in the 2018 season.
Lance Trethewey and Adriaan Roets (LTE Earthmovers BAT Venom) won the weekend’s race overall, followed by the Live Lesotho Chenowth of Stefan van Pletzen and Jaco Pieterse.
Class P was won by Keith Makenete and Ntaote Bereng (BAT), while Nico du Rand and Henry Köhne (Can-Am Maverick) clinched the Side-by-Side Interprovincial Challenge.