Battle of the BMW owners
CLUB’S FIRST 2019 TRACK AND RACE DAY: KASHEN NAICKER LEAVES RIVALS IN THE DUST
Large continent of competitors take to the twisty tarmac track.
The Gauteng Bridgestone BMW Owners’ Club kicked off its competition activities for the year at the Red Star Raceway near Delmas on Saturday, with a large contingent of competitors attending the season’s first Track and Race Day.
Heading up proceedings were two races for the 2019 Bridgestone BMW Club Racing contenders, with 26 drivers taking to the twisty tarmac.
Kashen Naicker (BMW E90 335i) set the morning’s fastest official qualifying lap time, taking pole position for the first race.
He was ahead of Adrian Dalton (BMW E46 M3 CSL), Paulo Loureiro (BMW F30 335i), Andreas Meier (BMW E36 M3), Jan Eversteyn (BMW E46 M3) and David Coetzee (BMW E36 328i Turbo).
Naicker showed that his qualifying pace was no fluke when he led race one from the starting lights to the chequered flag.
En route, he set the day’s fastest race lap at a fraction over two minutes.
After a long dice, Loureiro and Dalton took the respective second and third places from Coetzee.
Meier took Class B ahead of Rick Loureiro (BMW E30 325iS) and Oz Biagioni (BMW E46 M3).
Pieter Lombard (BMW E36 M3 GTS) led the way in Class C, chased to the flag by Craig Ball (BMW E46 M3), Mike Grobler (BMW E39 M5), Shane Grobler (BMW E36 330i) and Neil Reynolds (BMW E36 M3).
Nek Makris (BMW E46 328i Turbo) won Class D, finishing ahead of Salvi Gualtieri (BMW E36 328i) Mathew Wadeley (BMW E36 M3) and Troy Cochran (BMW E46 330ti).
Class E saw Alan Hilligenn (BMW E36 328i) taking the top podium step, ahead of Rob Gearing (BMW E30 325i) Varish Ganpath (BMW E46 325ci) and Bertie Rietveld (BMW E36 328i). Race two saw Dalton exit the circuit with fading brakes on the first lap.
That left Naicker to take another easy victory, even though he slowed down while running out of fuel on the final lap. Meier drove his Class B car brilliantly to take second place overall, leading home Jan Evertsteyn (Class B BMW E46 M3), Coetzee, Rick Loureiro and Biagioni.
Ball won Class C from Mike Grobler, Lombard, Shane Grobler, Jimmy Tsimenohlou (BMW E36 M3) and Reynolds.
Makris took Class D again, chased home by Gualtieri,
Zeelie’s Toyota was fastest normally aspirated car
Cochran and Wadeley.
Class E went to Hilligenn again, chased to the flag by Gearing, Ganpath and Rietveld.
The day’s timed laps saw a wide variety of cars take to the circuit in four separate speed groups. The overall fastest lap of the day belonged to Naicker in his BMW, making him also the fastest turbocharged vehicle. The fastest normally aspirated car of the day was the Toyota MR2 Celica of Peter Zeelie.
The next round of the BMW Club Racing Series is at the Midvaal circuit near Meyerton on March 23.