Nail-biter in Lichtenburg
POULTER, HOWIE START YEAR BY WINNING CROSS COUNTRY OPENER First races of 2017 bring surprise, suspense and much excitement.
Reigning title holders Leeroy Poulter and Rob Howie started where they left off last year by winning the weekend’s Lichtenburg 400, the opening round of the 2017 South African Cross Country Championship, with their Gazoo Toyota Hilux.
Poulter and Howie finished around three minutes ahead of Johan and Werner Horn, who won Class T for cars above four litres with solid axle suspension in their Malalane Toyota Hilux.
The final podium place went to Gareth Woolridge/Boyd Dreyer in a Ford Puma Lubrications Ranger, leading home former rally crew Henk Lategan/Barry White in an identical Ford.
The top five was completed by Chris Visser/Japie Badenhorst (Atlas Copco Toyota Hilux), ahead of Hennie de Klerk/Rodney Burke (in a Treasury One VW Amarok), Lance Woolridge/Ward Huxtable (Ford Puma Lubrications Rangers), Gary Bertholdt/Philip Herselman (Atlas Copco VW Amarok), Jason Venter/Vince van Allemann (4x4 Mega World Toyota Hilux) and Deon Venter/Jaco van Aardt (4x4 Mega World Toyota Hilux),
The rocky and tight course took its toll on Class S for cars up to four litres with solid axle rear suspension.
Former champion Jannie Visser and son Chris (Toyota Hilux) were the only finishers.
The Special Vehicle category saw a surprise victory for Lesotho driver Stefan van Pletzen and Jaco Pieterse in their Live Lesotho Chenowth.
They finished around six minutes ahead of Evan Hutchison and Danie Stassen in the King Price Extreme BAT Viper, who were comfortably ahead of Marius/ Jolinda Fourie (PHB BAT).
John Telford/Victor Ntsekhe (Calcamite Hellcat) and Brian Baragwanath/Leonard Cremer (Century CRT) finished fourth and fifth respectively, to lead home the Class P contingent.
Kobus Fourie/Marinda Fourie (BAT) slotted into sixth place, followed by Werner Kennedy/Thinus Venter (Live Lesotho Aceco), Coetzee/Sandra Labuscagne (4x4 Mega World Porter), Lourens/ Carien Booysen (BAT), and Keith du Toit/Robbie Coetzee (White Star BAT).
The Lichtenburg 400, the opening round of the year’s Cross Country Championship for motorcycles and quads, took place on Friday. Defending Open motorcycle champion, Ross Branch (Brother Leader Tread KTM) started the season with a win, ahead of Tim Young (Sherco Liqui Moly) and Tristan Purdon (Bidvest Blu Cru Yamaha).
The defending OR3 champion, Dartagnan Lobjoit (Yamaha) finished fourth with Ruan Potgieter (KTM) fifth. In the quad category Russell Ferreira (Yamaha) took the Open Class victory, followed by Johan Oosthuizen (VANS Yamaha) and Pierre van Heerden (Honda) with Vryburg scholar Ruan Stander (Yamaha) fourth.
The next event will be the Battlefield 400 in KwaZulu-Natal and May 12 and 13.