Border 100 revs up on high gear
LOCAL racing fans were royally treated as the annual Border 100 event took centre-stage at the East London Grand Prix track over the weekend with a large appreciative crowd in attendance.
A full day of exciting racing action was battled out on Saturday, with the headlining Sasol Global Touring Cars (GTC) inaugural season coming to its end with the sixth and final round entertaining the crowd.
“It was a great day, The GTC racing was top-class and the turnout overall was fantastic, with over a hundred competitors entered on the day,” said Border Motorsport Club chairman Andrew Karshagen.
“It was a very good way to finish the season and we are very thankful for the support.”
Michael Stephen, who was leading the championship going into the weekend, had a difficult final round with various problems, however he still managed to drive his Engen Audi A3 GTC to a fifth and ninth place finishes in the day’s two races to seal the points required to claim the overall championship.
He was rewarded with a giant cheque to the value of R200 000, just reward for a superb season of high-speed, thrilling racing.
Stephen's first trouble of the weekend came in free practice on Friday where he suffered a blown engine.
With a loan unit from their sister company and rivals Volkswagen bolted into the Audi, he went out and claimed a dominant pole position, ahead of his teammate Simon Moss, while the Sasol GTC Racing Team locked out row two with Gennaro Bonafede shading Hennie Groenewald, followed by the two Volkswagen Jetta GTCs of Mathew Hodges and Graeme Nathan.
In the first race Moss blew from second on the grid into an early lead and began to increase it by the lap.
Stephen looked as though he was trying to help Moss by holding up the rest but Groenewald and Hodges managed to get past him and give chase.
Moss however looked to have his maiden win in sight until with just four corners remaining his engine broke, allowing Hodges who had managed to get past Groenewald, to claim his own maiden win.
In race two Stephen took an early lead, however soon dropped back into the pack after suffering an electrical issue that saw his engine cut out each time he changed gears.
Some exciting racing then saw Groenewald take the win ahead of his teammate Bonafede.
In the GTC Production Class, Charl Smalberger took the opening victory ahead of the 2016 class champion Daniel Rowe, however Rowe re-asserted his authority in the second race by taking his 11th victory of the season.
On the local front the Historics put on a show of their own as they competed for places on the day.
Derek Boy took honours in division A, Chris Radloff in division C and Johan van der Westhuizen in division D, with some great entertainment from the competitors throughout the day.