The Herald (South Africa)

All-out action on cards at Scribante Raceway

Entries flood in for seventh round of Algoa Motorsport Club regional and club championsh­ip this weekend

- Brendan Kelly

The top circuit racers in the region will be in action when Algoa Motorsport Club host the seventh round of their regional and club championsh­ip at the Aldo Scribante Raceway on Saturday.

With entries having poured in, it certainly promises to be an action-packed day with thrills and spills guaranteed across all of the classes.

The EP Regional Saloon class will be the highlight of the day as competitor­s try to catch the quick Celso Scribante in his Lamborghin­i Huracán (class A).

Doctor Gerhard Oosthuysen in his BMW E36 (class B) has shown tremendous pace of late and he and Gordon Nicholson (class B) in his Nissan R35 will be hoping to end the dominance of Scribante and his championsh­ipleading Lamborghin­i.

Class C welcomes back the high-pitched screaming rotary Capella of Jaco Scholtz and he will have his hands full fighting off the very quick Gareth Hewitt from East London in his BMW E36.

Class D is where most of the racing action takes place, with a whole lot of evenly matched cars often vying for the same piece of tarmac.

Jeandre Marais in his VW Polo will no doubt be leading the charge, fresh from making his impressive PoloCup debut at Killarney Raceway in Cape Town last weekend.

He’ll be up against the likes of Gerald Beech (Opel Supercar), Ryan Visagie (VW Polo), Steven Phillips (Golf MK1) and Jeff Guscott (Porsche).

Royce Griffin, though in class E in his Honda, will most likely be mixing it up with the Class D cars and it is just a matter of time before he moves up to class D.

In Class F, young Kiesha Potgieter (VW Polo) continues to improve her lap times each time she races and she’ll have her hands full battling against club chair Ashwin Harri (Opel Astra) and Andrew Meyer (VW Golf MK1).

Class X for cars making their track debuts will see Julian Herman (BMW E36) from East London pitting his skills alongside Winston Marais (Lotus 7), Tom Hugo (Supercar) and Ryno Taljaard (VW Golf).

Lovers of classic racing cars will see the return of Derek Boy and his quick Chevrolet Can Am Firenza as he comes up against young gun Aidan

Barnard (Opel Kadette), Daryn Vice (Ford Anglia), Neil van Eyk (Ford Escort), Angelique Griffin (Alfa Romeo), Thomas Flynn (Datsun 120Y), Tom Hugo (Nissan Skyline), Rob Halgreen (Ford MK1 Escort), Barry Spriggs (Ford Anglia) and Ronald Scott in his recently rebuilt Ford Escort.

In the street and fine car class, drivers are offered the opportunit­y to get a taste of racing in road-going vehicles by going out and setting a time in qualifying and then having a handicap start so that all cars theoretica­lly should end the race at the same time.

Gordon Nicholson will be a hard man to beat in his Audi R8 as he takes on Syd Lippstreu (Toyota Celica), Ian Oberholzer (Volvo 850), Dennis Mitchell (Birkin) and Peter Schultz (Supercar).

In the motorcycle classes, there are already six 600cc bikes entered, with the battle upfront sure to be between the Yamaha R6s of Wayne Molloy, Shandin Thompson and Port Alfred youngster Oliver McKay, who gets quicker as he comes to grips with the bigger machine after moving up from the 300cc class.

Bernard Els leads the historics class on his Yamaha and he will be a hard man to beat.

Richard Hawkins in the powersport class will be hoping for a repeat performanc­e of round six where he dominated in wet conditions.

The CBR150 motorcycle class is a mix between youth and experience where Ashton Heidemann will be pushed hard by Dylan Grobler, Damian Oberholzer, Ethan Diener, Jessica Vermaak, Anikilitha Nombana and Ruan van Zyl.

The two-wheeled action continues in the NSF 100 class, where the next generation of riders is nurtured and three young women in Emma Oberholzer, Kirsty Oberholzer and Emma Diener will be up against Lonwabo Ngcanga, Anikilitha Nombano and Dylan Grobler.

Open-top sports car lovers are in for a treat, with Joel Steenekamp hoping his reliabilit­y issues are a thing of the past with his Shadow 2000, while the Lotus 7s of Alwyn Kretzmann, Patrick Hanly and Shaun Taljaard will have the hard task of trying to catch the Nardini of Jeandre Marais.

Racing starts with qualifying at 8am. Tickets at the gate cost R50 per person, with children under 12 getting free entry.

 ?? Picture: DARRYL KUKARD ?? MAN TO BEAT: Celso Scribante in his Lamborghin­i Huracán
Picture: DARRYL KUKARD MAN TO BEAT: Celso Scribante in his Lamborghin­i Huracán

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