Summarize

Classic dices delight at Red Star

A fresh dawn warmed to a great day of Historic Racing at Red Star Raceway on Saturday as the Historic Racing South Africa Sports & GTs and Universal Healthcare HRSA Pre-1980 Saloons delivered delightful dicing, while the Charlies Superspar Historic Pursuit Series dished up its usual last lap - and break-out dramas.

Running the Delmas circuit in an anti-clockwise direction this weekend, the Pre-90 Sports & GTs and Universal Health Care Pre-'80 Saloons cars shared the track with Pre 66 Historics cars. Stefan Snyders' Spear management Porsche 911 RSR diced Rui Campos’ similar car early on before making off to take the first race win, while Class C man Deon van Vuuren’s Mazda rotary took the Universal Pre-’80 win ahead of the duelling Mark du Toit’s Pre-‘66 Daytona Cobra and Peter Bailey in his Sport & GT Class C 911 RSR. 

Johann Smith (SPS Mazda Capella) had to fight Jannie van Rooyen’s VW Scirocco off to secure Pre-’80 D honours with Alan Green (Ford Escort Mk. 1) next up. Behind him, Stuart Konig (Scirocco) led a delightful five way spat home as he held Mario Rossi (FAS Alfa Romeo GTV6), Class E winner Rene van Rensburg (SV Tech Ford Escort), Seef Fourie’s Class D Shell Datsun and second in Class E Andre ten Napel (TNMC Medical Scirocco) off.

Class F winner Sean Hepburn’s Datsun 1200 Deluxe was next up after overcoming Pre-66 U2 class interlopers Vic Campher (Volvo 122S) Francesco Lombardi (Alfa Sprint), Alan Poulter (Volvo 122S) and Roger Houston (Alfa Giulia) in an early race multi-car dice that also included Class F trio Riaan Roux (Adfin Scirocco), Hubi von Moltke (Mercedes-Benz 280E) and Stewart McLarty (Teslcrew Mazda 323).

A little further back, Universal Pre-80 Class G men Gene Malan (Renault R10) and Harm Beens Sr. (H3 Generator Ford Escort) overcame Pre-’66 runners Stephen Britz (MGB), Kassie Coetzee (Volvo P1800) and Ishmael Baloyi (Dart), while Rob Clark raced his Container force Citroen GS 1220 to the Pre-80 Class H win.

Snyders took the second race ahead of du Toit and Campos, but only once the order settled down following an enjoyable early race tussle between that trio, while Pre-80 winner van Vuuren overcame Bailey for fourth. Jannie van Rooyen overcame Johann Smith for Pre-80 Class D honours, escaping a delightful earlier three way spat with Green and Konig before chasing the Mazda down to claim a last lap class win.

In Class E, Rene van Rensburg diced ten Napel early on before those two settled down to finish in that order, but there was a wonderful battle behind them between Campher, Poulter, Class F winner Hepburn, Lombardi and Poulter, who dropped behind Roux and Houston following a tough last lap break. Von Moltke was next up ahead of McLarty, Class G fighters Roux and Beens, the tussling Britz and Coetzee and Malan as Class H winner Clark held Baloyi off.

Snyders took the day from Campos and du Toit, while van Vuuren won Pre-80 Class C and Bailey Sports and GT Class C. Van Rooyen pipped Smith to overall Pre-’80 C honours, van Rensburg beat ten Napel to Pre-80 E, Hepburn won Class F from Roux, Malan beat Beens to Class G and Clark took Class H.

Either the cold winter weather served to find unexpected pace, or their enthusiasm caught them out, but the Charlies Superspar Pursuit handicap races saw several drivers breaking out of the results. Trophy class duo Kola de Klerk (Nissan 300Z) and Wernher Hartzenberg (Aircooled Wonders Porsche 928) beat Fine Car winner, debutant Brad Schafer (Porsche 944) to the line in a thrilling first, but de Klerk and Schafer were two of several drivers to break out of their allowed quickest lap time, leaving Hartzenberg to win.

Dennis McBeath (Mpiti), Michelle Smith (SPS Skyline) and Machiel Oberholzer, (Aquaperm Mercedes 190E)  also all broke out, leaving Althea Pretorius (Carinvest Porsche 944) to take second from Rob van Aarle (Ace Auto Slavage Escort), Riaan Roux (Adfin Scirocco) and Andre Hattingh (190E). Jose Vasques (Mercedes CE) was next home from Frans Venter (280ZX) and Harm Beens Jr. (H3 Escort), while Clive Winterstein (Casheri Porsche 356) took the biggest drop from fourth to thirteenth, although the break-outs saw him bounce back to ninth ahead of Henk de Klerk (Pajero Civic) and Jaco Roux (Adfin VW) in the end.

Race 1 non-starter William Kelly bounced back to cross the line first in race 2 in his MGB, starting sixth and dropping back to seventh before making best use of the traffic, but he too was excluded when he broke out of permitted class limits when his lap time was too quick. That handed the win to Frans Venter (Fines Class Nissan 280 ZX), who started ninth and raced to the front, while Vasques ended second from van Aarle, McBeath, who made the biggest gain in positions from 16th to fourth in Race 2. 

Roux was next up from Beens, Oberholzer, Hattingh and first race runner-up Hartzenberg, while Schafer ended up 10th from Winterstein, race 1 winner de Klerk, Roux and Henk de Klerk as Rob Clark (Containerforce Citroen) and Michelle Smith took the biggest drops from second to 16th and fourth to 14th, respectively. When the dust had settled, Fines class driver Rob van Aarle had taken the overall win for the day from Jose Vasques, with Venter third from Hartzenberg and Hattingh.

The Historic Racing South Africa circus now heads to East London where it will support the Mopar South African Endurance Series 4 hour race on 3 August 2019.

ENDS

Issued on behalf of Historic Racing SA

What:Historic Racing SA Round 4 Report
Where:Red Star Raceway, Delmas
When:Saturday 22 June 2019
Community:Gauteng Regional

For further information please contact stewart@bmautogroup.co.za

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