Summarize

South African motorsport enjoyed another positive weekend home and away. Several South African champions were crowned on the dirt on two and four wheels. And our local heroes starred as always overseas…

Toyota Gazoo Racing Hilux duo Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings clinched a back-to-back South African Cross Country Championship on Friday. They came home second to Chris Visser and Danie Stassen’s similar Total Agri machine in the Ford Parys 400 in the Free State.

Lategan started in pole position and led the first lap from Visser and de Villiers. Visser then had a great second tour to take the win. Ford driver Gareth Woolridge helped Lategan on his title way when he held off Henk’s teammate Giniel de Villiers in third. Clint Weston was fifth in his King Price X Class ahead of Class T winner Wors Prinsloo’s Ford Ranger. Then came Shameer Variawa’s third Gazoo Hilux and Specials winner Lance Trethewey.

Lategan’s previous three wins and Friday’s second put him in an unassailable championship position with Saturday’s Toyota Gazoo 400 still to race. That did not deter the young Toyota star from taking his fourth race wing out of five 2020 Cross Country starts on Sunday. Lategan stamped authority on the second lap of the second leg of the season ending Toyota 400. 

Brian Baragwanath’s Century C6 Corvette ended third from Friday winner Chris Visser’s Total Hilux. Lance Woolridge in a Ford Ranger and Shameer Variyawa in the third Gazoo Hilux followed. Lategan and teammate Giniel de Villiers diced, split by 29 seconds ahead of Baragwanath and Woolridge at mid distance. De Villiers had earlier bounced back to top qualifying over Lategan, Visser and Baragwanath.

Ernest Roberts was seventh in his Red-Lined VR56 ahead of Class T winner and new champion Johan Horn’s Hilux. Boela Botes’ Porter took a surprise Specials win in his Porter and Theo Erasmus took the Side by Sides win in his Can Am.

The weekend’s Bloemfontein’s double header Cannabis Energy SA National Motocross Championship finale delivered thrilling title cliffhangers. And nine new South African Motocross Champions.

KTM MX1 star Tristan Purdon delivered three wins and a third to clinch a dominant 2020 premier class MX1 title. The on-form Anthony Reynard was second four times in a row. So Maddy Malan had to win Sunday’s final moto to ensure he clinched that title third by just a point. David Goosen meanwhile did enough over to hold on to second in that championship.

Ian Topliss beat Brett Bircher and Alec Combrink to an over-40 MX3 1-2-3 in all four races. Topliss steamed to the championship. Kayla Raaff and her Kawasaki was unbeaten in Ladies Motocross this year. Jadene de Lima delivered a quartet of seconds to draw level Natasha Rugani in the ladies title chase to take the title second. Provisionally, on a count-back with five second places to Rugani’s four!

KTM rider Jonathan Mlimi won the final six 125 cc High School races on the trot to clinch that title. His closest rivals, Christian Celliers and Miguel de Waal shared out most of the seconds and thirds on the weekend. Celliers takes a provisional championship second by just two points.

Two seconds on Saturday and a couple of wins on Sunday were not enough for Wian du Plooy to catch Saturday’s race 2 winner Bryce Petersen in the under-15 85 cc championship. That despite Petersen retiring from the first race of the weekend. It was enough for du Plooy to beat the consistent Lucas Venter to second in that title race.

Liam Botha took three wins and a third to clinch a dominant SA under-13 85 cc Junior Motocross championship. Pieter Brink however broke Botha’s unbeaten run of wins this season with a Saturday race 2 win. He pipped Ryan Adler to second in the title chase.

Neil van der Vyver took all four under-11 65 cc victories. He won a second consecutive championship for Husqvarna. His closest title rivals, Jordan van Wyk and Trey Cox swapped the seconds and thirds throughout the weekend. Last but not least, Trenton Kretzman took all four Bloemfontein baby 50 cc moto wins over Brody Bircher. He took that championship from Bircher and Chase Bekker.

All the 2020 Cannabis Energy SA South African National Motocross Championships are subject to official MSA ratification.

South African driver, Jordan Pepper’s Bentley finished tenth and David Perel’s Ferrari ended 22nd overall and fourth in the Pro AM class in the weekend’s Spa 24 Hour. Kelvin van der Linde retired while fighting for the lead at six hours. He had qualified quickest on, but Mercedes ace Raffaele Marciello pipped van der Linde to second in Superpole.

Pepper and the Bentley boys had moved up from 27th to ninth at six hours. They then ran there or thereabout for much of the rest of the race. Perel and his Ferrari crew struggled early on. They came back strong to climb from outside of the top 40 and well down in class. Le Mans winner Nick Tandy came from fifth with two hours to go on a wet track to win the annual epic. He shared his Porsche 911 with Earl Bamber and Laurens Vanthoor.

That leaves Porsche drivers Bamber and Vanthoor leading the ICGT title race on 31 points. Another Porsche trio, Mathieu Jaminet, Patrick Pilet and Matt Campbell are one point adrift, with Bentley Boys, Pepper, Maxime Soulet and Jules Gounon two more points behind. The Spa 24 was the penultimate Intercontinental GT Challenge round. The championship comes to a head at the 12 December Kyalami 9 Hour.

For the rest, Lewis Hamilton made history when he broke Michael Schumacher’s 91 Grand Prix win record. He took his dominant 92nd win in Portugal on Sunday. Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas and Max Verstappen were second and third. Charles Leclerc gave Ferrari fans a little to smile about with a better performance in fourth.

SA star Brad Binder took an early shower after a first corner fall in the Aragon Teruel MotoGP. Franco Morbidelli took his second top class win for Yamaha from Suzuki duo Alex Rins and Joan Mir. Mir tended his points lead in third. Darryn Binder ended an impressive eighth in the Moto3 dogfight. 

Elsewhere, Cameron Petersen ended his US Supersport championship year with a win at Monterrey. Dominic Doyle took a couple of seconds over compatriot Sam Lochoff to clinch the US Junior Cup at the same meeting, while Lochoff broke the Monterrey Junior Cub lap record.

Race Centre. Courtesy of Toyota Gazoo Racing and Auto.