Summarize

The Compcare Polo Cup delivered the races of the day in a tight, blistering, and bruising pair of heats at a dusty Red Star Raceway near Delmas on Saturday. No quarter was asked nor given as Gqeberha’s Clinton Bezuidenhout and 16 year old Cape lad Tate Bishop shard the wins of two races, which wild action remains hard to describe.

Less than a second separated the top seven drivers at the end of qualifying, with Clinton Bezuidenhout’s Stu Davidson & Sons Polo making the early running and the rest chasing in vain. Charl Visser’s Universal Polo was second from Nathi Msimanga’s Squadra Corse car and Bullion IT Racing’s championship leader Jurie Swart. 

Tate Bishop’s Angri Racing Polo and Dawid van der Merwe’s Universal car joined the top four in Superpole. Dean Venter’s VDN Auto entry was seventh quickest from Universal lad Jagger Robertson, Giordano Lupini’s second Bullion IT car and Lonika Maartens’ FP Engineering machine in tenth.

There was no change to Bezuidenhout’s form in the Superpole shootout, as he blasted to pole position, under huge pressure from Msimanga who claimed the second berth just 0,12 s behind. Row two was shared by Bishop and Swart with van der Merwe and Venter making up the top six as Visser took a 10-place penalty.

Bezuidenhout made good use of his pole position and managed to get away from the start into a lead he would hold through to the flag. Mayhem however abounded behind him as the bunched field argued for space. It was chaos as cars jockeyed for position, two and even three abreast on the straights and into turns.

Dust puffs from all corners signalled the intensity of battle, with Bezuidenhout comfortably out front and Bishop second and under pressure from Msimanga. Behind them a battle royal raged involving Venter, van der Merwe, Robertson, Swart and Lupini, et al as cars swapped stickers and paint on a grand scale.

Positions continued to change with love taps given and taken with Venter fourth, now ahead of Lupini, who was in turn under pressure from Robertson and Swart. Visser who cut his way from the back through the chaos as he followed Swart past Robertson, as they gunned for Lupini.

Up front, Msimanga pulled a late ace to pass Bishop for second behind Bezuidenhout, while Venter held Lupini, Visser, Robertson, Swart and van der Merwe off. Universal lad Ethan Coetzee was tenth from Maartens, an impressive Bryce Pillay, Xolela Njumbuxa, Mo Karodia and Karah Hill, who hurt her wrist but re-joined after an off.

The Lucky Draw for the second race gave Tate Bishop pole position from Swart, and Msimanga. Battle resumed off the line the between Bishop and Msimanga, who disposed of Swart on lap two. Bezuidenhout was getting into the mix having moved up to third on the road ahead of van der Merwe, Robertson and Lupini.

One could toss a blanket over the top four for most of the race. On lap six Msimanga made a move and tagged Bishop, but Tate managed to hang on to the sliding car and keep his lead while Bezuidenhout piled the pressure on. The only change from there was van der Merwe’s late lunge on Swart for fifth.

So Tate Bishop won the battle from Nathi Msimanga, Clinton Bezuidenhout, Dawid van der Merwe, Jurie Swart, Giordano Lupini and Jagger Robertson. Charl Visser fought back to eighth from Venter, Pillay, Coetzee, Maartens, Hill, Karodia and Njumbuxa.

Provisionally, Bezuidenhout won the war, taking the day overall from Bishop, Msimanga, Lupini, Swart and Robertson. It is now much tighter in the title race, where Swart still leads from Bezuidenhout, Bishop, Visser, van der Merwe, Lupini and Msimanga. Compcare Polo Cup travels to East London next for round 5 on Saturday 6 August.