What CompCare Polo Cup 2023 Round 7 Report
Where Killarney International Raceway
When Saturday 9 September 2023
Community South Africa National
Van der Merwe wins Killarney, championship leader Visser second
Dawie van der Merwe kept his CompCare Polo Cup title hopes alive with a double race win as Cape Town race fans were treated to three, epic races at Killarney International Raceway’s Extreme Festival on Saturday. Anthony Pretorius took the third race win, while championship leader Charl Visser did enough for second overall as he retained his title advantage.
There was a surprise in qualifying as Jozi youngster Farhaan Basha nicked the pole position bonus point aboard his QVWI Polo. He edged local rookie Nathan Victor’s Summit Racing version with Cape compatriot and championship leader Charl Michael Visser’s Tyre Zone Team Red entry third. Jozi lad Anthony Pretorius was fourth aboard his OMP Bucket List Polo from veteran Dean Venter’s MTown VDN Polo and Mbombela driver Dawie van der Merwe’s Nathan’s Polo.
Van der Merwe however turned the table on the rest to snatch pole position in the top six Superpole ahead of Pretorius, Basha, Victor, Visser and Venter. Richards Bay lad Jason Loosemore’s Security Fencing & Alarms Team Red car lined up seventh ahead of Franschhoek driver Giordano Lupini’s Tork Craft Polo, Bryce Pillay’s Techtisa Polo, and AF Fans Team Red rookie Tyler Robinson in tenth. Squadra Corse lad Reaobaka Komane followed from Roshaan Goodman’s Upward Spiral Team Red Polo, Gqeberha Syrabix teammate Jeandre Marais, Fast 5 lad Mo Karodia and Cape Cooltouch racer Raaziegh Harris.
Dawie van der Merwe shot into the lead off pole position, helped by the action behind as Farhaan Basha initially held second over Nathan Victor, Anthony Pretorius and Charl Visser. A feisty Bryce Pillay followed from Jason Loosemore, Giordano Lupini, and Dean Venter in their own battle. The struggle for second became heated as Basha was the first to drop back, before Visser, who had come up to third, was also involved in a fair amount of paint swapping with Victor and the others.
Away from the trouble, van der Merwe powered off to his second win of the season following his first round success at Kyalami, with Victor second from Basha, Pretorius and Visser. Loosemore ended sixth from Pillay, Lupini, and Venter. Reaobaka Komane made best of a third wild spat on track for tenth ahead of Tyler Robinson, Roshaan Goodman, Jeandre Marais and Mo Karodia after Raaziegh Harris stopped. Pretorius’ fastest lap saw him on pole position for race 2 from Loosemore, Visser, Victor, van der Merwe and Basha on a somewhat inverted grid.
Pretorius made best of his pole to leave Basha second from Visser and Loosemore and Victor slipping back hors de combat after early contact. Visser was soon up to second from Loosemore and Basha, as Giordano Lupini rocketed up from eleventh on the grid to fifth ahead van der Merwe. Basha then passed Loosemore and van der Merwe eventually found a way past Lupini. Pretorius held Visser off for the win with Basha third from Loosemore, van der Merwe and Lupini. Behind them, Komane overcame Venter in the wild spat for seventh, ahead of Karodia, Robinson, Pillay, Goodman, Marais, Harris, and the hampered Victor. Venter was later placed behind Pillay for an earlier incident.
The third race grid was formed from drivers’ second best qualifying time, Another shake-up saw Nathan Victor sat on pole from Basha, van der Merwe, Visser, Pretorius, Loosemore, Lupini, and Pillay. Van der Merwe however made best of first turn chaos to move ahead of Victor, Visser, Basha, and Lupini off another demon start. Van der Merwe drove away as Visser and Basha passed Victor to leave him under pressure from Lupini. Behind them, Pillay closed off an impressive day in the office in sixth ahead of Loosemore, Venter, Pretorius and Karodia in tenth. Tyler Robinson followed from Marais, Komane, Goodman and Harris.
Overall, Dawie van der Merwe took the day from Charl Visser to take their title fight to Zwartkops. Farhaan Basha enjoyed his best Polo Cup weekend to date in third from Anthony Pretorius, Jason Loosemore, and a hard fighting Giordano Lupini. The 2023 CompCare Polo Cup championship now goes down to a straight fight between Charl Visser and Dawie van der Merwe at the season finale at Zwartkops Raceway’s National Extreme Festival Finals Saturday 14 October.
*Volkswagen Motorsport thanks its partners CompCare Medical Scheme, Dunlop, Ferodo, Motul, Sparco and VW Genuine Parts.
Issued on behalf of Volkswagen Motorsport
Photography by: Abri de Bruyn
MSA Publishes media releases from a host of different sources on our website as a service to the sport. It is not practically possible to vet/approve every release that is published. Some news items and articles are written by correspondents and do not necessarily represent MSA’s views.