They came, they saw they conquered, yet entertained a massive crowd that gathered at Victory Raceway on Saturday night to watch plenty of action going down at the National Qualifier event that took place in ideal conditions. Out-of-town drivers secured most of the top spots across the competing classes.
In the fiercely contested 1660 class with 19 entries, it was East Londoners Marthinus Muller (Redline Group) who enjoyed a somewhat dominant evening taking home overall honours and Johan Visagie (Tinco Auto) in second & local star Percy Noah (Noah’s Service Centre) in third.
The V8 American Saloon Class lost a couple of it’s big hitters during the heats, with the biggest of these being Pieta Victor who dominated the opening race but unfortunately suffered transmission failure in the second heat whilst enjoying a comfortable lead. In the final it was George Motor Club legend Bennie Greyling (Benver Construction) that triumphed over local star Vincent Venter (Sicherheit Mega/Quest/COMPRSA/Hanger 51) in second & third place going to Oudtshoorn visitor Lucius Fourie (Systech Automotive/Eden Electrical).
The Heavy Metal class was won by Marco Barnard (KR Performance/M&J Bakkie Centre/ Turbo Clinic) from George Motor Club in his well turned out BMW who finished ahead of JP Coetzee (M&M Tyres/Ola’s Bodyworks) & Pierre van der Berg (Baytech/Advance Farming/FW Racing/Ibhayi Windscreens).
In the 2.1 Modified class Henties de Villers (Tretson Beordery/Cooline Trucking/Mossie’s Engineering) showed his pure class winning a hard fought final amongst a star studded field with Burger van der Westhuizen (Kell Aluminium/Le Roux Engineering/RGR Racing/ Damprrof) from Oudtshoorn in second & local man Neels Vermaak (Vermaak Transport & Plant/ERP Trucking Company) grabbing third.
The Hotrod class saw another Border one/two with Derick van der Westhuizen (Golden Camp Solutions/KIA East London) taking the win from Ashley Victor (Louw’s Gearbox & Clutch) & Emile Bothma in third.
In the Pink Rod class for ladies 14 year old Nadia Rautenbach (JBM Bodyworks/Gearworld/Nanini/Supreme Towing) put in a scintillating display to finish second overall to championship leader Bianca Westraadt (Must Be Nice Clothing/STS Stuctures) & Annuschke’ Landman taking home third spot.
The driver-of –the-day award went to Marthinus “Kiewiet” Muller who put in a brilliant performance against some of the top 1660 drivers in the country, claiming overall victory.
The Dirt Oval action moves to PE Oval Track Raceway on Mission Road this Saturday (27th May) for round 5 of their club championship.
Published by: Brendan Kelly
Picture Caption: Neels Vermaak (64) leads Henties deVilliers (27) & Burger van der Westhuizen in the 2.1 Modified class.
Photography by: Peter Henning
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