[slideshow]
Story by Patrick Vermaak and Evan Rothman
Photographs by Frank Pey
Despite some 25mm of rain leading up to the event, React Marketing Vlakvlei Night Rally competitors could not have enjoyed any better weather on the actual night of the event. It was Mike Nathan/Rikus Fourie (S4/N4 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX) who claimed overall honours in this past weekend’s round of the Western Cape Regional Rally Championship. This being the first night event in twelve years, conditions tested all entrants.
Ashley Haigh-Smith/Hilton Auffray started the event with gunsby posting the fastst stage time through SS1 in their Class S3/A6 Toyota Corolla RXi, winning the 13,57km stage by 04s. An unfortunate misfire on SS2 saw them lose time and drop down the leaderboard, and then a crash on SS3 brought their rally to an abrupt end.
Thorsten Pey/Mark Palmer steered their Winning Business Solutions/Forsdicks BMW Tygervalley Class S4 E36 BMW 325i to a strong second place overall finish. This much heavier rear-wheel drive rally machine was not suited to these wet and muddy stages, but driver Pey drove well to record an impressive result for the team.
Having only competed on two previous events, Sebastiaan and Daniel Klaasen showed their potential by not keeping their Class S5/N4 Subaru Impreza WRX intact and on the road but managed to drive to a third place overall finish on their night rallying debut.
National rally competitors Andre Cleenwerck/Carl Peskin entered their Class S4/A7 Volkswagen Polo and brought the vehicle home in a commendable fourth place overall. This front-wheel drive Volkswagen Polo proved a handful in the muddy stages, but Cleenwerck wrestled the car to the finish.
Shaun Jones/Ian Thebus placed fifth overall with their smoking and steaming Class S5 Volkswagen Golf Syncro, while the father-and-son pairing of Clinton and Keenan Sassman (Class S4 E30 BMW 325i) finished sixth overall. Hopefully, this is the first of many good results.
As vice-chairman of the CPMCC club, title sponsor of the event and team manager for son Ashley, Andy Haigh-Smith asked Steven White to fill the driver’s seat alongside Patrick Vermaak in his React Martketing Class S2 Mitsubishi Lancer GT1600. Despite not rallying in over a year, White brought the car home in seventh place overall.
Andre George/George du Toit (Class S3 Flying Fridge Toyota Conquest RSi) finished eighth overall, and have shown to have shaken off the effects of their big roll ealier this season. Paul-Hendrik Franken/Uwe Pey enjoyed the reliability of their Class S3 Volkswagen Golf CSL to finish in ninth place. Howver, the pair did hit a rock in the final stage and navigator Pey painfully bit through his tongue.
Stefanie and Willem Hugo had an enjoyable but frustrating event in their recently acquired Wiel/Select Cars Class S3/N3 Toyota RunX RSi. Enjoyable was the fact that they finished tenth overall, while frustrating as the car’s computer lost most of its performance data. Abduraghman Amlay sportingly tried to fix the problem, but could do little under the circumstances.
West Coast newcomers Divan de Goede/Henry Kohne shared the view of almost every other competitor that night rallying is fantastic fun. Making their night debut in their Class S2/N2 Toyota Corolla Rsi, the youngsters found the night event to be a real eye-opening experience which they thoroughly enjoyed. Another sound finish adding their experience level.
The Western Cape Regional Rally Championship is well and truly thriving: this weekend’s event is a testament to this.
With soccer dominating the next two months round 5 of the Western Province Rally Championship will be the CCMCC All Tar on 13 – 14 August 2010 at the Killarney motorsport complex in Milnerton.