Privateers Gary Bertholdt and Andre Vermeulen (class SP Atlas Copco Toyota Hilux) came agonizingly close to winning the Production Vehicle category of the Sun City 400 that finished on Saturday afternoon.
After winning their first Donaldson prologue together on Friday, which put them at the head of the production vehicles for Saturday’s start, they put in a superb race performance to finish a close second, just 23 seconds behind winners Terence Marsh and Buks Carolin (Nissan Navara), after being delayed by no less than four punctures throughout the 376-km race.
Bertholdt and Vermeulen also finished second in last year’s Sun City 400, behind the factory Nissan Navara of current production vehicle champions Duncan Vos and Ralph Pitchford. They then went on to win the next event, the Carnival City 400, to record the only privateer win over the factory teams in 2009.
“We had three punctures on the first of the two loops that made up the route,” said a disappointed Bertholdt. “It was hard work catching up after each wheel change, especially with the thick dust that made overtaking very risky, but we were really flying and I thought we were in the clear when we caught and passed Terence with about 100 km to go on the final loop. That’s when we got our fourth puncture and we had it to do all over again.
“We dropped back to third behind Thomas (Rundle, in another Nissan Navara) and pushed really hard over the final kilometres. After passing Thomas we were closing fast on Terence, but we just ran out of time.”
Rundle and former champion co-driver Juan Mohr finished third, 1 min 7 sec behind Bertholdt and Vermeulen.
“The Atlas Copco Toyota Hilux was mighty and we had no problems whatsoever bar the flat tyres. It was a tough route, rocky in places, and we paid the price of having to play catch-up under the difficult conditions. I must thank my team for preparing a winning car. Now we look ahead to defending our title at Carnival City.”
An excellent result for the four-car Atlas Copco team saw Johan van Staden and James Rossouw (BAT Spec 2) finish third overall in the Special Vehicle category and first in class P with team-mates Nick Harper and Kevin Hume fourth overall and third in class A in their BAT Spec 4.
Bodo Bertholdt and Phillip Herselman were not so lucky in their class P Atlas Copco BAT, failing to finish after power steering problems and a resultant argument with a ditch that damaged a rear control arm.
– Credit: Peter Burroughes Communications