Team Total crew Shameer Variawa and Siegfried Rousseau consolidated their position at the top of the Special Vehicle championship at the Sun City 400, round four of the Absa Off Road Championship, over the weekend.
Variawa and Rousseau finished second for the second year in a row and now have an 18 point lead over Class P crew Johan van Staden and James Rossouw in the Atlas Copco BAT. Van Staden/Rossouw finished third behind former South African champions Karl-Heinz and Quintin Sullwald (Elegant Fuel BAT) who jump into third place in the overall championship.
The Sun City race saw Variawa and Rousseau work their way into second place at the designated service point. Halfway through the second and final loop of the race they decided to stop chasing the Sullwald’s and settle for a safe second place.
Nick Harper (Atlas Copco BAT) is fourth in the driver stakes and is followed by reigning champion Evan Hutchison (Motorite BAT) and Herman Sullwald (Sullwald Racing SVR) who are tied for fifth. With Ryan Harper missing the Sun City 400 through injury Achim Bergmann and Wichard Sullwald share fourth place among the co-drivers – although Bergmann has parted company with Hutchison and was replaced by off road motorcycle star Darryl Curtis.
Differences in the allocation of overall and class points produces a slightly different situation in Class A. Here Variawa/Rousseau lead Herman and Wichard Sullwald with Harper third among the drivers and Quintin Sullwald third in the co-driver stakes.
The van Staden/Rossouw combination, who earlier this season made history by becoming the first Class P crew to win an event overall, have a comfortable 19 point lead over Archie Rutherford and former Springbok water polo player Craig Doubtfire in the Regent Racing Jimco.
Rutherford and Doubtfire salvaged valuable points with fourth place at Sun City. Behind them only one point separates Mark Corbett/Rudi Balzer (Century Racing CR3) and Swaziland crew John Thomson and Clinton McNamara (Zarco) who were an impressive second at Sun City.
A victory first time out this season lifts Bes Bezuidenhout and daughter-in-law Lindie into joint first place in Class B. Reigning champion Derrick du Toit missed the Sun City race while Adre Rheeder, who won the first race of the year with du Toit, has not raced since.
Tied for second place are Marius Nicholson/Rod Jeffrey (Orange Tree Raceco) and brothers Hamish and Alistair Stubbs in a Viper. Both crews have competed in only one event this season.
The next round of the Absa championship is the 4×4 Mega World 400 at Carnival City on the East Rand on August 27 and 28.