Century Property Developments Racing raised a few eyebrows at the second round of the Absa Off Road Championship in the Eastern Cape in April when their brand new CR1, a four wheel drive transverse-engined contender in the Special Vehicle category, led its first race after starting 10th in class following a ‘cautious’ prologue.
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Motorite Racing’s Team of Champions travels to KwaZulu Natal this weekend for the third round of the Absa Off Road Championship, the Nissan Sugarbelt 400, in search of a result that will put the defending champions back on course for a repeat of last year’s success.
Neither Special Vehicle champions Evan Hutchison and Achim Bergmann nor Motorite Racing team-mates Brandon Harcus and Richard Leeke have scored any points yet this season after both failed to finish either of the first two events. “It’s the worst start to a season we have ever had,” said team manager Hutchison. “The team has had to be strong and positive after our shocking start to the season, when my BAT Spec 3 burnt out after a crash on the Nissan Dealer 400 in March. Then we had gearbox problems with Brandon’s Spec 3, which we took over for the Eastern Cape 400 in April.
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A Production Vehicle category dog fight is almost certain to develop on the Nissan Sugarbelt 400, round three of the Absa Off Road Championship, in the Eston area of KwaZulu-Natal on May 16 and 17.
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Toyota Motorsport emerged from a bruising Sasol Rally, round three of the Sasol SA Rally Championship, with a raft of class wins and a fighting podium to keep Toyota ahead on the Manufacturer’s Championship leaderboard.
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Philips Toyota pair Nicholas Ryan and Schalk van Heerden stood on the final step of the podium after the Sasol Rally this past weekend, taking a fighting third place overall after a thrilling high-speed battle over Saturday’s seven gravel stages around Sabie and Nelspruit.
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It was a tough day at the office for the Sasol Nissan 350Z pair of former SA champion Leeroy Poulter and Tschops Sipuka at round three of the WesBank Super Series at Aldo Scribante over the weekend. (April 25 & 26).
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Round two of the Absa Off-Road Championship for production cars, the Eastern Cape 500 which ended in Port Elizabeth on Saturday, produced a string of trials and tribulations for the Sasol Nissan Navara factory team.
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Team Ford Racing is gearing up for round three of this year’s Bridgestone Production Car Championship set to take place at Port Elizabeth’s Aldo Scribante race circuit on 26 April.
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Team Ford Racing enjoyed a strong outing on this weekend’s ABSA Off Road Championship, the Eastern Cape 500. Despite the difficult conditions the team excelled with Neil Woolridge and Kenny Skjoldhammer taking second place overall in their SP Ford Ranger.
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Mazda driver’s Heinz Bose (MFC) and Etienne Prinsloo (BIZHUB) are looking forward to taking to the Aldo Scribante race circuit for the first time in their similarly prepared Mazda3 MPS race cars. The Port Elizabeth based round of the Bridgestone Production Car Championship will get underway on 26 April much to the delight of the enthusiastic Eastern Cape supporters.
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The motorsport industry of South Africa received a boost today, with constitution of the South African Motorsport Industry Association (SAMIA) in Cape Town - an organization which will be a catalyst for the formalization, growth and development of a South African motorsport industry.
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Picking up points will be top of the agenda for Castrol Toyota teams on the Eastern Cape 500, round two of the Absa Off Road Championship, on April 18 and 19.
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Round two of the Bridgestone Production Car Championship proved to be a challenging outing for the Ford Motorsport team. Having secured a podium finish at the opening round of the championship the team were upbeat ahead of this weekend’s event but, despite having the pace to challenge for victory, teething problems put an end to the team’s victory chase.
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Mazda Motorsport driver’s Heinz Bose and Etienne Prinsloo enjoyed a weekend of mixed fortunes at round two of the Bridgestone Production Car Championship, which took place at Killarney race circuit in Cape Town.
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Wesbank V8 Supercar Championship - Round 2 Cape Town - 5 April
Round two of the Wesbank V8 Supercar championship saw Team Timken's Hennie Groenewald open a sizeable lead in the championship standings after teammate Robert Briggs had a day full of incident.
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Car crunching spectacle, varied winners and lap records typified rounds three and four of this year's Bridgestone South African Production Car championship at the Western Cape Killarney circuit on Saturday (April 5).
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Team TOTAL came away from round two of the Sasol Rally Championship with a satisfying three class wins in the two-day Toyota Dealer Rally, which took place in the Caledon area of the Western Cape at the weekend. Chris de Witt and Dean Redelinghuys (Team TOTAL Toyota RunX) won class A7, defending champion Craig Trott and Tony Ball (Team TOTAL Toyota Corolla) won class A6 and former champions Rodney Visagie and Carolyn Swan won class N3.
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The Nissan Dealer Team fielded a three-car class A entry in round two of the Bridgestone Production Car Championship at Killarney in Cape Town at the weekend. Newcomer to the team, Darryn Lobb, the 2007 Shelby CanAm sports car champion, led the team at the end of the day with an overall seventh after the two races, with Deon Joubert, returning after a few appearances in 2007, eighth and Marco da Cunha a disappointed ninth in the third Tubular-backed Nissan 350Z.
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Evan Hutchison, reunited with first-choice co-driver Greg Gericke, drove the ex-works Motorite Toyota RunX to a well-deserved third place in class A7 in last weekend's Toyota Dealer Rally in the Western Cape. It was the pair's first national championship event together and Hutchison's first points-scoring finish in his third ever national championship rally.
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The Absa Off Road Championship is under new management - Long-serving Motorsport South Africa Off Road Car Racing Commission president Piet Swanepoel has severed his ties with off road racing to concentrate on other aspects of his motorsport involvement. In the interim veteran competitor and administrator Richard Schilling, a former MSA president, has taken over as caretaker president of the off road commission.
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