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PRESS RELEASE: 21 March 2009 |
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Pro-Tour National Championships
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Round 1 – Killarney,
Cape Town – 21 March
The popular Pro-Tour National championship series
opened at Cape Town’s picturesque Killarney circuit
and a large crowd witnessed some of the best racing
seen for a long time.
Mathew Merton got his assault on the Investchem
Formula Ford championship off to a perfect start as
he took two convincing wins.
Driving the Matsam Supplies backed Mygale, he
started from second on the grid as pole position was
claimed by the Magnificent Paints Van Diemen of
Nicholas van Weely.
Van Weely led from the start with Merton glued to
his exhaust but on lap two Van Weely spun entering
the first corner and dropped to the back of the
field. That left Merton with a handy lead and he
went on to win by a massive eight seconds.
Werner Scholtz (Investchem Mygale) was promoted to
second, but spun and dropped behind Dean Hirschowitz
(Knightsbridge Investment Mygale). A lap later it
was Hirschowitz’s turn to go off the track which
gave the runner-up position back to Scholtz as
Hirschowitz recovered to finish third ahead of James
Temple (Mygale). A controlled drive saw Jayde Kruger
win the Zetec Challenge class with fifth place in
the Knottsberry Foods Mygale as van Weely fought
back superbly to take sixth.
Race two saw Merton lead off the line but van Weely
soon took over at the front and led until a coming
together with Merton on lap seven saw him retire and
Merton take his second win. This time it was
Hirschowitz who got second with Temple a solid
third.
Kruger was fourth, and again the Zetec Challenge
winner, with Scholtz in fifth ahead of visiting
British Formula Ford legend Rick Morris (Investchem
Mygale) who was runner-up in the Zerec Challenge
class. |
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image: Steve Wicks
www,saracer.co.za |
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The Shelby Can-Am
event saw former champion Darryn Lobb (DK Woodcraft)
take two wins, each time ahead of current Champion
Rui Campos (Hugo Boss) who kept him under pressure
throughout.
They set such a pace in the opening race that they
pulled away from the pack at the rate of over a
second per lap and were 12-seconds clear of third
placed Jean Paul Bredenhann (Panel-Rite) by the end
of the 10-lap race. A brilliant three car battle for
fourth saw Brian Algar (Thuthuka Welding) get the
verdict by less than half a second from local ace
Bertil Hoffman (IOU Music) with Sean Greve (Vulcania
Reinforcing) a car length adrift.
As in the past, race two was combined with the GT
Challenge which saw Toby Venter’s thoroughbred Le
Mans spec Porsche 911 GT2 take the outright win as
Lobb drove a tactical race to come through the field
to claim the Shelby Can-Am win with second overall.
Alan Eve (Phakisa) led the Shelby charge initially
and was an eventual third as another sensible drive
netted fourth for Bredenhann who managed to get the
Porsche of Laurent Gross between himself and Algar
while Greve claimed the points for sixth. |
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There was another
double victor in the two 10-lap Red Square Kawasaki
ZX10R Masters Cup races as home town hero Danie
Maritz was ahead of Gavin Lightfoot (Execuline/Emtek).
Third in the opening race was Pieter de Vos
(Essential Hardware) with four seconds to spare
before Jayson Lamb (Buffalo Motorcycles) as Joe
Shearer ((O’Mage) and Sergio da Silva completed the
top six.
Lightfoot led the early laps of race two before
Maritz used his home track advantage to haul him in
and take the lead at half distance as the pair
finished well clear of De Vos who was third again.
Fourth went to Lamb while Delvin Pearce (T&M Design)
pipped Shearer for fifth place. |
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image: Steve Wicks
www,saracer.co.za |
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Round two of the
Pro-Tour series takes place at Zwartkops near
Pretoria on 18th April. |
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Ends
Issued on behalf of Shelby Can-Am, Investchem
Formula Ford and Red Square Kawasaki ZX10 masters
Cup. |
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