KWAZULU-NATAL CREWS TO THE FORE ON TOYOTA DEALER 450
Mooi River, Saturday – KwaZulu-Natal crews were to the fore in both the Special and Production Vehicle categories at the halfway mark of the Toyota Dealer 450, round two of the Donaldson Cross Country Championship, here this morning.
Clint Gibson/Gary Campbell (Dirt Sport Component Porter) were the first Special Vehicle into the designated service point after the first of two loops that make up the race. They were a slender 12 seconds ahead of a second KZN team, Lance Trethewey and Geoff Minnitt, in the LTE BAT Venom, but then lost wads of time in the pits with an engine problem.
That dropped Gibson/Campbell down the field and lifted Gerhard and Hardus du Plessis (Jimco) into second place. It also moved another KZN team, Daniel Brookes and Gavan Gray (Ducatis Property BAT) into third place.
Class P was also being led by a KZN crew. They were well ahead of reigning South African champions John Thomson and Maurice Zermatten in a Zarco Magnum.
There was more for KZN enthusiasts to shout about when Manfred Schroder and Japie Badenhorst (Atlas Copco Ford Racing Ranger) were the first of the Production Vehicle contingent. They were followed by team-mates Gary Bertholdt and Siegfried Rousseau and Hennie de Klerk and Johann Smalberger in the RFS BMW X3.
Early Production Vehicle casualties were RFS 450 winners Anthony Taylor and Dennis Murphy (Team Castrol Toyota Hilux) with suspension damage. They were joined on the sidelines by reigning Special Vehicle champions Evan Hutchison and Dannie Stassen (Motorite BAT Viper) who went out with a broken greabox.
The race finishes later today at the Weston Agricultural College on the outskirts of Mooi River.
Top 10 into DSP
- Gibson / Campbell
- Trethewey/Minnitt
- Du Plessis/Du Plessis
- Schroder/Badenhorst
- Bertholdt/Rousseau
- Brookes/Gray
- De Klerck/Smalberger
- Horn/Horn
- Zahos/Bodhanya
- Vos/Weiss
