Exciting Racing in East London  
- April 2001
Saturday 28th of April 2001 saw the Vodacom Sports Prototypes, South Africa’s premier sports car class, being hosted by the Border Motorsports Club at the Mercedes Benz Grand Prix Circuit in East London for the fourth and fifth rounds of their 2001 Championship season.   

Alan winning race 2
Pole position in qualifying went to Alan Eve (SA Motorsport – no. 3) with Donovan Roscoe ( Seeff Residential Properties – no. 4) only eight hundredths of a second behind in second position.  Surprise of the day was Tony Troskie (Shell-Tepco – no. 18) only another two-tenths of a second behind in third position.  Tony has only had a few drives in a VSP prior to this.  Another welcome surprise was Dave Beattie (no. 30) having his first drive in a VSP, and his first race in many years, in seventh spot.  It was good too to see James Kennerley (De Walt – no. 26) up in seventh place.  George Ferreira (Pak 2000 – no. 31), the overall winner at the last race in Cape Town, could only manage fourth on the grid. Several cars, amongst them Colin Frost (Strocam – no. 9), Marco da Cunha (Diesel – no. 11) and  Paul Keates ( SBS – no. 22) were unable to qualify because of mechanical problems and had to start at the back of the grid.  Mike Fergusson (no. 25) was forced to withdraw with major damage to his gearbox in pre-qualifying practice.  

Neil challenging Tony
Tony Cooke (GAR 300 Systems - no. 24) suffered terminal gearbox damage during pre-race warm-up, and Clive Kennerley (De Walt – no. 7) was unable to get his car going for the first race, so 21 cars of the original entry of 25 came around Beacon Bend in a tight bunch for the rolling start of Round Four.  The lights went out and straight away Alan Eve established his dominance.  He was never headed and, driving a perfect race gaining nearly a second a lap, crossed the finish line twelve and a half seconds ahead of the second finisher.  However behind him there were furious battles being waged for the full fifteen laps.  Early on Tony Troskie managed to slip past Donovan Roscoe into second place and Neil Lobb (DK Woodcraft – no. 8) did the same to George Ferreira to gain third place.  Neil then proceeded to hound Tony’s hold on second place for most of the race, until a fairly wide exit from Beacon Bend caused him to lose touch with the flying Shell-Tepco car.  George Ferreira (gearbox) and Donovan Roscoe (CV joint) both started to suffer from mechanical problems and began to be passed by other cars.  Another race-long battle was between Neville Jordan (Vodacom – no. 082) and Richard Wood (Digidoor – no 12), which saw Richard squeeze past Neville at Copabana on the second-last lap, and hold Neville off to the finish.  The finishing order of the first six cars was Alan Eve, Tony Troskie, Neil Lobb, James Kennerley, George Ferreira and Dave Beattie in a well-merited sixth place, although he had inspected the scenery rather closely at times. The attrition rate was fairly high, with only fifteen official finishers out of the twenty-one starters.  

The Tepco team second overall in East London

After furious activity in the pits, nineteen cars were able to make it back onto the grid for Round Five, starting in the same order in which they had finished the previous race.  Once again, Alan Eve lead from start to finish, although Tony Troskie had passed him going into Copabana on the first lap, only to be re-taken almost immediately on the beach straight.  Tony however held on to his second place throughout, despite once again strong pressure from first Neil Lobb, and later George Ferreira.  George Ferreira took a few laps to settle down, and then homed in on the leaders, passing first James Kennerley and later Neil Lobb, finally finishing a good third.  Neil Lobb managed to stay ahead of James Kennerley, and they finished fourth and fifth respectively.  Damian Frost had a great drive, starting in sixteenth position and steadily working his way through the field to finish a very creditable sixth.  Donovan Roscoe had initially had a great start, moving up from tenth to fourth, but his engine started to misfire and he started to slip back, and eventually finished seventh.  Clive Kennerley also drove very well, starting from the back of the grid as he had missed the first race, and ultimately finishing eighth. There were five retirements, and fourteen official finishers.

The overall placings for the day were: First: Alan Eve (SA Motorsport – no. 3); Second: Tony Troskie (Shell-Tepco – no. 18); Third: Neil Lobb (DK Woodcraft – no.8); Fourth:  George Ferreira (Pak 2000 – no. 31); Fifth: James Kennerley (De Walt – no. 26); Sixth: Dave Beattie (no. 30). This result sees Alan Eve (138 points) heading the points standing in the Overall Championship, from Neil Lobb (108 points) and Clive Kennerley (100 points). In the Sprint Championship, Alan (94 points) again leads from George Ferreira (88 points) and Tony Troskie (66 points). The Enduro Championship remains unchanged with Clive Kennerley and Neil Lobb (50 points each) leading from Alan Eve (44 points) and Damian Frost (40 points).

As usual, the “Dash for Cash” lucky draw was held, sponsored by SmartCall.  The winning driver was George Ferreira, and both he and his paired lucky spectator each went home with cheques for R10 000.00.


Daan does it again!

VSP Racing Association wishes to thank the folk from Border Motorsport Club and the track sponsors Mercedes Benz for their efficiency and hospitality (and the good weather!) in running a very enjoyable event. It was also great to see the VSP spirit alive and well.  Drivers allowed their broken-down cars to be cannibalised for spares to keep other cars running, and people pitched in to help repair cars other than their own and make sure that as many cars as possible were on the grid.  This spirit is probably unique in National motor racing, and is what makes VSP the great class that it is.

(Issued by on behalf of VSP Racing Association by Jannet Wood)  


Alan Eve, winner of both
heats in East London

 

Thanks to Michael Fergusson
for the great pics