Lobb’s gift
- 1 September 2003

South Africa’s national championship Sportscar series provided some of the best action at round seven of the Vodacom Power Tour at AA Kyalami on Saturday (30 August).   

After a myriad of problems in practice that left him qualifying in a lowly seventh place, Neil Lobb scored a surprise win in the second Vodacom Sports Prototype race at AA Kyalami.  

Having started the first race from pole position, Bernard Tilanus’s race was shortlived as he and Melvill Priest (Revlon 24-Seven) came together at Nashua corner leaving the former to pull off with suspension damage. Francois Gerber (Autohaus Paint & Panel) took advantage of the melee to lead until lap 5 when he misjudged his braking at Wesbank corner and went wide allowing Priest and George Ferreira (PAK 2000) through. 

Priest resisted tons of pressure from Ferreira and the two crossed the line separated by 0,3 seconds. Third place went two Gerber who was two and a half seconds behind. Fourth went to Alan Eve (Shell/Odes Autobody), but only after a stiff early race challenge from DK Woodcraft backed Lobb who slipped down the order after making a mistake on lap  four which allowed Dave Beattie (Fedex/Bidvest) to claim fifth ahead of a troubled Lobb.  

Race two saw Tilanus leading the early part of the race from Priest, Ferreira, Eve and Lobb. Priest dropped out of the bunch with a trip into the gravel trap at the Esses on lap four and on the same lap Lobb squeezed ahead of Eve to move up to third.  

The big shake-up occurred on lap 7 when Tilanus, who’s car seemed to have a handling problem, was challenged by Ferreira and contact was made which sent Ferreira sideways across the grass and Lobb sailed through to take the lead. On the last lap, Tilanus then spun at the Esses and was thumped solidly by the closely following Priest.  

The net result was that Gerber inherited third ahead of Beattie with first heat retiree Donovan Roscoe (Optimum Racing Developments) bagging fifth as Eve rounded off the top six having been delayed in the fraught paint swapping last lap.  

With three races left, Lobb’s championship lead shrunk by four points, the gap now a mere 11 points. With 20 points on offer for a win, next months races at Phakisa (Welkom) are going to be interesting to say the least.