Lobb’s maiden win
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For some, round two of the Vodacom Sports Prototype championship at Killarney ended on a high note, but others counted the costs and cursed the weather Gods for missed opportunities. Despite a small field, both the short 8-lap sprint and the 12-lap feature race produced plenty of action. On and off rain throughout the day ensured that the track was slippery enough to catch out just about every driver at some stage of the day. Practice was held in near perfect conditions and pole position for the sprint race went to George Ferreira (PAK 2000) with the ‘old man’ Bernard Tetanus taking the important starting berth for the second race in his Micro Imaging sponsored car. Action was provided by Vodacom’s Neville Jordan who visited the scenery in an earlier practice session and missed qualifying while his car was repaired. Melvill Priest (Caltex/Havoline) joined Jordan at the back of the field after suffering a gearbox failure. Former saloon car racer and off-road racer, Bevan Berthold had a guest outing in the car usually raced by Richard Wood and did well to line up seventh while newcomer Gary Green improved greatly to claim ninth in the Brad Green Cars entry. Conditions on Saturday were a nightmare with the track changing almost every half hour. The big problem for the Nissan V6 powered VSP sports cars is that there are no wet weather tyres available and with a locked differential, the cars are extremely difficult to drive in the rain. “Deciding on a set-up was impossible as you didn’t know what the weather was going to do next,” explained Ferreira. Race one was red-flagged on the first lap Tilanus spun off and a corner later Colin Frost (Strocam) was tapped from behind and spun off into a marshall post which launched the car high into the air. Damage was severe, but Frost emerged from the wreck with nothing more than a sore back and bruising. All the drama allowed Ferreira to take victory ahead of Neill Lobb (DK Woodcraft) and the recovering Tilanus. Francois Gerber, another driver who missed qualifying, came through to take fourth with Alan Eve (Odes Autobody) and Mark Attieh taking the minor placings. Race two was drier and at the end the ever steady Lobb claimed his first victory ahead of Eve and Ferreira. It wasn’t that easy though. Many drivers led a some stage but ran into problems. Ferreira spun, Tilanus limped home with a broken driveshaft and Priest stopped out on the track shortly before the end after clawing his way from the back of the field. Gerber took fourth ahead of Tilanus and Dave Beattie (db Consultants) who was a first race spinner. Despite a huge spin at half distance, Berthold bagged seventh after a close race with Richard Benningfield. Round three of the series takes place in Port Elizabeth on 12 April. |