VSP dramas in EL
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East London’s famed Mercedes Grand Prix circuit was packed to capacity on Saturday and fans were treated to drama aplenty in round four of the VSP Sportscar championship, which forms part of the popular Vodacom Power Tour. The high speed nature of the track suited the Nissan V6 powered sports cars and bravery was rewarded with fast times, but at the risk of throwing away valuable points as mistakes were punished harshly. Following his double win at the previous round, Melvill Priest (Revlon 24 Seven) bagged pole position ahead of Bernard Tilanus (Micro Imaging) for both races. Others weren’t so lucky. Championship leader, Neil Lobb (DK Woodcraft) suffered cam timing problems when a stone got into the cambelt and the resultant loss of power meant he started from 10th. Clutch gremlins struck Richard Benningfield and engine problems sidelined Francois Gerber before qualifying even started. Priest led from the start of race one, but spun into the weeds at the 250 km/h Potters Pass corner on lap two which left Tilanus at the front as Alan Eve (Odes Autobody) also spun into retirement. Then on lap three Tilanus joined the list of spinners, which handed the lead to Lobb who had stormed through the field in the opening laps. Lobb then kept it on the island to take the flag nine seconds ahead of George Ferreira (PAK 2000). Dave Beattie (Steiner Hygeine) survived a spin to take third with Trevor Frost (Strocam Mining) holding off Colin Frost (Strocam Projects) to take fourth. Tilanus recoved to take sixth, passing Benningfield on the final lap. Richard Wood won a hard fought a race long duel with Ben Havenga (Panel Rite) to claim eighth. Priest led off the line in race two and despite a half spin, kept his head to score a two second win over Ferreira. Lobb held a steady third until his gear linkage came adrift on lap three and he lost two laps in the pits before his crew managed to get him going again. That left Tilanus to take third with Donovan Roscoe (Judges/Protea Playing Card) fourth ahead of Colin Frost. Trevor Frost had a short race as he hit a spinning Beattie on the first lap, which sidelined both of them. Once again Wood beat Havenga in a good fight for sixth. Harry Roscoe nursed a slipping clutch to take eighth ahead of Benningfield and Eve, both also limping home with clutch bothers. They may not have been the closest of races, but there was plenty of action and Ferreira heads to Kyalami on top of the championship points table. |