VSP Sportscars – AA Kyalami 28 June 2003
- 5 July 2003

DK Woodcraft driver Neil Lobb drove away from a packed AA Kyalami with the Vodacom Sports Prototype Sportscar Championship lead after taking maximum points in each of the two hard fought races in round five of the popular Vodacom Power Tour national championship racing series.  

With 19 of the sleek Nissan powered sportscars on the track, the racing was cut and thrust and added to the spectacle on the day. 

In the first race he took full advantage of retirements by others to take a handy 2.8 second win ahead of former champion George Ferreira (PAK 2000) and Francois Gerber in the Autohaus backed version who fought hard in the early stages. Initially Melvill Priest (Revlon 24 Seven) led, but it was short lived as he retired in front of the pits at the end of lap three. All Lobb had to do from then onwards was ensure that he maintained a bit of breathing space over Ferreira. 

There was a strong performance from Alan Eve (Odes Autobody) who mastered an evil handling car to take fourth ahead of Steiner Hygeine backed Dave Beattie. The big surprise of the race came from Mark Attieh (Vodago) who scored his best ever result, coming home a strong sixth after starting from tenth place on the grid. 

Priest started from the back of the grid for race two, but at the front Lobb and Gerber had an interesting nudging match through the first corner before Lobb emerged at the head of the pack. Further round the lap Colin Frost spun the Strocam Projects car at Nashua and resumed at the back of the field. Then at Goodyear corner Richard Wood and Clive Kennerley had a hefty coming together, which brought out the safety car while the wreckage was cleared. 

On lap four the safety car pulled into the pits and the racing resumed. This time Lobb got away cleanly as Gerber slotted into second ahead of Ferreira. Up at Wesbank there was contact between the latter two and Gerber spun out of the top ten as Ferreira claimed second. While all this was happening, Priest was scything through the field and by lap five he was up to fourth and closing on Eve in third. A lap later he was second having passed both Eve and Ferreira on the same lap. By this time Lobb had what seemed like a comfortable lead, but Priest was closing fast.  

Half a lap from home Priest had closed up to Lobb’s gearbox and charged into Goodyear Corner at a massive rate of knots only to spin as he almost hit the back of Lobb. The Revlon car careened into the barriers and as it spun around Priest grabbed first gear and continued having only lost one place.  

Thus the order after eight eventful laps was Lobb, Ferreira, Priest and Eve. Terry Voller (DK Laminates) drove well to take fifth as Gerber recovered to take sixth.  

“I was driving an angry race and had to get off the gas to avoid hitting Neil,” explained Priest. “I hit the barrier hard, and just hooked first as it spun. I figured I might as well try and get to the end and score some points, but I was amazed that the car was still driveable.”