Preview: Round 2 VSP Nat Championship
|
|
Round two of this season’s VSP Sports Car Racing championship has all the ingredients needed to produce two exciting races at Killarney. Powered by Nissan 3.5 litre V6 motors producing around 250 kW, South Africa’s national championship for pukka sports cars enjoyed an exciting season opener at AA Kyalami in February. Fastest on the day was Donovan Roscoe in the Protea Playing Cards backed car. He won the first heat comfortably, but was thwarted by a mechanical gremlin in race two which allowed the consistent Francois Gerber (Autohaus) to take an eight point championship lead. Garth Waberski (Dache Imports) showed his potential, but threw away his chances of taking a brace of wins by spinning twice in the first race, although he did make amends by winning race two. He is fast, and out to prove a point in the fairest Cape. With reigning champion Neil Lobb suffering a rare mechanical failure on the DK Woodcraft car and not starting the first heat, there are some less well known names high up in the points log. Only five points cover the next four places. Veteran racer Alan Eve (Shell/Powerseal Gaskets) holds second place, but is only three points clear of Waberski who in turn is a solitary point ahead of Colin Frost (Strocam) with Roscoe a further point behind. Alan Green (DK Office Furniture) is sixth, and only two points behind Roscoe. With Lobb a lowly ninth in the points table, he has a lot of ground to make up and can’t afford to lose any more ground. Roscoe and Waberski are in similar situations. Ruan Pretorius (John Abbot Motorsport) impressed at AA Kyalami and then there is Clive Kennerley (Standox). He is a previous race winner and will be out to make amends for a catastrophic brake failure at AA Kyalami. Dave Beattie, another very capable driver, also had a miserable start to the season, which left him with quite a bit of work to do in the month free before Killarney. Other drivers capable of providing action are Richard Wood, Richard Benningfield and the ever-spectacular Terry Voller (DK Laminates). Franz Pretorius (John Abbot Motorsport), Gary Green (Autozone) and former karter Mike Nel will also be watched with interest. Thanks to identical engines, chassis and the spec Goodyear racing slicks, the VSP Championship has become one of the highlights of the Vodacom Power Tour in the past few years. Championship Positions
|