It was a day of mixed emotions, at the third round of the Shelby Can-Am championship at the Phakisa Freeway in Welkom. Reigning Shelby Can-Am Champion Neil Lobb (Caltex Havoline) looked set for another dream weekend but as the day’s events played out the pendulum swung in the favour of archival Ruan Pretorius (Castrol).

 

Starting from pole position Lobb dominated the opening race of the day. Behind Lobb, Pretorius and Darryn Lobb (DK Woodcraft) were scrapping for second place however Darryn’s hopes came to an abrupt end when both drive shafts broke with half a lap to go. This left Neil Lobb to take the chequered flag ahead of Pretorius and Donavan Roscoe (Stanley Tools).

 

 However Lobb’s celebrations were short lived when he later crossed the scales underweight. The Caltex Havoline driver was immediately disqualified from the first race leaving Pretorius as the first race winner and elevating Roscoe to second place.

 

Team mates Alan Eve (Keliza Group) and Rui Campos (Boltt) proved that they can co-habit the circuit without incident. The pair were full of chest following their Killarney incident but got straight back to business at Phakisa finishing third and fourth respectively.

 

Franz Pretorius (Castrol) and Jean-Paul Bredenhann (Panel-Rite) had a close fought race with Bredenhann keeping Pretorius on his toes. However it was the Castrol driver who eventually got the better of sixth place Bredenhann.

 

Neil Lobb would make no mistake when he lined up on the grid for heat two. Lobb led from start to finish to take a dominant win ahead of Ruan Pretorius.

 

The Revolution Racing team performed miracles to get Darryn Lobb’s car ready in time for heat two. With the car mechanically sound the younger of the Lobb’s claimed the final podium slot.

 

Roscoe had another solid performance to take fourth place while Eve and Rui kept their race order status quo, this time finishing fifth and sixth.

 

“It was a bit of a disappointing weekend,” commented Neil Lobb after the event. “We should have left Phakisa with a maximum points haul instead we took no points for the first heat and Ruan benefited the most. On the up-side its good for the championship as it keeps things interesting from a spectator point of view.”

 

The Shelby Can-Am brigade has a bit of a breather with the next race taking place at Zwartkops Raceway later in May.  There is still everything to play for with the championship a wide-open affair, as such the Zwartkops event will be one not to miss. Be sure to mark 20 May in your diaries. 

 

OVERALL RESULTS PHAKISA FREEWAY 1 APRIL

Pos	Driver	Sponsor
1.	Ruan Pretorius	Castrol
2.	Donavan Roscoe	Stanley Tools
3.	Rui Campos	Boltt
4.	Alan Eve	Keliza Group
5.	Jean-Paul Bredenhann	Panel-Rite
6.	Colin Frost	Strocam
Fastest lap of the day:		Neil Lobb               1:39.489

ENDS 

Should you require further information or high res images for publication please contact Nathalie Jeanmonod on 083 799 6802 or e-mail nathalie@spannerworx.co.za 

For detailed information on Shelby Can-Am racing please visit www.shelbycanam.co.za  

For Hi Res images from this weekends racing visit www.tracksidepics.co.za