The National Pro Tour Racing Series made the long haul to the Eastern Cape to contest the third round of the series by the sea. It was a father and son affair at races five and six of the Hollard Shelby Can-Am Championship, as Darryn and his father Neil Lobb (DK Woodcraft) wrapped up a day's racing at East London Grand Prix Circuit with a pair of wins and second positions respectively.
 
Neil Lobb managed to steal pole position in one of the closest qualifying sessions all season. The top 4 drivers on the grid covered by only 3 tenths of a second. Darryn managed to dive his way past Neil with a well calculated pass on entry to Potters at 220Km/h, only after the pair nearly managed to spoil things with Darryn running into the back of Neil entering the stadium one lap earlier. Darryn's slightly quicker pace allowed him to win by just on 1 second. The pair were chased for the entire race distance by Donavan Roscoe (STANLEY TOOLS) , who crossed the line 7th after the first lap and Shelby Can-Am veteran Rui Campos (Hugo BOSS) . Racing was intense as the four drivers' race pace only fluctuated by a few hundredths of a second, until Donavan Roscoe stamped his intensions for heat two with a flying final lap which was nearly a full second quicker than Darryn's best. "I don't know where he found so much time." - Darryn Lobb said after his first heat victory. "I am pushing as hard as I can and I can't figure out where he is getting his pace. Hopefully I can keep him behind me for heat two. I knew I was quicker than my old man, because I had to feather the throttle behind him going into Potter's Pass. It was only a matter of time before I passed him for the win."
 
Behind the top four Jean-Paul Bredenhann (Big Foot), Karl Zachau (Driveline) and Sam Hammond (San Marco) were doing battle for the last of the top seven places and finished in that order. Sean Greve, Brian Algar and Harry Roscoe (Protea Playing Cards) rounded out the top ten.
 
Heat two was for the second time this year combined with the Unlimited Porsche category for double the field and again provided for one of the best sports car races seen in recent years. Spectators were on their toes for the entire 14 laps to see whether the Shelby Can-Ams were up to the task of beating the Porsches and whether Donavan Roscoe was up to the task of spoiling the Lobb's perfect weekend.
 
By the time the chequered flag dropped, the results showed that the Shelbys were quicker than their track sharing adversaries as The top nine positions were filled by Hollard Shelby Can-Am cars. However, Donavan Roscoe was again unable to get the better of the Lobb's family force. 
 
Roscoe managed to spoil things temporarily as he passed both Lobb's off the start. This was however short lived, as he was passed by Darryn a couple corners later. Lobb snr and Roscoe then entered into a titanic struggle swapping positions several times before Roscoe spun his chances away dropping himself down the order. 
 
The 2 Lobb's went on to entertain the crowd in the closing laps, swapping positions no less than 4 times in the last 2 laps despite both Revolution Racing cars suffering from broken exhaust manifolds. This was not enough to stop Darryn leading Neil and the rest of the field home.
 
Once more, Donavan closed out the third step of the podium. Roscoe , after his spin, pushed hard to catch Campos and the 2 drivers joined added to the entertainment by swapping paint and positions several times, but Donavan's flat out pace proved too much for the long time Shelby Can-Am racer in the end.
 
The top five positions for heat two remained unchanged, but Brian Algar managed his best performance of the season with a sixth in race two. Colin Frost, Alan Eve and Trevor Frost all found themselves within the top ten this time around while Sam Hammond was forced out of the tenth overall spot by a
Porsche competitor and finished eleventh!
 
Roscoe, Campos and the rest of the Hollard Shelby Can-Am field will have to wait till 30 June for round four of the Pro Tour Series at Zwartkops Raceway to try and stop the Lobb duo's onslaught.
 

Herewith points status for Shelby Can-Am after East London 19.05.07 (first six places)

 

Posn    Name                           points

1.         Neil Lobb                        103

2.         Darryn Lobb                     94

3.         Donavan Roscoe              93

4.         Rui Campos                     92

5.         J-P Bredenhann                78

6.         Alan Eve                          65

ENDS

For more information on the Hollard Shelby Can-Am Series visit our website: www.shelbycanam.co.za or contact Jannet Wood 082 490 7314