As the Shelby Can Am sports car series heads to Welkom’s former MotoGP circuit of Phakisa for round four of the championship, 2007 champion Darryn Lobb holds a formidable lead. 

Driving the DAW prepared DK Woodcraft car, the 27-year old has proved remarkably consistent having taken five wins from six starts so far this season to build up a comfortable 52 point lead. 

“To be fair, the others, people like Rui (Campos) have had their share of bad luck which has helped me,” said Lobb whose father Neil won the title in 2005. 

Lobb enjoys the fast sweeps of Phakisa, “It’s awesome to do some real slipstreaming. Another chance to stretch the cars to over 200k's an hour and because there’s some long braking zones into slow corners there’s plenty of opportunity for overtaking which makes for good racing.”  

There’s a huge battle for second going on behind Lobb. Brian Algar in the Thuthuka Welding example is only three points clear of Thomas Reib (Coolstar Beverages) who is having a season to remember. He won at Zwartkops, the only race that Lobb hasn’t won this year, and he is eager to taste victory again.  

A driver eager to get his title challenge back on track is reigning champion Rui Campos (Hugo Boss) who is only a solitary point behind Reib. He was able to keep Lobb honest at the opening round in Cape Town. However, with 20 points available for each race as well as a point for fastest lap and another for pole position, there is still a chance. In the opening race at Kyalami last month he suffered a massive crash when he smote the wall head on at the Esses after being caught out by oil on track. He evidently spoke with a high-pitched voice and had tears in his eyes when medics went to his aid. 

After scoring two second places at Kyalami, Durban’s rapid JP Bredenhann (Bigfoot Express/Panel Rite) holds fifth place, but could well be higher up the order if he had not lost his points from Zwartkops due to a technical infringement.  

Within striking distance of the big battle are veteran racer Alan Eve (Phakisa) and Sean Greve (Vulcania Reinforcing) who are tied on 58 points. Eve was another driver whose race at Kyalami ended against the wall, but, like he says, “Darryn Lobb helped a bit in that.” Greve’s title hopes took a dive when he missed the Zwartkops round due to business commitments. 

Despite running on less than a shoestring budget, Cape Town based Dutch racer Bertil Hofmann (GP Energy Drink) is another driver who has shown a good turn of speed this year. Durban’s newcomer Andrew Strike (Strike 1 Racing) is another driver who has set tongues wagging with his steady, call it sensible approach to racing. He’s quickly learned that consistency is vital. 

Hovering just outside the top six is died in the wool sportscar enthusiast Colin Frost (Strocam). A gearbox failure robbed him of a good result at Kyalami, but small things like that don’t dent his enthusiasm for racing.  

Greg Walker (Bizfone) from Cape Town has had a stunning start to his national championship motorsport campaign and not only is he leading the unofficial Shelby Masters Championship, but lies a very useful 10th in the official championship race.  

Vastly experienced Dave Beattie (Dura) was another driver in the wars at Kyalami when he suffered an enormous accident in the second race. That race coupled to a disaster at Zwartkops, where he retired after being an innocent victim of someone else’s crash, has left him languishing down in 13^th place. 

Sun Moodley (Bigfoot Express) has had an encouraging start to his year and improves with every outing. Hanno Pangilly (Azura Retreats) has also shown a good turn of speed this year although a retirement in Cape Town cost him dearly and then he missed Kyalami after breaking a bone in his foot. 

Richard Wood, an inventor of all sorts of weird and wonderful things, and former off road racing hero Harry Roscoe (Protea Playing Cards) are stalwarts of the sports car racing scene who enjoy a good battle. 

Cars competing in the Shelby Can-Am championship are all identical specification, even down to the16-inch Goodyear racing slicks and 3-piece aluminium competition wheel rims. 

Tipping the scales at 925 kg with the driver strapped in, the cars are powered by Nissan’s much loved 3.5 litre double overhead cam V6 engine which has been tuned to develop a reliable 225 kW (300hp). Reliability is aided by the fitment of a dry-sump lubrication system which prevents oil surge caused by the high centrifugal forces created by the high levels of grip these cars have in corners. Power is delivered via a specially made robust 4-speed gearbox.