Brian Algar has been threatening to win a Shelby Can Am race for ages, but somehow it has never come together … until round 6 at Zwartkops on Saturday. 

Driving the Thuthuka Welding liveried car, he made his intentions known on Friday when he set the fastest lap in qualifying to line-up at the head of the field for the opening race. Former champion Rui Campos was a tad slower in the Hugo Boss example while Guy Botterill (Yato Tools/Bigfoot Exress) and Alan Eve (Phakisa) occupied row two ahead of Welkom winner Thomas Reib (Jägermeister) and returnee George Ferreira (GF Plastics). 

Algar judged the rolling start to perfection and led the field through the first turn ahead of Campos and Botterill. By the end of the lap he’d opened up a bit of a gap as Botterill was all over the back of Campos. It took a few laps before Botterill found a way past, but by then Algar had built up a handy lead which he maintained as he took a well managed win with Botterill half a second down the road. 

Campos was not far behind in third, but was well clear of Eve and Bertil Hoffman (GP Energy Drink) as Reib rounded off the top six ahead of Hanno Pengilly (Azura Retreats) who missed qualifying due to business commitments and had started from the back of the grid. 

Race two, with the top eight drivers starting in reverse order according to fastest laps, was action packed throughout.  

From a front row starting berth, Ferreira put in a strong performance and thanks to consistent lap times he went on to win by almost five seconds.

The hopes of Eve and Botterill came to an end when Botterill spun at the pit corner and he was hit by Eve and although there was quite a bit of body damage to each, both were able to carry on. Hoffman kept his nose clean to take second place, matching his best finish to date, as Botteril was a well deserved, and relieved, third. 

Pengilly’s fine performance came to an end when he was tagged by Campos coming onto the pit straight as they came to start their last lap. Pengilly retired while Campos went on to take fourth a few car lengths clear of Algar. “Campos was frustrated because I was faster than him and then misjudged his braking,” remarked Pengilly afterwards. Pengilly’s demise allowed Greg Walker (Indy Oil) to take sixth ahead of Eve. 

The next round is at Phakisa in October which means teams have a bit of a breather before the actions starts again. 

Results:

5	ED	Algar, B	1	198
2	ED	Campos, R	2	197
1	ED	Lobb, D #99	3	196
59	ED	Botterill, G	4	195
3	ED	Eve, A	5	189
7	ED	Hoffman, B	6	169