Guy Botterill had an amazing comeback to Shelby Can-Am racing at the opening round of the 2010 season at East London on Saturday. 

Driving the Yato Tools/Bigfoot Express backed car that was raced by Sun Moodley last season, the Durban youngster was fastest in qualifying to line-up ahead of veteran Alan Eve in the Phakisa example. 

Row two was occupied by 2008 champion Rui Campos (Hugo Boss) as reigning champion Darryn Lobb (NJOY) was fourth. Rounding off the top six were Sean Greve (Vulcania Reinforcing) and Brian Algar (Etana/Thuthuka). 

The first race saw Botterill drive an impeccable race as he led from start to finish with Campos coming on strong during the middle of the race to finish less than a second behind. Eve retired on lap two and it was Lobb who claimed third with Algar keeping him honest as Greve kept them in sight as he came through to take fifth.  

Completing the top six was Durban’s Andrew Strike (Strike 1 Racing) who was delighted with his best result since he started racing last year. 

A first lap skirmish at Beacon hairpin saw Bertil Hoffman (GP Energy Drink) lose a large portion of his nose against the rear of Hanno Pengilly (Azura Retreats), although that wasn’t the end of Hoffman’s woes. With almost half his nose missing, he was then excluded for being underweight!   

The grid for the second race is the top eight fastest laps in the first race, but inverted so the slowest of the eight drivers starts at the front of the field.  

Occupying the front row for race two were Strike and Pengilly and they got away well to hold on to the front as they barrelled through Potters and then Rifle. Pengilly had his hopes dashed when the battery exploded on the opening lap. “I think I could have won that,” lamented Pengilly who had travelled from England for the race. Botterill also had a short race as he retired on lap three with a throttle bottle problem. 

A brilliant opening lap charge saw Lobb in second place at the end of the lap but he only managed pass Strike for the lead two laps from the end, but Strike kept him in sight and was half a second behind when they crossed the line. After a good battle with Lobb and Campos during the middle part of the race, Greve came home third.  

Another steady drive from Algar resulted in fourth place and he crossed the line with Eve tucked under his rear wing. Campos dropped out of contention after losing some bodywork on the penultimate but he held on to sixth. 

Round two of South Africa’s popular Sports Car championship takes place at Zwartkops on 20^th March.