Round 5- Zwartkops – 26 June
- 27 June 2010
 

A drama filled Shelby Can-Am event at Zwartkops has set the scene for a nail biting championship. 

Qualifying saw reigning champion Darryn Lobb on pole in the Vulcania Reinforcing car with a scintillating lap of 1 min 01.677 sec as championship leader Rui Campos (Hugo Boss) lined up alongside. Brian Algar slotted the Etana Insurance car into third, a tad faster than championship contender Guy Botterill in the Yato Tools/Bigfoot Express example as Bertill Hoffman (GP Energy Drink) and Alan Eve (Phakisa) completed the top six. 

Race one saw Lobb get the jump on the field and lead until the flag fell as he won with just over a second although Campos kept him honest throughout. Keeping to the qualifying order, Algar held off Botterill by a nose to take third.  

A first lap bout of argy-bargy at the top of the hill saw Hoffman lose ground and it was the experienced Eve who took fifth. Thomas Reib (Jägermeister) put in a good drive to claim sixth just ahead of the ‘un-retired’ George Ferreira (GF Plastics) who will no doubt he’ll be a threat before the season is over. 

With a partially inverted grid based on lap times in the first heat, the second race was run over 15-laps, but there was early drama. A lap three melee at the top of the hill saw no fewer than five cars beached in the gravel trap, but only Campos retired. Botterill, Reib, Algar, and Hoffman were delayed by various amounts, with the latter two suffering most.  

There was more drama once the dust had settled. On lap nine Eve came across Doug MacDonald (Fantastic Racing) as they headed towards turn four. Eve moved to pass, but there was a misunderstanding with MacDonald and in an instant Eve spun heavily into the tyre protected barrier at almost unabated speed. He was fortunate to walk away unaided, which again proved how well the Carroll Shelby designed sports cars are. 

The safety car was deployed while the wreckage was cleared and racing resumed a couple of laps later. Lobb then cruised to a relatively easy win with Hanno Pengilly (Azura Retreats) putting in a good drive to claim second ahead of MacDonald who scored his best finish to date. 

Ferreira bagged fourth, but only just as Andrew Strike (Strike 1) was a mere 1/10^th of a second adrift as they flashed across the line. Sixth went to Greg Walker in the Indy Oil version with a three second advantage over Botterill. Next home was Reib with Ferdi van Niekerk (Duo Modems) and Algar completing the top ten. 

Shelby Can Am travels to Kyalami at the end of July where the delicately poised championship will be a step closer to being decided.