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| Alan North, seen here topping the podium after the Italian 350 cc GP at Monza in 1977, will be dicing again at Dezzi’s . |
RACING fans are in for a treat this weekend, be it on tar or off-road.
Inland at the Harrismith 400, Maritzburg-based Neil Woolridge Motorsport again take on the might of Toyota Gazoo Racing in the fifth and penultimate round of the 2018 South African Cross Country Series (SACCS).
Close racing at Oslo Beach
And at Oslo Beach on the South Coast, racing will be tight as KZN’s amateur race drivers and riders
duel it out on what some say is the world’s most scenic track — Dezzi Raceway.
duel it out on what some say is the world’s most scenic track — Dezzi Raceway.
No one should be fooled by the amateur status of KZN Road Racing Club members.
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| Selfie time in Spain with Jesse Boshof. |
They have lots of experience and prodigious levels of talent, like Alan North, who won the Italian 350 cc GP at Monza in 1977; or Jesse Boshof, who was invited to race in Spain in the CEV STK600 round at Valencia in September, or Durban’s faster bikers, father and son Sanjiv and Lee Singh.
Sanjiv leads the Masters and the fans gave 10-year-old Lee a standing ovation when he set the fastest lap and won a titanic battle in the CBR 150 class last month. (They start ’em young at sea level.)
Fords vs Toyotas
The off road racing in the Free State starts tomorrow untill Saturday, and with only two more races to score points, this is a make or break weekend for the production vehicle category.
Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Giniel de Villiers and navigator Dennis Murphy lead this section, but after not finishing the Atlas Copco 400 in Bronkhorstspruit they will be under pressure to bring their Hilux to the pit crew in one piece on both days of racing.
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| Lance Woolridge and Ward Huxtable. |
KZN Midlanders will, however, be looking at the Class T racing, where only four points separate the Ford Ranger of Lance Woolridge/Ward Huxtable from the Toyota Hilux of brothers Johan and Werner Horn from Malalane.
Neil Woolridge’s team has fitted a new five-litre Mustang V8 engine to the Ranger bakkie, and barring punctures, the pony car’s power plant should be ebnough to stay ahead of the “Malle-nanes”.
Neil Woolridge will be hoping for a repeat of last year, when Gareth Woolridge and navigator Boyd Dreyer won the Harrismith 440, followed by Woolridge/and Huxtable.
Gareth is in peak form for just such an outcome, having won the T1-Brazil Class on his international racing debut when he competed in the eight-day long Rally dos Sertões over 3 600 kilometres in Brazil last month.
The Atlas Copco Toyota Hilux team of Gary Bertholdt/Geoff Minnitt is also chasing another podium after winning the Atlas Copco 400.
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| Barry White (the racing one) and Henk Lategan. |
Also in the mix are Toyota Gazoo’s young racer Henk Lategan with veteran navigator Barry White. The very talented Lategan would like nothing more than scoring a second overall win.
Logistics
The Harrismith 400 car and bike racers will qualify for starting positions in a 40 km from 1 pm tomorrow, followed by the race proper from 8 am on Saturday over a 170 kilometre route that will be run twice, with a compulsory 30 minute service halt after the first lap at the Eeram Farmers Complex.
• Follow the Harrismith 400 action on the RallySafe App, free for iOS and Android.
