WESBANK SUPER SERIES ROUND 2
16 March 2013 | Photos: RaceMasteR J & Chevan Davids | Story: MSA | Location: Killarney Race Track, Cape Town.

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Thrills and spills characterised a magnificent day’s racing under sunny skies at Killarney, Cape Town for round two of the Super Series national championship roadshow.

Local hero Johan Fourie (Afrox BMW) claimed the first win of the Bridgestone Production Car event as he came home one and a half seconds ahead of teammate Etienne van der Linde. Third, and glued to the BMW’s exhaust, was Melvill Priest in the Meuller Sport Audi RS4.

Class T produced a thriller as first Gary Formato led in the Castrol Ford Focus ST but a tyre problem handed the lead to Michael van Rooyen (Williams Hunt Chevrolet Cruze). Graeme Nathan (Indy Oil VW Golf GTI) tried hard but couldn’t find a way past the Chev and settled for second ahead of Shaun Duminy in the other Castrol Ford.

In race two there was no stopping Sasol Subaru’s Hennie Groenewald who benefited from the reverse grid to come home comfortably clear of Tschops Sipuka in the Engen Xtreme Audi RS4. Gennaro Bonafede was third in the Ferodo backed Audi, but a penalty for passing under a yellow flag moved Priest into the position.

Formato had no problems and took the class T victory with a three second cushion over Nathan who was well clear of Gavin Cronje in the Castrol MINI.

Thanks to setting fastest lap in the previous race, Bonafede started race three from pole and held on to win a thrilling cat and mouse contest from Engen Xtreme Audi’s Michael Stephen by 3/10ths of a second. Third, glued to Stephen’s bumper was Sipuka. Fourie’s hopes were dashed by mechanical problem on the opening lap.

After a start line crash sidelined van Rooyen and Formato, the class T honours went to Cronje with Jacques Joubert (Indy Oil Golf) and the Ford of Duminy following.

The SA Sports and GT event also had fans on their toes as Ben Morgenrood took the first win the Indy Oil Ford Mustang. In his turbulence were father and son Larry (Fuchs Chev Corvette) and Terry Wilford (Fuchs Ford Mustang) as the trio flashed across the line blanketed by just over a second.


Onboard race telemetry. Gotta love it!

Darryn Lobb (Hollard Shelby CanAm) scalped the sports car pack as he was fourth overall and well clear of Alan Eve (Pilot) and local ace Ferdi van Niekerk (Motorola Cordless Phones).

There was drama in the second race as a turn two opening lap accident accounted for the Shelbys of Doug Macdonald and Alister Brown and the Chev Corvette V8 of Jody van Zummeren.

Terry Wilford never put a foot wrong as he won ahead of Lobb and Larry Wilford. On the penultimate lap Morgenrood’s car shed its nose section in front of the pits after a clash with Larry Wilford after the pair had been fighting hard all race long. As the Ford crossed the line a lap later it shed more bodywork when a tyre let go, yet he was still fourth, less than a car length behind Terry Wilford.

A healthy 26 car field took the start of the Engen Volkswagen Cup and it was local hero Kosie Weyers (Engen Primax) who trounced the field as he took a satisfying double win.

In the first race he was pushed hard by Durban’s Shaun la Reservee (Alpine Motors) as Tasmin Pepper (PG Glass) survived an incident with Bryan Morgan (GreatSoft) to take third.

In the second race a first corner accident claimed Pepper and it was former champion Mathew Hodges (ITR) who won the battle for second place as he was a car length clear of Trevor Bland in the surviving PG Glass entry.


As always the two wheel brigade produced a spectacle and Clint Seller (Race Kawasaki) won the opening Superbike race after great tussle with fellow Kawasaki rider Nicholas Grobler. Keeping them honest was BMW mounted Chris Leeson with teammate Ryan Ottens in fourth.

Race two was controversial but results stood and it was Grobler who scored his maiden win. Seller was runner-up with first race crasher Aran van Niekerk making it a Kawasaki 1-2-3.

Veteran former World Superbike racer Lance Isaacs and rising star Cam Petersen shared the 600cc Supersport wins. Kawasaki mounted Isaacs blitzed the field in race one as Petersen and MV Augusta teammate Brent Harran duked it out for second with Petersen getting the nod by 2/10ths.

Race two saw Petersen win narrowly from Isaacs after Harran crashed spectacularly at Cape Town corner a lap from home.

The SA Single Seaters provided the fastest race of the day and there was no stopping Robert Wolk (Midas) as he took both Formula Volkswagen wins ahead of Nicholas van Weely (Anglorand). David Perel (Edenvale VW) produced a stunning performance to take third in the opening race considering it was his first race in two years.

The Formula 1600 class saw a three-way for the lead and the win went the way of Jason Campos (Etana Mygale) who held off brother Keegan and James Temple.


Race two saw Wolk and van Weely at the front and this time it was Werner Scholtz (Investchem) who took third.
Jason led Keegan home in race two with Temple making it the same order as the earlier race.

The invitational support race of GTi Challenge was battlefield as per normal with the likes of Zubair Sonday and Andries Eeden fighting for the lead in Class A while Class B battles saw fights between Polo Cup Racer Andrea Bate and Zaki Hendricks.

The field was concluded with Class C from regulars like Paul Simon to new comer Taariq "Shift" Samodien.


Other attractions through the day were stunt bike riding and the sight of the Engen Primax television ad star, the half race/road car. It was truly amazing to see a big V8 lump in the front and watching this Frankenstein monster snake off the line was a spectacle none the less. Yes, it's rear wheel drive!

A day full of action packed bumper to bumper hard as nails racing! What more could one ask for?! Be sure to catch the next Wesbank Super Series round at Killarney on the 5th of October. Dont miss out!