The Southern African National Endurance Series connected by Vodacom 4U delivered seven action-packed two and four-wheel races for the large crowd in attendance at the Aldo Scribante Raceway in Gqeberha on Saturday.
In another first for SAES, the opening SA GT Cup – Sports and GT race was held after sunset marking the first night race for the category.
GT Cup SA – Sports and GT:
Damian Hammond won all three races in his Liqui Moly/Samlin Racing Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo, but he had to sweat for his final victory as Charl Arangies hounded him – and took the lead several times – before the Raging Bull could emerge victorious.
Qualifying saw Hammond take pole position by 0.394 seconds from Andrew Horne’s Xena Chemicals Ligier-Honda JS49, comfortably faster than Roy Obery’s Haval Edenvale Porsche 991.2 MR who in turn was 0.7 seconds ahead of Nicky Dicks’ Curvent Porsche GT3 Cup.
Mo Mia was 0.02 behind Dicks and quarter of a second ahead of Arangies in his Porsche 997 Gen 2 Cup car. Sun Moodley, Jay Jay Deysel and Andre van Vuuren completed the grid.
The first race on Friday evening started at 18h30, giving the drivers a new challenge to face as darkness descended over the circuit.
While Hammond streaked off into the distance, Arangies made short work of carving his way through the pack into second place. Behind him, there was a Porsche ‘war’ as Dicks, Mia, Obery and the interloper Andrew Horne fought for position.
Marius Jackson, started from the back of the grid in his MJR Motorsport Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo, but worked his way up to third, before pitting after his car cut out and he smelt ‘burning’. It was later discovered that a loose battery had caused a short circuit.
On track, Mia and Horne had a fabulous fight and such was their pace that they caught up to Dicks. On the penultimate lap, Mia went into the hairpin too hot and spun Dicks around which brought out the red flag as Dicks’ car was beached in the gravel trap and on the racing line. Obery was classified sixth after an off on the first lap.
The second race on Saturday morning saw Hammond streak into the lead once more, never looking back as he crossed the line 29.7 seconds ahead of Arangies who had a decent gap to Dicks.
Horne was embroiled in a huge battle with Obery, separated by 0.2 seconds as they crossed the line for fourth and fifth respectively. Mia was in the thick of the fight but spun on lap seven and dropped to sixth which became seventh at flag fall after Horne made a brilliant overtaking move. Deysel and Moodley rounded out the finishers.
Hammond had to dig deep to win his third race of the weekend. Arangies got the jump on the Lamborghini driver, who was 0.177 seconds back on lap two. On lap five, Hammond and Arangies went through the final turn side-by-side with Arangies passing Hammond for the lead down the main straight.
Two laps later Hammond turned the tables into turn one with Arangies fighting back to again take the lead on lap 11. Once Hammond got ahead for the last time, he opened a 3.4 second gap to the chasing Stradale driver as they crossed the line.
Behind the tense fight for the overall win, Andrew Horne came home third after passing Mia on lap nine while Dicks spun down to eighth on lap 12. Obery ended fourth with Mia, JJ Deysel, Moodley, Dicks and Van Vuuren following them home.
MRSSA Motorbikes:
The big guns in the Senior SBK class include the 1000 and 600 cc SBK machines as well as the Battle of the Twins (BOTTS) and Masters classes, making for a busy track when qualifying got underway.
The reigning MRSSA Champion Adolf Boshoff took pole on his Honda CBR 1000 with Dino Iozzo snapping at his heels aboard his rapid Yamaha YZF-R1M, 0.153 seconds away and comfortably clear of the Honda mounted Tristan Pienaar. Damion Purificati upheld BMW honour with the fourth fastest time a couple of tenths further back.
Ora Phiri led the 600cc pack from Ryan van Nieuwkerk, both on Yamaha YZF-R6 bikes. Jaco Gous was the quickest Master rider while Leon Horn led the way in the BOTTS class.
In the opening race, Boshoff ran Iozzo close in the opening laps, but Iozzo had the measure of the champion and created some breathing space over the remaining laps, crossing the line with 17 seconds in hand. Purificati had a closely fought race with Pienaar, taking the final podium after a surgical pass making their way through the back markers.
Ora Phiri made no mistake in furthering his burgeoning reputation when he streaked into the 600cc lead and never looked back, building a comfortable 7.5 second lead over Taigh van Rensburg. Troy Tonking occupied the last step of the rostrum.
Jaco Gous powered his Suzuki GSX-R to the Masters win ahead of Ryan Futter who went onto the grass while being lapped by the race leader.
Leon Horn took the first BOTTS race from Alan Hulscher with Mick Landi in third, all racing Ducati’s Panigale V4R machines.
The second race saw Iozzo take the lead but with Boshoff much closer to him and trying every trick to get ahead as they swept through the Esses. Boshoff either made contact with Iozzo or put a wheel on the grass but the result saw the #1 Honda cartwheeling through the air and out of the race while Iozzo lost positions in the skirmish. As the field stormed out of the final corner, Ryan Van Nieuwkerk and Iozzo collided with both bikes and riders skidding across the track without injury.
Van Nieuwkerk’s bike caught fire, and the race was red flagged. Iozzo was able to rejoin the grid and went on to win the race! Purificati went one better with second overall and Phiri taking a superb third overall and the 600cc win. Gous again took the Masters win with Horn taking the BOTTs class.
The first race for Open and Unlimited bikes went to Johan Le Roux on his Kawasaki ZX10-R. 18.5 seconds further back, Mark Gaines had Jacobus Visser close behind, the pair one second apart after the shortened race after Malcolm Govender crashed on the first lap.
In the second race, Cristian Caravello got a narrow win having been 11th in the first race. Caravello, riding a BMW M 1000RR, fought hard to keep James Barson behind him, crossing the line 0.7 seconds apart with Dave Veringa close behind in third.
Gaines took the overall Open Superbike class for the day from Darius Botha and Yaghya Sahabodien with Johan le Roux topping the day’s Unlimited 1000cc class from Jacobus Visser and Caravello.
The Junior SBK class saw Tristin Pienaar take a comfortable victory aboard his Suzuki GSX-RR, 8.7 seconds ahead of Jamie Hall and Fergal McAdam who pipped Wessel Kruger by 0.4 seconds.
The second Junior race was another Pienaar benefit, with eight seconds in hand over his nemesis Hall. Kruger put one over on McAdam, taking third by 0.8 seconds in the close battle of the race.
The next round of the GT Cup SA, Sports and GT and MRSSA Motorcycles takes place at Killarney Raceway in Cape Town on 6th June.
