The Regional Extreme Festival presented by Coca-Cola quite literally raced into the dark when the 111 Sports and Saloon Car ATS 200 ended a splendid program of racing that commenced far earlier in the day. The Dunlop V8 Supercars, BMW M Performance Parts Racing Series, ATE Volkswagen Challenge, DOE CIM Lubricants Formula Vee and Liqui Moly Super Vee all contributed to a splendid day’s racing that kept an interested crowd on the edge of its seats.
Veteran Ben Morgenrood put his Class X Ford Mustang on pole position before storming to the opening Dunlop V8 Supercar race win. Back on form, Terry Wilford’s similar GT1 car was second from Thomas Reib’s Lumina and Franco di Matteo’s Jaguar XK8, while Corvette duo Auke Compaan took GT2 honours from Steve Herbst. It was all change in reverse grid race 2 where Warren Lombard’s Mustang kept Reib, di Matteo, and Richard Fuller’s Falcon at bay, Morgenrood won GTX and Compaan took GT2 again from Herbst.
Rick Loureiro held Leon Loubser and Fabio Fedetto off to win the opening BMW M Performance Parts Class A, B and C race. Lorenzo Gualtieri took Class B from Renier Smith and Nek Makris, while Salvi Gualtieri took Class C from Nishal Singh and Oz Biagioni. Loureiro then took race 2 overall from Loubser and Lourenzo Gualtieri, Salvi Gualtieri beat Smith and Anton Pommersheim in B and Nick Naidoo won C from Salvi Gualtieri and Lenard Archer.
Racing on their own, Mario Hattingh beat Andre Scheepers and Richard Gerntholtz to win Class D in the opening BMW M Performance Parts Class D, E and F race. Wessel Mostert took Class E from Claudio Jardim and Karabo Malemela, and Chloe Stuart won F from Shaun Dodd and Kyan Boodaya. Dawie Olivier led race 2 from start to finish ahead of Scheepers and Bernard de Gouveia, where Tihan van Rooyen took Class E from Mostert and Malemela, and Stuart Class F from Dodd and Zaheer Seedat.
Young gun Jayden Goosen had to fight back to win both ATE Volkswagen Challenge races after Ian Walker got the jump each time. Former C champion Walker ended second from lady racer Elna Croeser each time. Stuart Mack meantime continues unbeaten in Class B where he beat Francis Aldrich each time while veteran Chris Davison and rookie debutant Josh Moore shared the third places. Championship leader Adriaan de Beer took the opening class C heat from Stuart Koenig and Bryce Pillay before Pillay turned the tables on de Beer and Koenig in race 2.
Champion Lendl Jansen narrowly defeated Vaughn Hills, MD Bester, and Gert van den Berg in a thrilling opening DOE CIM Lubricants Formula Vee race. Johan Gouws ended fourth from Peter Hills, Theodore Vermaak and Brandon Hills. Jansen went on to win the second race red flagged to clean up, after James Carter walked away from a frightening crash. Bester was second from Hills, Vermaak, van den Berg, Peter Hill, Shaun van der Linde and Johan Gouws.
Formula Vee may be racing its sixtieth season, but Liqui Moly Super Vee is all new and put up an impressive show on its first outing. Jeanre le Roux held Luchen Ramchander, Earl Swart and Phillip Bellingen off to take the opening heat with Fabienne Lanz, Kosie van der Merwe and Grant Will in chase. Fast lady Lanz then turned race 2 on its head to win from le Roux, Bellingen, and Will with Toni van Benoni, Albertyn Pienaar, Blane de Meilon and van der Merwe in pursuit.
George Economides powered his GT class Golf turbo to the eight-lap 111 Sports and Saloon Car sprint race win over Mark du Toit’s BMW Z4, the Car Care Clinic Volkswagen of Wouter Roos’ Golf GTI and Wayne Robb’s Focus ST. The second 111 race was the 84-lap ATS 200 which raced into the night highlighted by a compulsory pit stop to see Louis Scholtz emerge victorious in his Class B Honda Ballade. A winner Robb, Roos, and Peet Visagie in the GTI, Johan Labuschagne’s Class X Subaru followed from Rob Clarke and Mike O’Sullivan’s Class C Ballade, while Keithin Meintjies and Desmond Bloem took Superhatch honours.
The next Extreme Festival presented by Coca-Cola is the midseason National at midwinter Zwartkops on the shortest day of the year, Saturday 21 June. These Regional classes return to action a week later at Red Star Raceway near Delmas on Saturday 28 June.
