Splash for racers

Splash for racers

Perfect weather, awesome stages and great rallying made the CPMCC Porterville Rally one to remember! If only for the fact that CPMCC President, Robert Marle, had celebrated his birthday leading into the event.
In fact, somehow doubt whether Owen Jones and Aden Bredenkamp will ever consider another event better as the young combination stepped up to the top of the podium on debut in their 454 CPMCC S4 Subaru Impreza WRX STi 4×4 Turbo 2.0.
They could not have picked a better event on which to shine as Maj Pule Maloka, No 2 of the SAAF Silver Falcons Team 84, opened proceedings with an impressive solo aerial display in a Pilatus PC7 MkII from Central Flying School Langebaanweg. When the Starting Order appeared the 19 strong entry had shrunk to 17 teams but they had veteran (retired) controls Lance and Rosemary Maytham releasing them from the Porterville showgrounds.
Unexpectedly the very first retirement from the event was pre-event favourites for overall victory, Llewellyn Jones and Christophé Pichon, in their CEJ Plant Hire 434 CPMCC S5 Subaru Imprza WRX STi 4×4 Turbo 2.0 when the clutch cried enough shortly after leaving the start control on Special Stage 1.
No problem as Shaun Jones and Jason Thorpe upheld family honours by leading the event in their Advanced Asphalting 424 CPMCC S5 Subaru Impreza 4×4 Turbo 2.0 with John and Weston Peiser in hot pursuit in their Speed Pro Cycling 425 CPMCC S5 Subaru Impreza GT 4×4 Turbo 2.0. Special stage one was all about commitment and the challenging 17.39km Heuningberg route certainly set the scene for a magic duel at the front of the field as just two seconds separated the Scoobies.
Paul-Hendrik Franken and Lloyd Brady an impressive third in the Franken Motorsport 125 CPMCC S5 Volkswagen Polo Vivo GT 1.0 Turbo with Seraaj and Ziyaad Amlay making their intentions clear with fourth fastest time in the Ramlay Builders 457 CCMCC S3 Volkswagen Golf MkIII GTi 2.0 8v. Keenan Sassman and Ian Thebus fifth fastest in the returning Howard Centre Motors 413 CCMCC S4 Toyota Corolla RXi 1.8i with Owen Jones and Aden Bredenkamp sixth quickest on the opening stage.
Erin Joshua and Ibraheem Amlay sadly also had to retire the “new” 462 CCMCC S3 Toyota Tazz 1.6i on the opening stage when all four bolts sheared off the reight front hub. Fortunately no serious damage but their day was done.
Middelpos presented the remaining fifteen teams with another challenging 15km of sweeping, fast and flowing instructions and thankfully all managed to complete the stage. Rupert and Pieter van Zyl however decided to park their Hollandse Motor Specialist 405 CPMCC S3 Volkwagen Polo 2.0 8v for some 25 min whilst trying to coax the fuel pump into action again.
John and Weston Peiser took the fight to their opponents by winning the stage by three seconds, moving into the overall lead by one with Keenan Sassman and Ian Thebus slotting the S4 Corolla into third overall.
A brief visit to the service park at Porterville showgrounds had team heading back to Heuningberg where Shaun clawed back seven seconds form John Peiser with Owen Jones slipping into third overall. The “Four Cousins” Seraaj and Amlay and Riyaan and Yaseen Amlay disputing fourth spot with Winston Neethling and Lyle Marais creeping closer in the sweet sounding Howard Centre Motors 428 CCMCC S5 Nissan Sentra 2.0 4×4. Winston endured failing wipers and a spin on stage one and from SS2 there was intermittend drive to the front wheels but SS3 really got his attention when the brake pedal hit the floor. Going into the second half of the event the car only had rear wheel drive.
Well, it simply had to be special stage 4 that shook up the field. Owen Jones gave his dad, Shaun, a serious wake-up call by winning the stage by six seconds whilst John and Weston Peiser extinguished an oil fire under the bonnet of their Scoobie. Seraaj amazed by still heading Riyaan in the Four Cousins Challenge but Winston was coming closer with the acciDent Guru 469 CPMCC S3 Volkswagen Golf MkI 2.0 8v of Paul van Wyk and Tania Vermaak also starting to find good rhythm.
Sakkie van Zyl and Henry Köhne retired for a second successive event when their rapid Shatterfix 477 CPMCC S2 Volkswagen Golf MkI 1.6i ran out of rear shockabsorber oil whilst the rapid Corolla of Keenand Sassman and Ian Thebus sheared the driveshaft bolts. Kevin Calvert and Brian Hoskins also forced to retire their KC Transport 436 WPMC S3 Volkswagen Golf MkI after the freshly installed 2.0 8v engine set all it’s horsepower free.
Patrick Vermaak
083 701 8116

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