Two third places behind Gerhard Henning (www.allmotospares.co.za VW Polo) and Wayne Crous (Ancro Building Projects VW Polo) at the final round of the 2018 Car Care Clinic 111 Sports & Saloons championship at Zwartkops Raceway were enough to secure the 2018 overall and Class A titles for George Bezuidenhout (Accolade / CES Forklift Nissan Primera). Two second places in Class D gave Craig Botha (Moto West Car Sales VW Golf) second place in the overall standings after a countback of wins with Almero van Eck (Monster VW Polo) after the pair ended the season equal on points.
Danie Deysel (Solly’s Tyres & Mags Honda Civic), who headed into the final round tied on points with van Eck, could only muster two fourth places on the day and thus ended fourth in the overall standings. Wouter Roos looked to be on for a great points-haul at Zwartkops after putting his Nathan’s Motorsport VW Golf on the front row of the grid for the first race, but an electronic fault on the way to the start ended any chance of him adding to his points haul and left him in fifth place.
Wins at Dezzi Raceway and in the Phakisa 200 helped Phillip Meyer (LSC Group Porsche 924) to sixth in the overall standings ahead of Mark Harvey (Adapt Design & Sign Porsche 924) and Mario Hattingh (JRT Racing VW Golf) with Veritie-Anne Joubert (Honda Spares Honda Ballade) and Gawie Marais (Titan Products VW Polo) rounding out the top ten.
In the class championships, Bezuidenhout and Roos had a great duel at the top of the Class A standings until the trip to Dezzi Raceway where Bezuidenhout was able to open up a gap after Roos suffered mechanical problems. Joubert and Paul Saayman (Auto Movers VW Caddy) spent a lot of the season dicing with each other with Joubert eking out a 5-point advantage to take third in the Class A standings after both were moved up from Class B. Henning was very quick, taking three Class A wins, but didn’t make it to every event, spoiling his chances of a better finish. He ended the season in fifth ahead of Louis Cloete (SV Tech VW Beetle).
The top four in the Class B standings all started the season in Class C but quick lap time saw them being moved up a class. Deysel took the win from Harvey with Mark Ellis (Porsche 924) in third. Louis Scholtz (Car Care Clinic Honda Ballade) took a bit longer to break out of the Class C times but did join his former rivals after a great performance at Dezzi Raceway. He ended the season in fourth place ahead of JP van der Walt (VW Polo) and Tony Sharp (Alfa Giulietta).
Van Eck had a relatively untroubled run to the Class C title, although Meyer did manage to secure a couple of race wins on his way to second in class. Marais’s good showing at the final round was enough to move him into third ahead of Reno van Heerden (Monster VW Polo) with Johan van der Vyver (Devlaw Subaru WRX) and Chris Smit (Porsche 924) rounding out the top six.
Botha was a comfortable winner in Class D ahead of Hattingh and Mel Spurr (G& H Transport/Wealth Avenue/Castrol VW Polo) while Class E went the way of Mark Gregory (VW Golf) from Marius Lotz in a similar VW Golf.
The Car Care Clinic 111 Sport & Saloons return to the track on Saturday, 9 March for the first round of the 2019 championship on at Zwartkops Raceway.