Kalyn Miller became the first female driver to win Class A in a Car Care Clinic 111 Sports & Saloons race when she held off Phillip Emmenis (Rotary Racing BMW) to take victory in the opening race at Red Star Raceway on Saturday, 20 June. She then piloted her Midas Kia to fourth place in the second heat to claim overall victory for the day with George Bezuidenhout (Accolade/CES Forklifts Nissan Primera) and Bertus van Jaarsveld (TB Racing VW Polo) joining her on the podium.
Wouter Roos (Nathan’s Motorsport VW Golf) just got the better of Emmenis in the cold morning qualifying session, taking pole position by just five one-hundredths of a second. Miller was next up with van Jaarsveld alongside her on the second row of the grid. Bezuidenhout headed the third row with Clive Smith (Tsebo Porsche 924), the quickest of the Class B competitors, in sixth. Phillip Meyer (LSC Group/Imperial Logistics Porsche 924) and Waldo Swiegers (Waldo Swiegers Photography VW Golf), who were second and third in Class B, rounded out the top eight on the grid. Loukie Verwey (Elftrans VW Golf) led the way in Class C while Chris Smit (Captive/Toptrans Porsche 924) claimed the Class D honours. Championship leader Marius Lotz (VW Golf) got the better of Karshin Naidoo (Atecs Developments Mazda 323) and Mark Gregory (Creative Patterns VW Golf) in Class E with Sheldon Potgieter (Auto Aircon Ford Ikon) topping Class X.
There was immediate drama at the start of the first race when Meyer spun in turn 1 forcing may of those behind him to take evasive action. While it didn’t affect the leaders, a number of drivers, including Meyer who dropped to the back of the field, lost ground. Out front, it was Roos who led the way from Miller, van Jaarsveld and Emminis with Bezuidenhout in fifth. Miller took the lead when Roos lost power after the turbo in his Golf developed a problem. While he was able to keep running, he slowly dropped down the field, finishing in 11th place overall and the last of the Class A cars. Miller then had to contend with Emmenis, who got back in front of van Jaarsveld. The pair pulled away from the chasing pack, with Miller able to open up a slight gap to Emmenis in the final couple of laps to take her first Class A win. Emmenis had to settle for second ahead of van Jaarsveld and Bezuidenhout. Meyer managed to work his way from the back of the field to finish fifth, gaining promotion to Class A on the way. This left Swiegers, who finished sixth on the road, as the winner of Class B from Duane Brown (Brown’s Auto Ford Fiesta) and Scholtz. Verwey took Class C while Smit was comfortably ahead of Michael Frade (TG Trucking/Golden Springs Ford Ikon) in Class D. Lotz got the better of his duel with Gregory to take Class E while Potgieter won Class X.
Pole-sitter van Jaarsveld grabbed the early lead in Race 2, but it went wrong for him after just a couple of corners. He ran wide at turn 3 and dropped down the field allowing Bezuidenhout to take over at the front with Meyer and Roos in his wheel tracks. Roos got past both Meyer and Bezuidenhout to take the lead while van Jaarsveld worked his way back through the field, getting past Miller before setting off after the leading trio. He did get past all of them but broke out of the class lap time on the way thereby incurring a penalty which dropped him down to fifth in the overall and Class A standings. This left Roos as the winner from Meyer and Bezuidenhout with Miller in fourth. Swiegers took sixth and Class B with Brown and Floris Stopforth (VW Polo) completing the top eight. Class C went to Verwey with Smit again getting the better of Frade in Class D. Class E went to Gregory with Lotz in second. Potgieter took Class X.
In the overall standings, Miller took Class A from Bezuidenhout and van Jaarsveld while Swiegers took Class B from Brown and Scholtz. Verwey took Class C with Class D going to Smit. Lotz just did enough to take Class E from Gregory while Potgieter claimed the silverware in Class X.
The Car Care Clinic 111 Sports & Saloons Competitors return to Zwartkops Raceway for the fifth round of their 2019 championship which takes place on Saturday, 17 August.