Just three weeks ago Kalyn Miller became the first female driver to win Class A in a Car Care Clinic 111 Sports & Saloons race when she piloted her Midas Kia to victory in the fourth round of the 2019 championship. She added another winner’s trophy to that one at Zwartkops on Saturday, 17 August when she won the second heat at the fifth round of the championship to take overall victory on the day after finishing third in the opening heat. She was joined on the overall podium by Wouter Roos (Nathan’s Motorsport VW Golf) and Phillip Emmenis (Rotary Racing BMW E36 M3).
In the morning qualifying session, it was Roos who topped the timesheets, just over a tenth of a second quicker than Emmenis with Kevin Miller (Ford Focus) in third, half a second adrift. Lenard Archer (ACD Welkom Hyundai Elantra) was a couple of hundredths further back with Lucas Bezuidenhout (Pretoria Noord Toyota Lexus) just getting the better of Troy Marais (Dynamic Tyre Solutions BMW) to take fifth. Andre de Lange (Roofsure Audi A3) led the way in Class X from Ryan Quan-Chai (BMW Z4) with Louis Scholtz (Car Care Clinic Honda Ballade) heading Class B from Waldo Swiegers (Waldo Swiegers Photography VW Golf) and Wayne Lebotschy (Shield VW Golf). Class C went to Loukie Verwey (Elftrans VW Golf) with Almero van Eck (Taurus VW Polo) leading Class D. In the battle of the Class E VW Golfs, championship leader Marius Lotz was a fraction of a second quicker than Mark Gregory (Creative Patterns) with Mark Kingsmill not far behind.
There was drama at turn 5 on the opening lap of the first heat with first Emmenis running wide and then Johan van der Vyver spinning his Devlaw Subaru WRX in the midfield. This allowed Roos to open up a gap at the front with Kevin Miller and Bezuidenhout trying to close the gap. They were soon joined by Archer and Kalyn Miller. Bezuidenhout was the quickest of the chasing pack and, by half-distance, had found a way past Roos to take the lead. From there he was able to slowly extend his advantage to cross the line just over a second to the good. Kalyn Miller slowly worked her way up to third but could not find a way past Roos before the flag, crossing the line just 0.216” behind the Golf. Archer ended up in fourth ahead of Emmenis with Quan-Chai, the first of the Class X runners, in sixth.
Scholtz was comfortably ahead of Swiegers in Class B with Verwey claiming Class C. Van Eck outdid Michael Frade (TG Trucking Ford Icon) to take Class D while Gregory managed to get to the flag a couple of car lengths ahead of Lotz to take Class E with Kingsmill in third.
In the second heat, Roos was the early leader, but Kalyn Miller wasn’t going to wait this time. She grabbed the lead when Roos offered her half a chance and kept her Kia in front until the red flags flew, bringing an early end to the race after one of the competitors dropped oil on the track. Emmenis was the best of the rest with Archer in fourth ahead of Wayne Crous (Ancro Building Projects VW Polo) and Bezuidenhout. Unfortunately for Archer and Bezuidenhout, they had both dipped under the 1’11” lap time limit for the class, incurring a penalty that dropped them down the field. This promoted Crous to fourth, Quan-Chai to fifth and gave sixth to Shaun Crous in the second Ancro Building Projects VW Polo.
Scholtz again took Class B, this time from Wayne Lebotschy (Shield VW Golf) after Swiegers experienced Braking problems. Class C went to Verwey with van Eck topping Class D from Frade. The Class E result was the same as in the opening heat, Gregory taking the win from Lotz and Kingsmill.
Kalyn Miller topped Class A in the overall standings, ahead of Roos and Emmenis while Scholtz took Class B from Swiegers and Lebotschy. Class C went the way of Verwey with Class D going to van Eck from Frade. Two wins gave Class E to Gregory ahead of Lotz and Kingsmill while Quan-Chai claimed the top step in Class X with Adrian Dalton (Xtra Shoes VW Golf) and Gerhard Potgieter (GCP Auto Group VW Golf) joining him on the podium.
The Car Care Clinic 111 Sports & Saloons competitors next make their way to the Eastern Cape, where the penultimate round of the 2019 championship takes at the Aldo Scribante Racetrack in Port Elizabeth on Saturday, 21 September.