The Car Care Clinic 111 Sports & Saloons Championship reaches the half-way stage on Saturday, 20 July when the competitors make their way to Red Star Raceway, near Delmas, for the fourth round of the 2019 season.
Marius Lotz (VW Golf) leads the way in the overall championship standings. He has yet to finish off the top two steps of the podium and has a nine-point lead over Louis Scholtz (Car Care Clinic Honda) with Wouter Roos (Nathan’s Motorsport VW Golf) seven points further back in third.
After mechanical maladies spoiled his Phakisa 200 outing, Roos bounced back at Zwarkops taking two wins and moving back to the top of the Class A championship standings. He has a six-point lead over Bertus van Jaarsveld (Photizo VW Polo) who chased Roos all the way to the flag in both heats last time out. Danie Deysel (Tyre City Honda CRX) is third, five points behind van Jaarsveld but only two ahead of Wayne Masters (Performance Masters Polo). George Economides (Wealth Avenue BMW 328i) lies fifth with Lenard Archer (ACD Welkom Hyundai Elantra), who lost out at Zwartkops due to mechanical failure, and Dirk Lawrence (JDM Tuning/Vaal Timbers Honda Ballade) tied for sixth. The father and daughter duo of Kevin (Auto Aircon Ford Focus) and Kalyn Miller (Midas Kia) plus Phillip Emmenis (Rotary Racing BMW) should also be in the hunt for Class A points.
Consistent podium finishes have allowed Scholtz to open up as 17-point lead over Waldo Swiegers (Waldo Swiegers Photography VW Golf) at the top of the Class B log. Veritie-Anne Joubert (Honda Spares Ballade) is 11 points further back with Phillip Meyer, who is still sorting out the teething problems in his LSC Group/Imperial Logistics Porsche 924, two points behind her in fourth. Floris Stopforth (VW Polo), Clive Smith (Porsche 924) and Duane Brown (Brown’s Auto Ford Fiesta) will be joining them in their quest for points in Mpumalanga.
Class C looks like it will be a battle between Loukie Verwey (ELF Trans VW Golf) and Andre Diedericks (ELF Trans Mini Cooper S) while Almero van Eck (Taurus VW Polo) and Chris Smit (Captive Toptrans Porsche 924) are likely to fight it out at the head of the Class D field although Michael Frade (TG Trucking / Golden Springs Mazda Rustler) will be looking for points as well. The Class E battle should be between the Golfs of championship leader Marius Lotz, Mark Gregory and Mark Kingsmill with Karshin Naidoo joining them in his Atecs Developments Mazda 323.
Qualifying gets underway at 08h00 on Saturday morning with the first race getting underway at 10h40. Race 2, also an 8-lap affair like the opening heat, should start at 14h10.