adminLimpopo on October 22 and 23, the outcome of the drivers’ and co-drivers’ championships is far from settled.
With a maximum of 25 points remaining for a win in the eighth and final round, and competitors being required to drop their worst score of the season, any one of four drivers could still be crowned the champion.
Based on the current provisional points situation, which is subject to a Motorsport South Africa appeal court hearing on October 11 regarding the result of the fourth round, nine points separate the top three.
Zimbabwean privateer Conrad Rautenbach (Green Fuel Ford Fiesta), who has three wins to his credit, leads with 125 points.
Joint second are privateer Mark Cronjé (Sasol Ford Fiesta), who also has three wins, and defending champion Enzo Kuun in a factory BP Volkswagen Polo on 116 points.
Fourth-placed Johnny Gemmell (Castrol Toyota Auris) has 93 points and is 32 in arrears.
All four contest the four-wheel-drive Super 2000 class.
This situation would change if they were to drop their worst result now. It could also change depending on the outcome of the MSA court of appeal.
There are a number of possible outcomes, all of which would have a different impact on the championship. A successful appeal could benefit Gemmell or Rautenbach or both.
Cronjé, with a non-finish in the opening round, would lead with 116 points from Rautenbach (110 points after dropping 15) and Kuun (107 after dropping nine).
Gemmell, second in last year’s championship, would then come into the reckoning. He would remain on 93 points and close to within 23 points of Cronjé as he was a non-finisher in the last round.
It’s a little different in the co-drivers’ championship, where Rautenbach’s French co-driver Nicolas Klinger doesn’t score as he is not competing on a South African licence.
The race is between the top three, who are separated by 23 points.
Defending champion Guy Hodgson, who reads the route notes for Kuun, is first with 124 points before the deduction of his worst score.
Cronjé’s co-driver Robin Houghton is second with 119 points and Gemmell’s Scottish co-driver Drew Sturrock is third with 96 points.
Applying the dropped score rule, Houghton takes over the lead with 119 points (his worst result was a non-finish) from Hodgson with 114 points (he drops 10) and Sturrock with 96 (he drops a non-finish).
Out of contention for any titles but certain to be pushing for a good season ending and more than capable of winning are Charl Wilken and Greg Godrich, currently sixth and fourth in their respective championships in an S2000 Basil Read Ford Fiesta.
The Castrol Toyota Auris combination of Leeroy Poulter and Elvéne Coetzee, won last year’s two-wheel-drive A6 class (now called Super 1600) already have a win to their credit, in round two when they gave Toyota its 100th national championship class victory, and they will be determined to finish the season on a winning note.
Making up the top 10 in the drivers’ championship are Nicholas Ryan fifth (S2000 GrandMark Volkswagen Polo) with 87 points, Charl Wilken (S2000 Basil Read Ford Fiesta) 86 points, Jon Williams (S2000 Sasol
Ford Fiesta) 82 points, Leeroy Poulter (S2000 Castrol Toyota Auris) 79 points, former champion Hergen Fekken (S2000 BP Volkswagen Polo) 78 points and Jean-Pierre Damseaux (S2000 Total Toyota Auris) 73 points.
Completing the top 10 in the co-driver’s competition are Greg Godrich fourth with 94 points, Cobus Vrey with 88 points, former champion Pierre Arries 84 points, Elvene Coetzee 81 points, Carolyn Swan 80 points, Grant Martin 77 points and former champion Robert Paisley 73 points.
The Two-wheel-drive Championship (for Super 1600 and Super 1400 cars) is a straight fight between the S1600 Sabertek Volkswagen Polo of brother-and-sister Christoff Snyders and the Total Toyota RunX of former champion Craig Trott and co-driver Robbie Coetzee.
The Snyders siblings have won three rounds to date and accumulated 128 points and 130 points respectively (Haig Smith’s British co-driver isn’t eligible for points), giving Christoff a 10-point lead over Trott and Celeste a 12-point lead over Coetzee.
Guy Botterill (S1600 Yato Toyota RunX) is equal third in the drivers’ championship with 15-year-old Ashley Haigh Smith (S1600 React Ford Fiesta) on 84 points, 44 behind Christoff Snyders. Tjaart Conradie (S1600 Silverton Toyota Auris) is fifth with 82 points. – SuperSport.
Online Reporter