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ABSA South African Championship 2006 Special-Newssection
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This is the single-news section of the
marathonrally.com special of the ABSA South African Offroad Championship series 2006. To see all news please use the link under the
article or navigate with the left main-navigation.
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ABSA 2006: Nissan chase fifth successive Sun City 400 Victory.
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The Proudly South African Nissan team will be chasing a fifth successive Sun City 400 victory in round six of the South African Absa Off Road Championship on September 29 and 30. The event this year celebrates its fifth birthday with Nissan crews winning each of the four previous races. Giniel de Villiers and Francois Jordaan won in 2002, Hannes Grobler and Richard Leeke in 2003, de Villiers/Jordaan won again in 2004 and Alfie Cox and Ralph Pitchford did the trick last year.
So far this season Nissan have won four out of five events and, on paper would appear to be outright favourites to make it five in a row. There has, however, been evidence in recent outings that the factory Ford Racing and Castrol Toyota teams are starting to provide the Nissan runners with a few headaches.
Ford pair Neil Woolridge and Kenny Skjoldhammer won the Nissan Sugarbelt 400 and have scored in every round of the championship so far. The former champions will have solid backup from Rob Gurney and Graham Stainbank in a second Ford Ranger and will be a formidable combination. After a torrid time of it this season the Castrol Toyota Hilux pair of Mark Cronje and Chris Birkin finished second on the recent Lesotho Sun 400, and the Ford and Toyota squads look capable of matching the Nissan entries for pace.
But it is reliability that will hold the key in the Pilanesberg and here the factory Nissan Navara crews of Grobler/Jordaan and Vos/Pitchford, may have an edge. Woolridge/Skjoldhammer are hugely experienced and will fancy their chances, and Gurney/Stainbank will be looking to see out the distance after a hiccup in Lesotho.
The Castrol Toyota Hilux crews of Cronje/Birkin and Bevan Bertholdt/Robin Houghton, will go to Sun City with confidence levels at their highest of the season. It all adds up to a good race. Added interest is provided in that while Grobler and Jordaan lead the overall championship standings, it is Woolridge/Skjoldhammer who lead the Super Production Class and both crews will be out to gather in every possible point.
Reigning Class E champions Chris Visser and Japie Badenhorst, in the Tyco Trucks Toyota Hilux, will be heavily favoured to win Class D. They scored their fourth win of the season in the Lesotho race, and this has given them a healthy championship lead. Their biggest threat is likely to come from the father and son team of Cliff and Louis Weichelt in the Bosal Toyota Hilux. Mechanical failure robbed them of the Lesotho Sun 400 win, and they have the pace to match Visser/Badenhorst.
Hugo and Jaap de Bruyn will also be back in action in the Castrol Toyota Hilux, and Nissan have a strong hand via the BB Auto entries of Jurie and Andre du Plessis and Arnold du Plessis/Johan Knox, and Coetzee Labuscagne/Johan Gerber in the Raysonics Nissan Hardbody.
The Nissan teams will be keen to end the Toyota domination. All five races so far this season have been won by Toyota crews, and some good racing is on the cards with Kobus van Tonder/Riaan Guelpa (Unifreight Mitsubishi Pajero) and Ann Evans/Leathesia Fourie (Mercurious Mitsubishi Pajero) also keen to come up with good results.
After a race to forget in Lesotho the Ford Racing pair of Manfred Schroder/Ward Huxtable will be keen to get matters back on an even keel. They are the crew to beat in Class E although Mark and Stuart Moffat (Bosal Toyota Hilux), coming off a good win in Lesotho, will want a repeat performance.
Thomas Rundle and Brian Roberts (Barden Tyres Nissan Hardbody) came up with an encouraging result in Lesotho and will be keen to again have the beating of a horde of Toyota Hilux entries. These include Jannie Visser/Joks le Roux, Brian Martin/Ockie Fourie (Castrol Toyota Hilux), George and Sharon Barkhuizen (Ruwacon Toyota Hilux), Fabio Tafani/Mike Baron (Club Refrigeration Toyota Hilux) and Jaco Swanepoel/Grayham Bishop in the IDM Cement Toyota Hilux.
The Toyota challenge will be bolstered by newcomers Louw de Bruin and Willem Bosch in the ex Ruthven/Boshoff Ruwacon Toyota Hilux, and Douw de Boer and actor Ben Kruger will again be out in the Mahindra. De Boer and Kruger haven’t had much luck this season, and will be hoping for a good finish this time around.
As usual most of the focus will be on what promises to a tight battle at the front of the field. That is only to be expected, but there will be plenty of good racing further down the field with the prospect of an upset here and there.
2006/09/25 | 10:37 CET | Editor: MR/Charmaine Fortune
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