South Africa Tour Review.I

IT'S OFFICIAL!!

After losing to the South Africans for the last 3 years the UK Team has brought the UK vs SA Tour trophy back home to the UK.

After 2 rounds and 2 victories it is now impossible for the South Africans to steal the victory although the tour so far for the UK Team has not been easy as the South Africans made it quite clear from the start that they would not go down without a fight.

The 1st round took place at Spedeworths own, Pretoria Raceway on Saturday 15th January 2011.

The UK Team landed in South Africa on the Thursday morning prior to the event and had just 2 days to work on their cars provided by Deane Wood and get in as many practice laps as time would allow knowing that the South Africans would have the home advantage.

Race day arrived and all the UK Team were ready! However, disaster came early when after the Grand Parade the 2 teams were allowed practice and 17 Rob Mcdonald crashed into the outside concrete wall after a rose joint broke on the car. With just 30 minutes until the 1st Session all the team worked together to repair Rob's car and get it out on track for Session 1, Heat 2.
Session 1, Heat 1 saw 6 Cars (3-a-side) take to the track. With 31 Dick Hillard, 316 Paul Frost & 829 Stuart Fox leading the charge for the UK. The green flag dropped and the South Africans took the early lead to finish the race 1st & 2nd followed by 31 Dick Hillard, 829 Stuart Fox and then 316 Paul Frost. This came as no surprise to the UK Team with this being the 1st race round the Pretoria Oval for some of the UK drivers.
Session 1, Heat 2 saw 8 Cars (4-a-side) and the weather taking a turn for the worse with heavy rain lashing the raceway which continued until the end of the meeting.
Fighting the UK's corner were 17 Rob Mcdonald, 482 Jason Cooper, 503 Chris Harvey & 629 John Sibbald. With the repairs on Rob's car being finished with minutes to spare everybody was worried how the car would perform. The result spoke for itself with Rob coming home in 3rd after starting 5th on the grid and being supported by 482 Jason Cooper and 503 Chris Harvey to the Black and White keeping the South Africans at bay taking home the points.

After the first session all was not going well for the UK Team. Despite currently leading the points 31 to 26 both 503 Chris Harvey and 829 Stuart Fox were having engine problems. Both cars were taken to the workshop to be worked on by all the team with the clock ticking down to the second session of heats which were only 20 minutes away.

Session 2, Heat 3 (Reverse Grid from Heat 1) and 829 Stuart Fox made it onto the track after repairing his engine but with problems for South African Car 113 still being repaired only 5 cars started the race. This left outside pole on the grid empty giving 316 Paul Frost the gap he wanted at the green to hold off SA35 all the way to the Chequered. Leaving 31 Dick Hillard to battle with SA103 for the lead, but the laps counted down and Dick had to settle for 2nd behind the South African.
Session 2, Heat 4 (Reverse Grid from Heat 2) saw 7 Cars with SA63 out for the day with a blown engine after returning to the pits after Heat 2. By this time in the meeting the team work from the UK boys was too good for the South African Team to challenge. Despite SA2 taking the race victory the UK Team came home in 2nd, 3rd & 4th to secure the majority of the points available.
Going into the Meeting Final the scores were UK:- 58 SA:- 50
Despite the UK achieving more points, all was not good for the UK as once again 503 Chris Harvey had more engine trouble and was unable to finish the heat.

All available cars were called for the final with each Team Captain determining after a coin toss for pole which drivers they would place where on the grid.
The coin toss was won by the UK and Team Captain - Jason Cooper decided to take the inside pole for the team giving the slot to 629 John Sibbald who had scored the most individual points through the heats.
The race started without SA63 but it was quite clear that the South African Team wanted to win with SA103 pressuring 629 John Sibbald from start to finish but John held his ground and with 31 Dick Hillard holding back the SA2 & 35 cars, SA103 had no help in trying to remove 629 from that 1st place position which John was able to keep from lap 1 to the Chequered Flag at lap 20. A frustrated 503 Chris Harvey once again failed to score after retiring to the infield with an engine that still was not running smoothly. However, with only 3 South Africans finishing in the top 8 the victory for the UK Team was secured with a grand total score of UK:- 126 SA:- 103.

Round 1 went to the UK!


Round 2 and the tour moved to the Polokwane Oval, Pietersburg the next Saturday (22/01/2011).

On a hot Saturday afternoon the UK Team arrived at the Polokwane Oval 1-0 up on the score board knowing that the South African Team were not going to go down without a fight that evening once the green flag had dropped.
Afternoon practice saw all the UK drivers take to the oval which proved to be a good thing for 316 Paul Frost who had being having engine trouble at Pretoria Raceway during the week. Paul thought the problem was cured only for it to rear its ugly head again during a practice session and for the car to limp back into the workshop to be worked on in preparation for the Grand Parade before the meeting which all cars had to attend before racing.
Session 1, Heat 1 and Team Captain Jason Cooper had decided to alter the UK team of 3 from the previous week this time putting 31 Dick Hillard, 316 Paul Frost and 503 Chris Harvey out against the South Africans in the 6 car race. Heat 1 lasted 1 lap before the red flags were out and all cars were called back to the line for a complete restart after the Stewards Of The Meeting declared an unsatisfactory start. On the second attempt the UK's 503 and 31 out foxed the South Africans taking 1st and 2nd respectively after 2 laps and then some good team racing prevented the 3 South African cars from being able to gain any higher place than 3rd. The UK Team could not celebrate yet though, with 316 Paul Frost finishing the heat and scoring points but limping back to the pits the carb trouble.
Session 1, Heat 2 saw 17 Rob Mcdonald, 482 Jason Cooper, 629 John Sibbald and 829 Stuart Fox take to the track against 4 South African drivers. After several laps of hard racing the UK drivers had the advantage with 629 John Sibbald leading and the other UK drivers holding back the South Africans. Disaster struck with 2 laps to go when 829 Stuart Fox was spun around leaving the door open for SA103 to gain positions on the leader, leaving the score at the end of the race UK:- 18 SA:- 17

After the 1st Session was complete the overall scores stood at UK:- 30 SA:- 26

Session 2, Heat 3 and the grids were reversed from the previous heats respectively. The UK team knew they were going to have to drive hard to beat the South Africans this time round as they were a man down with 316 Paul Frost unable to make the start. Remaining drivers 31 and 503 drove well to keep their grid positions finishing 2nd and 4th but South Africa had gained momentum scoring the most points with 10 to the UK's 8.
Session 2, Heat 4 saw all 8 cars available take to the grid with SA103 on pole and being South Africa's fastest driver the UK Team Captain Jason Cooper had rallied the troops and made the decision to let him go and hold back the remaining 3 SA Cars knowing that if the UK finished 2nd, 3rd & 4th they would secure the majority of the points. The tactic worked with the point score being UK:- 21 SA:- 15

With the 2 Sessions complete the UK Team had extended their lead over the South Africans with 59 Points to 51.

The Meeting Final arrived and with the South African Team Captain winning the coin toss and taking pole the UK team knew that the South Africans were going to be desperate for the victory to take away the 8 point advantage the UK Team had over them and score atleast 1 more point to secure the win.
All 14 cars took the green flag and once the race was underway controversy was not far behind the final result after team tactics came into play. UK Team Captain Jason Cooper knew all the UK Team had to do was finish with 3 cars anywhere in the top 6 to prevent South Africa from making up the points deficit. Half way through the race and the 1st problems came for the UK when SA35 took 31 Dick Hillard towards the wall costing Dick his 2nd place and dropping him back down the positions to 6th but the UK worked as a team and knowing that Dick had the quickest car that night on the UK side, both 482 and 629 allowed Dick through to chase the leaders down once more whilst themselves and 829 Stuart Fox held the remaining South Africans back causing SA15, SA113 & SA247 all to go a lap down with lead car SA103 having no choice other than to lap them or risk being caught by 31 Dick Hillard. Another incident then occurred with 829 Stuart Fox making contact with SA15 causing him to spin but to ultimately rejoin still a lap down but now at the rear of the race.
The laps wound down and the chequered flag fell on SA103 followed by SA35 & SA2 with 31 Dick Hillard taking home 4th followed by 629 John Sibbald, 829 Stuart Fox and 482 Jason Cooper which was enough of a result to ensure the South African Team could not take the victory over the UK for another year.
At the end of the race the South African Team protested the result after the incident between 829 Stuart Fox and SA15 looking to have 829 removed from the result and that 31 Dick Hillard should not of being allowed 4th place claiming he had gone a lap down. The UK Team in return protested the contact between SA35 and 31 Dick Hillard and after listening to both protests and consulting the lap charts the meeting officials decided that no penalties would be issued and the lap sheets were correct and 31 Dick Hillard did not go a lap down therefore the results would stand which gave the UK the win with a final score of UK:- 112 SA:- 103

The victory in Round 2 had secured the UK Teams Victory over the South African Team with the final score being 2-0 going into Round 3.

Round 3 Preview.

Round 3 sees the UK vs SA Tour move back to it's spiritual home at Spedeworth's Pretoria Raceway on Saturday 29th January 2011 where promoter Deane Wood has added a twist to the final round of the tour before the final week which sees the Champion Of Champions Event at Pretoria Raceway on Saturday 5th February 2011.
In the final round before Champion Of Champions the UK vs SA tour changes this year from a head to head format to a triple threat meeting!
The 29/01/2011 meeting sees the UK vs PTA vs RCB in a inter-track / intercontinental battle between the UK Team, Pretoria Raceway & Pretoria's rival raceway Richards Bay Raceway.

The UK Team will consist of drivers:- 31 Dick Hillard, 286 Tod Jones, 305 Billy Wood, 316 Paul Frost, 482 Jason Cooper (Captain), 503 Chris Harvey, 829 Stuart Fox

Nobody is sure how this meeting will end with speculation being that after the UK's 2 victories over the South Africans, that the Pretoria and Richards Bay Raceways will put their differences aside to prevent the UK from taking a clean sweep for the first time in 3 years whilst the UK Team are hoping the two South African teams will aid their success with the rivalry between the two tracks being too strong and they turn their attention to each other leaving the UK Team (despite a change in drivers) heading full speed into the meeting on a high and taking the third round victory knowing that the triple threat win will be the icing on the cake.

Only Time Will Tell!