Last Saturday at Spedeworth's own Pretoria Raceway saw the 3rd and Final Round of the SA Tour & THE UK Team taking the victory making it 3-0 to the UK Boys!

For the third round of the South Africa Tour, Promoter Deane Wood decided to add a little twist by making the meeting a triple threat. The previous 2 rounds of the tour have been the UK vs Pretoria, but this time Pretoria Raceways rivals Richards Bay Raceway came to play and see if they could steal the Triple Threat Crown away from the Pretoria and UK teams.

Despite a torrential down pour of rain mixed in with thunder and lightning during afternoon practice at the Pretoria Oval, come 7pm Start Time the track had dried out and was all set for the 3 Teams to go to war. Little did anybody know at the beginning of the night when Commentator Graham Woodward uttered the most famous words in motorsport "Gentlemen, Start Your Engines" that the nights racing would go from one extreme to the other!

After the grand parade and driver introductions, Session 1 Heat 1 (9 Cars - 3 Per Team) were on the grid ready to race. The green flag dropped and from the very first lap it was clear that all 3 teams were not going to go down without a fight. 31 Dick Hillard was able to get away from pole and lead the race from start to finish while in the middle of the pack Cars 2 Tokkos Joubert, 15 Danie Viktors and 503 Chris Harvey were bumper to bumper until with 4 laps to go Car 15 lost control and finished the race in the concrete wall.

Session 1 Heat 2 followed straight after Heat 1 with 12 cars (the 4 remaining cars from each team) lining up on the grid. After a clean start the racing was fast paced and Car 888 Okkern Brits could not keep with the pack causing him to go a lap down but to add insult to injury as Car 66 L Taylor tried the inside line to pass Car 888 coming out of turn 4 the 2 cars made contact which launched Car 888 into the safety fence leaving him with no hope of scoring any points for the Richards Bay Team. At the chequered flag it was Car 103 Frans Joubert for Pretoria taking 1st followed by all 4 UK Cars (286, 305, 482 & 829) earning the UK team the most points from the heat.

With Session 1 complete the UK were creeping into the lead with 57 points against Pretoria and Richards Bay's 32 points each.

Session 2 Heat 3 and only 8 Cars made the grid with Richards Bay Car 13 Marcel Kaze unable to make the start due to mechanical problems. With the rules stating that if a car from any team cannot make the start of a race the other 2 teams automatically forfeit the points of their last driver to finish, team tactics soon came into play. 31 Dick Hillard for the UK was the quickest car on the team but was starting mid-grid and Team Captain Jason Cooper knew that Dick needed to get to the front to score as many points as possible. The plan was in place but unfortunately wasn't completed when 31 Dick Hillard went for the inside line going into turn 1 for the lead but clipped the kerbs causing the car to head straight for the outside wall and by the time Dick had recovered he was a lap down and was unable to gain anymore positions and along with Car 63 Ismail Peck for Pretoria losing his points.

Session 2 Heat 4 and 12 cars returned to the raceway after the 888 team got the car running again in between the sessions. The heat was not to go smoothly however, when 5 laps in the yellow flags were out for Car 20 B Von Tonder who was in the wall after contact with Car 103. The Stewards Of The Meeting decided that Car 103 was to blame and was Disqualified from the race. Controversy didn't end there. After the restart the pack of cars came out of turn 4 with Car 247 Dumi Mazibuko spinning to the infield. Car 482 Jason Cooper was given the black flag and sent to the infield but at the end of the race the decision was protested and after the Stewards Of The Meeting had reviewed the video evidence it was clear that Jason was not the initial cause of Car 247 spinning out. The Stewards decided to reinstate Jason and award him the same points as Car 11 Neville Loosemore which was also involved in the incident but was not disqualified during the race.

After Session 2 the UK were extending their lead over Richards Bay 97 to 54 but Pretoria were keeping pace with the UK being only 24 points behind on 73.

Session 3 Heat 5 began the last session of heats before the meeting final. Session 3 saw the grids fully reversed from the first session putting the UK back on the front row with 503 Chris Harvey leading the charge. All was not well for Chris after getting a good start and being in 2nd place his engine problems from previous meetings returned and he watched the black and white wave from the infield. The UK team did not start to panic though with a good finish for 316 Paul Frost maintaining his position from start to finish, finishing 4th overall with 31 Dick Hillard after his previous heat disaster out there to prove to the other teams he was a man on a mission coming from the rear of the grid through the field to finish 2nd to Car 351 Tony Loosemore.

Session 3 Heat 6 and the last chance to score points before the final. After the controversy in Session 2 Heat 4 all of the teams had been called together by the Stewards Of The Meeting before Session 3 took to the track and all of the drivers were warned that the contact would not be tolerated going into the third session. In Heat 5 it seemed that the drivers had taken note of the warning but Heat 6 told a different story. Only 11 Cars started with Car 888 again unable to take the green flag due to previous damage. 9 Cars finished, but 1 of the cars not to finish was UK Car 286 Todd Jones after being disqualified by the Stewards for continuous contact on Car 113 Chris Benecke causing the Pretoria Team Driver to finish the race in the wall on the apex of turns 1 & 2. Todds D.Q. gave the Pretoria and Richards Bay teams the chance to gain some ground in the points race on the UK team with the heat scores being UK:- 26, PTA:- 26 & RCB:- 20.
The UK Team could keep smiling however with their team captain 482 Jason Cooper taking the victory over Cars 11 Neville Loosemore & 35 Jacques Maree.

Going into the final the points were UK:- 145, PTA:- 111 & RCB:- 93

The Triple Threat Meeting Final had arrived and team tactics were going to play a major role with the points for the final being scored 21 down to 1. The grid slots for the final were allocated based on the team points scored in the heats with the Stewards Of The Meeting and the 3 Team Captains agreeing that uniquely Pole Position would go to the team who had scored the lowest team points through the 6 Heats and the highest point scoring team taking grid position 3. The team captains could decided which driver from their teams they wanted to start where on the grid in there allocated team slots. The decision was made harder for the UK and Pretoria Team Captains however with Car 286 (UK) and Car 103 (PTA) both having no option other than to start at the rear of the grid due to their previous disqualifications as per the rules agreed at the drivers briefing.
All 21 cars were able to take to the grid for the 23 lap final with Richards Bay on pole alongside Pretoria and the UK taking the 3rd grid position.
After the race build-up was complete and the drivers were ready, the command was given to release the cars but everything did not go smoothly. As the first 3 rows of cars moved away on the rolling lap 3 cars failed to role off the grid causing the Rolling Lap to be halted on the back straight. Once all the cars were moving the rolling lap recommenced but the grid was not closed together and the final started in two grades. The Stewards Of The Meeting made the decision to allow the race to continue. 3 Laps into the final and Car 247 went a lap down to lead Car 351 for Richards Bay. 8 laps in and Car 35 made contact with Car 351 causing him to spin half way down the straight and stop with the front half of the car on the inside line tarmac. Car 35 was given a warning but disaster struck when Car 829 Stuart Fox appeared to make contact with Car 103 causing him to lose control coming out of turn 2 and thundered into the parked 351 Car halfway down the back straight bringing out the caution immediately with concern over the drivers. Both drivers received precautionary medical attention at the track whilst the recovery teams removed the damaged cars from the raceway and 829 Stuart Fox was put under a Stewards warning.
The race restarted but only 2 laps later the yellows flags waved again after a multi-car pile up coming out of turn 4 wiped out almost half of the remaining field with the Richards Bay drivers ending up worse for wear with 3 of their 7 cars remaining to take the restart. The pile up also saw the race come to an end for the UK Captain 482 Jason Cooper and to add to the problems 31 Dick Hillard had to retire with engine problems.
Restart number 2 and for 3 laps it was pure single file racing with all the drivers re-thinking their strategy with nobody wanting to see anymore damage. This theory became wish full thinking as the laps were winding down and the start marshal indicated to the drivers 5 laps remaining each driver knew they had to make their move. The single file racing soon went back to double file and coming into the apex of turns 3 and 4 Car 66 lost control and spun across the track and came to a stop in the middle of the track coming out of turn 4. The caution came out straight away with the pack of cars flying down the back straight towards Car 66. The leaders managed to avoid the stranded car but Car 829 Stuart Fox was unable to avoid the 66 Car but luckily stopped just inches from giving the 66 driver a banger style t-bone hit.
The final restart got underway and Car 35 Jacque Maree stormed into the lead with the remaining cars trying desperately to track him down. Time however, had ran out with Jacque taking the Cheqeured Flag but all results were frozen with the entire race to be reviewed under a Stewards Enquiry.
After the race the Stewards reviewed video evidence and spoke to drivers before reaching the final decision over the race results. The decisions were that Car 35 would retain the race win but would not score points after the previous contact with Car 351. No individual cars were found at fault for the multi-car collision & Car 829 was not the cause of Car 103 losing control and the caution involving Cars 66 and 829 was only stopped for Car 66 after the video showed that Car 829 had no choice other than to stop on the raceway to avoid impact with Car 66.

The Triple Threat Final Result was confirmed as:- 35 (No Points Scored), 63, 305, 286, 316, 829, 503, 66, 15, 247

The Points Grand Total was:- UK:- 235 PTA:- 159 RCB:- 108

Overall the UK Team took the Triple Crown Title and solidified their dominance over the past 3 weeks of the South Africa Tour with 3 victories out of 3 over the home sides.

South Africa Tour - Champion Of Champions Preview.

The annual Champions Of Champions event rolls into Spedeworth's own Pretoria Raceway this coming Saturday (05/02/2011) and is open to all 2ltr Hot Rods in South Africa.

The UK Team will be in attendance and although this meeting is an individual event and it would appear that the South African drivers should have the home advantage, if the last 3 weeks performance by the UK Drivers is anything to go by then you could say that the odds could turn to the UK's favour with 7 drivers all taking to the oval with the intention of bringing the Champion Of Champions Title over the water to the UK for the next 12 months and after winning the team event 3-0 adding the Champion Of Champions Title to the list of achievements would solidify this years UK Team in the Spedeworth 2ltr Hot Rod South African Tours History Book.

The UK Drivers for Champion Of Champions are:- 31 Dick Hillard, 305 Billy Wood, 316 Paul Frost, 482 Jason Cooper, 503 Chris Harvey & 829 Stuart Fox.

All that is left to say is GOOD LUCK to ALL DRIVERS taking to the Pretoria tarmac this coming Saturday & may the best man win!!