Pretoria Raceway - 05/02/2011 - Champion Of Champions - Review

Saturday 5th February 2011 saw the final race meeting of the South Africa Tour take place at Spedeworth's own Pretoria Raceway.

Unlike previous weeks, this meeting was not run as a team event - South Africa vs. UK. This meeting was an individual event and was given the title, The Champion Of Champions.

This meeting is currently the biggest meeting for 2ltr Hot Rods (Pinto's) in South Africa and is open to all drivers who want to race for the prestigious title.

The meeting format is unique for a championship event and is contested over 4 events.

Event 1 was against the clock where individual drivers attempted to score the quickest lap time over 3 laps. Points were scored from 40 down to 1 with the driver scoring the quickest time scoring 40 points.

At the end of the lap times 21 drivers had scored points with Car 103 Frans Joubert scoring the quickest time (40 points) followed by 3 UK drivers, 31 Dick Hillard, 482 Jason Cooper and 503 Chris Harvey.

Event 2 saw the 1st race of the championship and was a closed grid determined by the lap times but the decision had been made by the Stewards and Promoter Deane Wood that for the 1st Heat the top point scorers from the Lap Times would start at the rear of the grid and then for Heat 2 the grid would be reversed. As a result of this rule Cars 150 and 105 started on pole with and additional 3 cars at the rear of the grid (125, 216 & 286 due to not scoring in the Lap Times) behind top point scorer Frans Joubert. Heat 1 got under way but it was not long before the Caution was waved only 4 laps in with Car 69 in difficulty against the concrete wall. Once the track was clear the race restarted and only 8 laps into the 25 lap race Car 305 Billy Wood had made his way from the middle of the grid starting position to 1st place passing the 113 Car who had started 4th. As the race went on it was becoming clear from the lap times and the race that some cars were on the pace and others had work to do in the pits before Heat 2 with a large number of cars been put a lap down by Car 305. As the race progressed passed the half way stage Billy Wood wasn't running away with the lead as from the rear of the grid 482 Jason Cooper and 31 Dick Hillard had also made there way towards the front, but time ran out and the final result went to 305 Billy Wood followed swiftly by 482 Jason Cooper, 103 Frans Joubert and 31 Dick Hillard to make the top 4.

Event 3 saw Heat 2, which was a reverse grid from Heat 1. This time the advantage was given to the quicker drivers going from the pole with 3 of the top 4 grid positions going to UK drivers. 103 Frans Joubert took pole followed by 31 Dick Hillard, 482 Jason Cooper and 503 Chris Harvey. The remaining UK drivers weren't far behind their former team mates either with 305 Billy Wood taking grid position 8, 316 Paul Frost in grid position 11 and starting alongside him in grid position 12 was 829 Stuart Fox. The green flag dropped and disaster struck for 482 Jason Cooper as he came out of turn 4 to the green he made a mistake and spun himself onto the infield. Once the pack had gone by Jason was quick to rejoin but had all the work to do over the 25 laps now from the rear of the grid. With the quick cars starting from pole this time round it didn't take long before lead Car 103 started lapping Cars with the 1st UK victim being 316 Paul Frost. At the half way stage 103 was still leading but was being run down by 31 Dick Hillard but putting pressure on Dick was fellow UK drivers 503 Chris Harvey and 305 Billy Wood. As the drivers tried to negotiate the lapped traffic 31 Dick Hillard got caught up by the back markers which opened the door for both Billy Wood and Chris Harvey who at the chequered flag finished 2nd and 3rd respectively behind 103 Frans Joubert who lead from Lap 1 to Lap 25. At the end of the race Car 482 Jason Cooper had made the biggest impact on the race after his initial spin at the start he made his was through the pack passing fellow UK Driver 829 Stuart Fox to finish 7th with Stuart finishing 9th and unfortunately Car 316 Paul Frost unable to finish.

Event 4 and the track was ready for the Champion Of Champions Grand Final to take centre stage. The grid for the Championship race had been determined by the total number of points each driver had scored from the previous events with each event offering points from 40 down to 1.

With a total of 118 points, pole position went to Car 103 Frans Joubert who had dominated the meeting so far but still on his heels were all the UK drivers with 31 Dick Hillard on outside pole, 305 Billy Wood in Grid Slot 3, 482 Jason Cooper alongside him and 503 Chris Harvey in grid slot 5. Only 3 slots further back was 829 Stuart Fox and in grid slot 14 was 316 Paul Frost having scored no points in Heat 2 but even starting in the middle of the pack Paul's car had been quick for the most of the meeting and he knew he was still in with a shot if the car stayed on the pace.

The grid was formed and Graham Woodward was given the order from the Promoter Deane Wood to give the most famous command in motorsport to get the race underway. With the words ' Gentlemen Start Your Engines' the cars fired into life and the Pace Car lead the 18 Cars, which made the grid away on the 2 rolling laps. As the cars came out of turn 4 to the green flag the pack roared into life and thundered towards turn 1. All the cars made it around turn 1 but the pressure was on for Car 103 from the beginning with none of the UK drivers letting him get away. 10 laps in and Car 103 Frans Joubert was still leading but 31 Dick Hillard had slipped back from 2nd and now was 4th but 482 Jason Cooper had taken up the 2nd place followed by 305 Billy Wood. 16 laps in and just as Car 829 Stuart Fox had gone a lap down to Car 103 the yellow flags waved with Car 264 stranded against the concrete wall on the back straight. Luckily nobody hit the 264 car and the recovery pushed the car onto the infield. Car 264 was not the end of the problems however, as the rolling lap got underway the pace car lead the cars down the back straight and was given the all clear by the Steward Of The Meeting to release the cars and as the pace car left the raceway Car 286 stalled at the start line. The yellow flags were waved to warn the drivers and as Car 103 came out of turn 4 expecting the green luckily he and the rest of the field managed to avoid the 3 cars which had now parked on the home straight with a very close near miss for Car 829 Stuart Fox choosing to avoid the stationary cars by going to the outside and squeezing passed the cars and the concrete wall. The Pace Car picked up the leaders on the back straight and once the home straight car park had been cleared the rolling lap commenced and the raceway went back to green. The race restarted with back markers 829 and 8 in between 1st place 103 and 2nd place Car 482 Jason Cooper. With both Cars 829 and 8 knowing they had little chance of winning the Championship they kept to one line and allowed the chasing pack to pass by as the 5 laps to go board was displayed from the start line. With 5 laps to got the top 5 positions were 103, 482, 205, 31 and 503 and as the laps counted down all the UK drivers gave it everything they had got to try and stop the Championship going to South Africa's own Frans Joubert and take the individual crown as well as the team championship back to UK.

Unfortunately it was not meant to be as the chequered flags waved the Champion Of Champions Title was awarded to the man who had dominated the Pretoria Oval from the beginning of the day, Car 103 Frans Joubert.

All was not lost for the UK drivers however; even though they did not take the Championship Title they still showed their overall control over the 2011 South Africa Tour by finishing 2nd (482), 3rd (305), 4th (31), 5th (503) and 6th (829).

The 2011 South Africa 2ltr Hot Rod Tour has come to an end quicker than any of us could of imagined. There have been highs and lows along the way from race wins to cars been completely annihilated but the UK Team which, from Meeting 1 through to Meeting 4 has consisted of:- 17 Rob McDonald, 31 Dick Hillard, 286 Todd Jones, 305 Bill Wood, 316 Paul Frost, 482 Jason Cooper (Team Captain), 503 Chris Harvey, 629 John Sibbald and 829 Stuart Fox raced and worked behind the scences inbetween races as a true team from working out the team stragedy on the track to fixing each others cars in the garage and all their efforts were proven worth while by the results taking the team championship 3-0 and not leaving the Champion Of Champions Event without proving they were still a force to be reckoned with.

Spedeworth would like to say a big Thank You and Well Done to all the drivers and their mechanics as without everybody doing their part, the tour would not happen and we all look forward to seeing everybody around the raceways throughout the 2011 season