Opening round of Regional Extreme Festival this coming Saturday
For inland motorsport enthusiasts, a four-month drought will end at the Zwartkops Raceway near Pretoria on Saturday, when the venue will host the opening round of this year’s Regional Extreme Festival.
The programme will accommodate eight car disciplines, with a total of 150 drivers scheduled to face the starter.
Top billing will belong to the Digit FMS 111 GT, Sports and Saloon Car category, with reigning champion Wouter Roos (Origen Oil VW Golf 6) kicking off his title defence.
His closest challengers should include Dirk Lawrence (JDM Tuning Honda Ballade), Marius Truter (Strategic Gear & Diff VW Polo), Rob Clark (Container Force Honda Ballade), Wayne Lebotschy (Shield VW Golf GTi), Jonathan Visser (WIX Filters VW Polo 6R), Mike O’Sullivan (All Things Motoring Honda Ballade), Wayne Robb (Digit FMS Ford Focus ST), Mark du Toit (TAR BMW Z4M), Shaun Vermaak (Capcon BMW M255i), Lucas Bezuidenhout (Pta Noord Toyota Lexus IS250), Melanie Spurr (Origen Oil VW Golf 7) and Lenard Archer (ACD Welkom BMW 335i).
Another defending title holder will be Warren Lombard, taking on the rest of the Dunlop V8 Supercar contingent in his Pepboys Automotive Ford Mustang.
Chasing him will be drivers like Franco di Matteo (Matteo Ford Mustang), Terry Wilford (Johnspeed Creations Ford Mustang), Thomas Reib (Café 9 Automotive Corvette), Steve Herbst (Prei Instrumentation Corvette), Sam Dahl (ArcProTech Ford Falcon), Wayne Spicer (Wellness Group Corvette), Larry Wilford (Jet Bearings Holden) and Alan Ryan (Wellness Group Corvette).
The category should provide the day’s quickest lap time.
A total of 60 cars will attend in the BMW/// M Performance Parts category, divided into groups for turbocharged and naturally aspirated vehicles.
Heading up the Turbo Cup heats will be current champion Renier Smith (Fast Development BMW E36 M3 Turbo). He will face off against people like Bob Neil (Delmon Mining BMW E92 M3 Turbo), Sav Gualteiri (SavSpeed BMW F30 340i Turbo), Kashen Naicker (Megastar BMW E92 M3 GT Turbo), Anton Pommershein (Eagle Granite BMW E46 M3 Turbo), Lenard Archer (ACD Welkom BMW E90 335i Turbo) and Mischal Singh (Autonishe BMW E90 M3 Turbo).
Defending category champion Bernard de Gouveia (De Gouveia Accountants BMW E46 M3) will top the list of 36 normally aspirated cars. He should be challenged by people like Dawie Olivier (International Race Supplies BMW E30 330i), Andre’ van Vuuren (Curvent International BMW E36 320i), Philip Mostert (Mosco Specialised Contractors BMW E36 M3), Stefano Cavalieri (Pablo Clark BMW E46 330 Ci), Olerato Sekudu (RamPage BMW E36 M3), Richard Germholtz (NextRep Fitness BMW E30 320i) and Chloe Stuart (AutoZone BMW E46 330i).
The DOE CIM Lubricants Formula Vee single seaters could provide the event’s closest spectacle, with front runners to include Gert van der Berg (DOE Parts Rhema 2), Theodore Vermaak (DOE Parts Forza), Peter Hills (Mangaza MXTwo Rhema 2), Vaughn Hills (Mangaza MXTwo Rhema 2), Mile Stewart (Direction Management Forza), Brandon Hills (Mangaza MXTwo Rhema 2), Jaco Schriks (Cube Coatings Rhema 2), MD Bester (Rhema 2), Kyle Watt (Rhema 2) and Anton van der Merwe (VDM Orthotics HR-1).
The ATE VW Challenge races could see podium occupants like Stuart Mack (AutoZone VW Polo), Chris Davison (GSi Generators VW Polo), Christopher Tait (King Price VW Polo), Keegan Nathan (Nathan’s VW Polo), Josh Moore (Worx VW Polo), Dewald Theron (Mweza Trans VW Polo) and Jonathan Konig (Northern Bolt VW Polo).
Meanwhile, overall champion Adriaan de Beer (Ulwazi Engineering VW Polo) will hope for two Class C victories to get his title defence off to a good start.
Class X of the Digit FMS 111 category should be strongly contested by drivers like Vic Dias (Throttle Mafira Honda Ballade), Ernest Heather (WIX Filters VW Polo 6N), Troy Starr (Nathan’s VW Golf), Joshua du Toit (TAR Honda Civic), Johan Willemse (Lieu Truck VW Golf), Richard Beningfield (TVR Chimeara), Charles Fowlds (www.0861clearview.co.za Subaru WRX), Dean Parker (Infamy Alfa Romeo Giulietta) and Wayne Odendaal (959 Moto Tech VW Golf).
Rounding out the day’s activities will be SuperHatch races, with pre-event favourites to include Mark du Toit (TAR BMW 118i), Leon Bredenkamp (Honda Civic), Carel Stols (Toyota Etios), George Aldrich (Peugeot 206 GTI), Arthur Thorne (VW Polo), Ishmael Baloyi (TAR Honda Civic) and Quintin Koster (Audi A3 1.8T).
The Zwartkops gates will be open from 7am, with qualifying for all categories early in the morning. Racing proper will commence at 9.30am.
Admission will cost R150 per adult and R110 per student, with kids under the age of 12 going in for free. Food and drink will be on sale, or you may take your own, and you are welcome to set up your gazebo and braai on any of the grass banks.
Everybody is welcome to visit the pits on foot throughout the day, and the circuit’s Mini Moke trains will run between the pit gate and spectator areas all the time.
You could choose to go for a Drift Car passenger ride on the Skidpan, and there will be a flea market, Kiddies entertainment, live music and a DJ.
To find out more, call the circuit office at 021 384 2299 or visit www.zwartkops.co.za.
Andre’ de Kock
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