Part Two of 25th Passion for Speed entertains at Red Star

A week after the Passion for Speed entertained the crowd at Zwartkops Raceway, the drivers headed east to Red Star Raceway, just outside Delmas in Mpumalanga, where they delighted an enthusiastic crowd on Saturday, 7 February.

The Legends of the 9-Hour had the appreciative crowd on their feet as Mark du Toit (Lola T70), Swedish visitor Kennet Persson (McLaren 5B) and James Temple (Shelby Daytona) found for the lead in the opening heat. Temple got past pole-sitter du Toit early on, but du Toit soon grabbed the place back, with Perssen also getting past the Daytona. Temple couldn’t match the pace of the leaders and slowly dropped back, while the leaders swapped positions every couple of laps. It looked like du Toit had things under control with just a couple of laps to run, but he picked up some debris on the track that caused a puncture, and he spun out of contention. Perssen inherited the overall win and took the ISP class with it. Temple, second on the road, took Class A, from Warren Lombard (Cobra) and Peter Bailey (Ford GT40).

Fifth-placed Johan Gouws took HRSE Class E in his VW Sirocco, while another Swedish visitor, Janne Kling, took sixth and Class B in his Ford GT40. Other class winners were Alistair Simpson (Ford Capri Perana) in ZA, Jonathan Needham (Ford Mustang) in ZB and Deon Schwabsky (Ford Escort) in U2. In the Little Giants, Chad Ten Doeschate took Class A in his GSM Flamingo, while Robbie Frank took Class D in his Lotus 23.

In the second heat, Persson and du Toit resumed battle with Persson leading until shortly after the halfway mark when du Toit dived through to take the lead. Unfortunately for du Toit, he didn’t stay at the front for long as the McLaren got through to the front again. The dice continued to the flag, where Persson was just in front when it counted. Temple in third, took Class A from Lombard and Bailey, with Gouws again claiming the HRSA win. The other class winners were the same as in the first heat.

The ATS Dunlop Lotus Challenge drivers had three races on the day. In the first heat, David Jermy opened up an early lead from pole position, but Mackie Adlem slowly closed the gap and was within striking distance with a lap to go. Jermy, however, was able to hang on to the lead and took the win by less than three tenths of a second. Rudi Barnard ended in a slightly lonely third place. In Class L, Nick Hodgson finished comfortably ahead of Sean Hepburn and Barry Dunford.

In the second heat, Jermy and Adlem resumed their battle, with Jermy leading in the early stages. Adlem didn’t wait until the end, though, and took the lead shortly before the halfway mark. He went on to take a comfortable win with Jermy just holding off Sean Hewitt to take second. Hodgson again led the way in Class L, with Hepburn just holding off Braam Muller to take second.

Adlem dominated the third heat, lapping over a second a lap quicker than the chasing pack to take the win by almost 12 seconds. Jermy took second ahead of Barnard. Hodgson took another comfortable win in Class L from Hepburn and Wesley Maxwell.

In Silvercup 2.0, it looked like Wessel Mostert (BMW) had things under control at the front of the field in the opening race, but Theo Bohnen had other ideas. Bohnen grabbed the lead on the penultimate lap and was able to hold off Mostert to take the win by less than a tenth of a second. Mostert’s teammate, Ignus du Plessis (BMW), crossed the line in third ahead of Anton Bitzer (Mazda), with Jonathan Visser (VW Polo) and Tony Tee Szabo (Honda) rounding out the top six.

Bohner and Mostert resumed their battle in the second heat, with Mostert just ahead until the final lap when Bohnen dropped back, eventually crossing the line in fifth, ahead of Visser. This left Mostert to take a comfortable win from du Plessis, with Bitzer and Marius Truter (VW Polo) in third and fourth, respectively.

Devin Robertson dominated the INEX Legends, taking all three race wins. In all three heats, he was chased to the line by Sebastian Venkov. Tyler Posthumus took the final podium position in the first and third heats, while defending champion Gavin Botha took third place in the second.

Nobody came close to Peter Zeelie’s Lotus in the opening MHCC/Clubmans/NSCC heat. How won by over 24 seconds from Wayne Robb (Ford Focus) and Kobus Brits (VW Polo). Dirk Lawrence (Honda Ballade), Rodney Kruis (Honda) and Klippies Krige (7+) rounded out the top six.

It looked like Zeelie was going to run away with the second heat, but mechanical issues sidelined him before the halfway mark. This allowed Robb to take a comfortable win from Lawrence and Kruis. Krige ended in fourth ahead of Theo Bohnen (Opel) and Willem Botha (Mazda).

The opening Evapco HRSA Pursuit race was won by Wesley Duffey (Datsun 1200 GX) from Clive Winterstein (Porsche 356) and Seef Fourie (Ford Escort Mk2). Rian du Ru brought his Ford Prefect home in fourth, ahead of Gary Stacey (Ford Cortina XR6) and Wynand du Plessis (Porsche 944).

Hedley Whitehead (Austin Cooper S) outdid Stacey to take the win in the second heat with Rob van Aarle (Ford Escort) in third. Fourth place went to du Plessis, with Steve Pickering (Porsche 910) and de Ru rounding out the top six.

Allen Meyer piloted his Formula VW to both Formula Libre wins. In the first race, he was comfortably ahead of Aiden Morrow (Formula M) and Louis van der Merwe (Swift 92). Joss Chaikin (Formula GTi), Anton van der Merwe (Formula Vee) and Jammie Geyser (Vison) rounded out the top six.

Meyer had to work a lot harder for the second heat win, with Johannes Gerber (van Diemen) pushing him all the way to the flag. Behind the leading duo, Morrow had a lonely run to third ahead of Chaikin, with Louis van der Merwe getting the better of Anton van der Merwe (Formula Vee) to take fifth place.

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