Handbrakes & Hairpins Issue 178

Tough weekend for off-road
racers at Toyota Dealer 400
Words: Staff Writer
Pictures: Motorpics
Production Vehicle Category:
Maiden win for Regent Racing Team
Regent Racing Nissan Navara crew Mike
Whitehouse and Mathew Carlson scored
a stunning maiden victory on a dramatic
Toyota Dealer 400 this past weekend.
Bookmakers would have offered
generous odds for a Whitehouse/Carlson
victory, but a crew that has built up a
reputation for reliability and consistency
drove with their heads to simply grind
the opposition into the Mpumalanga
mud. Recent good rains in the area
turned much of the course into a slippery
slide with a couple of river crossings and
mud holes wreaking havoc.
Whitehouse and Carlson
eventually fi nished a mammoth 22min
ahead of Thomas Rundle/Juan Mohr
(Barden Nissan Navara).
There was also a fi rst podium
for reigning South African champions
Chris Visser/Japie Badenhorst in their
second appearance for the Ford Racing
Ranger factory team. Visser/Badenhorst
produced a typically stubborn
performance to fi nish well in areas
behind the Barden entry.
“We are ecstatic,” said
Whitehouse afterwards. “We managed to
run at a good pace throughout the race
and avoided the troubles and pitfalls
that hit other crews. When we realised
we had a sniff at winning, we took the
decision to simply keep it steady and not
do anything stupid.”
The treacherous conditions
forced the organisers to alter the route
after the second of the three loops
that made up the race. This cut out a
particularly problematic river crossing,
and cars were regrouped before starting
at one-minute intervals.
The Team Castrol Toyota pair of
Duncan Vos/Rob Howie led for much of
the event before a late wrong slot cost
them time. The pairing then rolled out
Event Reports
Results
of contention 30km from the fi nish, with
the same fate befalling Free State crew
Pieter Ruthven/Rudi Britz in the Ruwacon
Racing Toyota Hilux. Earlier Anthony
Taylor/Chris Birkin, in the second Castrol
Toyota Hilux, ran into the back of a
Special Vehicle competitor, and radiator
damage forced them to retire on the fi rst
of three loops that made up the race.
There were only eight
Production Vehicle fi nishers. Gutsy
performances saw Dewald van Breda/
Johan de Klerk (Potch Plastics Toyota
Hilux D4D), Gary Bertholdt/Andre
Vermeulen (Atlas Copco Toyota Hilux)
and Terence Marsh/George Smalberger,
in the second Regent Racing Navara,
fi nish fourth, fi fth and sixth respectively
in the premier SP Class.
The fi nal fi nishers also saw less
fancied crews score maiden national
victories. Brothers Sarel and Jack
Oosthuizen (Land Rover), were the only
fi nishers in Class D. And, in their fi rst
outing at National level Dirk Putter/Koos