Is there some snow?
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Is there some snow?
Very nice work Bruce, keep us imformed please. ;)
No snow, just rain and it's not consistent. A bit of drama already, seems that Cronje, Poulter and Williams are under investigation for apparent shortcuts. GPS data from the cars should solve that. Sounds like 2 competitors have been excluded already but are running under appeal so this could be interesting. Fekken & Habig punctured on SS2, with Habig retiring on SS3 with suspension damage from it. Gemmell has knocked down one of the timing poles, causing some grey hairs in the scoring centre. Times from SS3 are coming through but currently the overall positions (provisionally) after SS2 are:
1) Cronje – 12:36.8
2) Poulter +0.5s
3) De Villiers +9.7s
4) Gemmell +23.4s
5) Kuun +23.9s
6) Van Niekerk +26.4s
7) Lategan +27.8s
8) Fekken +35.0s
9) Wilken +35.9s
10) Du Plessis +36.4s
I won't be able to keep you guys updated over the weekend but follow these twitter accounts for live updates as they happen:
The 2 competitors running under appeal for exclusion are Johnny Gemmell and Conrad Rautenbach, ironically 1st and 2nd in the championship. They walked the first stage (a short little one) and therefore it counted as a illegal recce so they are disqualified but running under appeal.
So after a complete mess of a rally with protests and counter-protests and appeals etc the results are provisional for now. I'll update a provisional championship standings later today.
Provisional Results
1. Mark Cronje - Ford Fiesta - 1:36:55.9
2. Charl Wilken - Ford Fiesta - 1:38:26.2
3. Enzo Kuun - VW Polo - 1:38:32.7
4. Hergen Fekken - VW Polo - 1:39:23.5
5. Johnny Gemmell - Toyota Aurs - 1:39:54.8
6. Heinrich Lategan - Peugeot 207 - 1:40:09.3
7. Nicholas Ryan - VW Polo - 1:41:44.1
8. Visser du Plessis - Peugeot 207 - 1:41:44.9
9. Japie van Niekerk - VW Polo - 1:41:53.8
10. Leeroy Poulter - Toyota Auris - 1:42:38.5
We got 12th :-( lost 5 min getting stuck after an overshoot, stage times would have had us in 6th overall if not for that problem. Handful of top 5 stage times are encouraging.
Completed last 4 stages without a windscreen. (2 in top 5)
Pity about your lost time Grant, I think a good result was on hand.
My current championship positions are unofficial and pending the outcome of the appeal against Gemmell and Poutler's penalty for short cutting which dropped them from 2nd and 7th respectively. Of course there is still the matter of Gemmell doing illegal recce on the 1st stage (he walked it), which according to every rule book I can find (and consulting with my father who is a graded Clerk of Course himself) the only penalty is exclusion, not a R500 fine that he received (along with Rautenbach) so I'm expecting VW to protest that one at some stage.
Meanwhile, here are my unofficial provisional championship standings
Drivers
1. Conrad Rautenbach - 69
2. Johnny Gemmell - 67
2. Charl Wilken - 67
4. Hergen Fekken - 64
5. Enzo Kuun - 59
6. Mark Cronje - 54
7. Nicholas Ryan - 52
8. Jean-Pierre Damseaux - 43
9. Leeroy Poulter - 41
10. Jon Williams - 39
13. Mohammed Moosa - 33
Co-Drivers
1. Greg Godrich - 73
2. Drew Sturrock - 70
3. Pierre Arries - 68
4. Guy Hodgson - 63
5. Robin Houghton - 56
6. Carolyn Swan - 47
7. Robert Paisley - 44
8. Cobus Vrey - 42
8. Elvene Coetzee - 42
10. Geoff Tyrer - 41
11. Grant Martin - 36
S2000 Drivers
1. Conrad Rautenbach - 40
2. Johnny Gemmell - 29
2. Charl Wilken - 29
4. Hergen Fekken - 26
5. Mark Cronje - 24
6. Enzo Kuun - 22
7. Jan Habig - 20
8. Leeroy Poulter - 16
9. Jean-Pierre Damseaux - 14
10. Nicholas Ryan - 12
S1600 Drivers
1. Christoff Snyders - 39
2. Craig Trott - 32
3. Ashley Haigh-Smith - 29
4. Guy Botterill - 28
5. Tjaart Conradie - 22
6. Hans Himmell - 16
7. Clint Weston - 11
8. Ron Himmell - 5
9. Paul Franken - 4
9. Gugu Zulu - 4
S1400 Drivers
1. Henk Lategan - 7
2. Megan Verlaque - 5
A7 Drivers
1. Schalk Burger - 2
1. Rocky Reyneke - 2
Junior Drivers
1. Christoff Snyders - 84
2. Craig Trott - 74
3. Ashley Haigh-Smith - 59
3. Guy Botterill - 59
5. Henk Lategan - 45
6. Tjaart Conradie - 42
7. Clint Weston - 35
7. Hans Himmell - 35
9. Megan Verlaque - 30
10. Paul Franken - 15
Manufacturers
1. Volkswagen - 440
2. Toyota - 408
3. Ford - 372
4. Peugeot - 63
5. Subaru - 24
6. Mitsubishi - 8
Grant, the rumour mill over at Rallyworld says you guys and JP will be in Aurises on the next event. Any truth in this, seen as this is the same source that was claiming JP would have one for the last event too?
!
I'll take that as a yes then! :D
Should be very interesting.