2011 South African National Rally Championship

CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS

All unofficial, my calculations.

OVERALL DRIVERS
1. Conrad Rautenbach - 69pts
2. Johnny Gemmell - 51
3. Hergen Fekken - 47
4. Charl Wilken - 46
5. Jean-Pierre Damseaux - 43
6. Enzo Kuun - 40
7. Jon Williams - 39
8. Nicholas Ryan - 38
8. Jan Habig - 38
10. Giniel de Villiers 33
13 Mohammed Moosa - 24

OVERALL CO-DRIVERS
1. Drew Sturrock - 54
2. Greg Godrich - 52
3. Pierre Arries - 51
4. Carolyn Swan - 47
5. Guy Hodgson - 44
5. Robert Paisley - 44
7. Cobus Vrey - 42
8. Geoff Tyrer - 41
9. Ralph Pitchford - 36
10. Elvene Coetzee - 31
10. Robin Houghton - 31
12. Grant Martin - 27

S2000 DRIVERS
1. Rautenbach - 40
2. Gemmell - 23
3. Habig - 20
4. Fekken - 18
5. Wilken - 17
6. Poulter - 15
7. Damseaux - 14
8. Kuun - 12
9. Cronje - 9
9. Williams - 9

S1600 DRIVERS
1. Snyders - 33
2. Trott - 24
2. Haigh-Smith - 24
4. Botterill - 13
5. Weston - 11
6. Conradie - 10
7. Himmell H. - 6
8. Himmell R. - 5
9. Franken - 4
9. Zulu - 4

S1400 DRIVERS
1. Lategan - 6
2. Verlaque - 3

A7 DRIVERS
1. Burger - 2
2. Reyneke - 1

JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP
1. Snyders - 69
2. Trott - 57
3. Haigh-Smith - 46
4. Weston - 35
5. Botterill - 34
6. Lategan - 31
6. Conradie - 21
8. Himmell H. - 16
9. Franken - 15
10. Verlaque - 14
10. Himmell R. - 14

MANUFACTURERS
1. Volkswagen - 338
2. Toyota - 303
3. Ford - 294
4. Peugeot - 27
5. Subaru - 16
6. Mitsubishi - 8

What really ticks me off is News24 now making a bit song and dance about it - they never talk about rallying until someone gets hurt. And also Visser du Plessis distributing photos of the guy in hospital. Something seriously wrong with these people.

That's unfortunately same everywhere...

So the official points have been released and I'm still dumbfounded that Burger's points for A7 were counted for the Sasol Rally, even though he was in a N4 Lancer. Come on MSA, get it right now!

Round 4 next weekend, Toyota Dealer Gauteng rally,

I will check the DVD this weekend, but conditions likely to be similar to the last round, so should be really fast and flowing.

Very fast championship.

Yeah Gauteng this weekend, Jean-Pierre Damseaux should be in his new Toyota Auris and the Peugeot team are saying they've found improvements for this event. Should be interesting, I just want to see if Rautenbach can continue his consistent run as the Toyotas look very strong at the moment. Not sure if we'll see the new Polo yet either, that might only come out for the next round, the VW Rally.

Apparently JP's Auris deal was only a rumour.

VW's new cars willl apparently debut on their home event, but could be more rumours,

It's like silly season in the middle of the season :-D

Yeah VW said they'd have the new car last year on their event and it never arrived. I thought the new car was the one they revealed on the Tour but clearly not.

As for JP, that would be a pity cos he's definately driving much better this season than he has for a while. My father spoke to Serge on the Tour and he said that Toyota wanted crazy money for a works spec Auris, something like R3.6 million which he couldn't justify. I wouldn't be surprised to see JP in a Polo next season, although it depends on the the link between Toyota and Total.

Gauteng Rally starts today, apparently it's 0 degrees Celcius at the moment, should make an interesting rally, not sure we've run an event in such colder weather in years.

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:

Twitter
Twitter
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Twitter

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.

We had some serious rain in the Eastern Cape yesterday, flooding etc, hope the roads havnt taken to much more of a beating..... glad im not an organiser right now :-)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bruce D

I'll take that as a yes then! :D

Should be very interesting.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Grant_RSA

We had some serious rain in the Eastern Cape yesterday, flooding etc, hope the roads havnt taken to much more of a beating..... glad im not an organiser right now :-)

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I've got my water wings on and my canoe at the ready for any more rain. There are roads closed in here in PE as a result of flooding... The shakedown stage is completely underwater! Grant, bring warm clothes mate. And also bring your water wings you had to use in your city recently!

Tomorrow is the big hearing on all the appeals from the recent Toyota Dealer Gauteng Rally (round 4). i don't think much will be resolved there, but we will wai for the report to come from this...

Guys,

How have you been?

Must say really interesting Rally so far! Thanks for the updates Bruce! ;)

Just came back from the TDR in Botswana.. was a tough year in Botswana for the guys riding in the Rally Raid..

Quote:

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Originally Posted by handbrakes&hairpins

Tomorrow is the big hearing on all the appeals from the recent Toyota Dealer Gauteng Rally (round 4). i don't think much will be resolved there, but we will wai for the report to come from this...

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Yeah we need that event sorted now, was pathetic. And I think Conrad should be told to keep a lid on it too when it comes to negative comments about the sport in this country. If he doesn't like it he should go back to Zim. He was really pathetic in that TV coverage of the event.

Seen the photos on RallyStar showing one of the "stages" being rather under water.

Im off to Port Elizabeth in the morning, roads look good, possibility of 2 stages being cancelled due to flooded roads, but only 20km total distance,

Will let you all know how it goes.

Jean-Pierre Damseaux has rolled his brand new Auris S2000 in the shakedown stage, but damage is apparently cosmetic so he will start the event.

Grant describes their new Auris on twitter as "awesome" so let's hope they have a good event. Event starts at 12:00pm local time today.

Any new onboard?

Mark Cronje dominated the rally, with JP Damseaux, Charl Wilken and a few others all crashing out, and only 18 finishers from the 33 starts. I'll post championship points later today, but for now overall results:

1. Mark Cronje - Ford Fiesta S2000 - 1:42:07.1
2. Johnny Gemmell - Toyota Auris S2000 - 1:42:43.2
3. Enzo Kuun - VW Polo S2000 - 1:43:39.9
4. Jan Habig - VW Polo S2000 - 1:43:46.0
5. Conrad Rautenbach - Ford Fiesta S2000 - 1:44:17.7
6. Jon Williams - Ford Fiesta S2000 - 1:45:03.6
7. Nicholas Ryan - VW Polo S2000 - 1:45:57.6
8. Giniel de Villiers - VW Polo S2000 - 1:46:53.9
9. Mohammed Moosa (Grant_SA) - Toyota Auris S2000 - 1:47:34.8
10. Guy Botterill - Toyota RunX S1600 - 1:57:44.1

Right, my updated championship positions. Remember these are not official also still pending the final ruling on the Gauteng Rally last month.

Drivers
1. Johnny Gemmell - 88
2. Conrad Rautenbach - 85
3. Mark Cronje - 79
4. Enzo Kuun - 78
5. Hergen Fekken - 70
6. Charl Wilken - 67
7. Nicholas Ryan - 66
8. Jan Habig - 55
9. Jon Williams - 54
10. Giniel de Villiers - 46
11. Mohammed Moosa - 45

Co-Drivers
1. Drew Sturrock - 91
2. Guy Hodgson - 82
3. Robin Houghton - 81
4. Pierre Arries - 75
5. Greg Godrich - 73
6. Robert Paisley - 61
7. Cobus Vrey - 58
8. Ralph Pitchford - 50
9. Grant Martin - 49
10. Carolyn Swan - 47

S2000
1. Conrad Rautenbach - 46
2. Johnny Gemmell - 41
3. Mark Cronje - 39
4. Enzo Kuun - 32
5. Charl Wilken - 29
6. Jan Habig - 28
7. Hergen Fekken - 26
8. Leeroy Poulter - 16
8. Nicholas Ryan - 16
10. Jon Williams / Giniel de Villiers - 14

S1600
1. Craig Trott - 44
2. Guy Botterill - 43
3. Christoff Snyders - 39
4. Ashley Haigh-Smith - 29
5. Tjaart Conradie - 22
6. Hans Himmell - 16
7. Paul Franken - 12
8. Clint Weston - 11
9. Chris de Wit - 10
10. Ron Himmell - 5

S1400
1. Megan Verlaque - 9
2. Henk Lategan - 7

A7
1. Schalk Burger Jnr - 2
1. Rocky Reyneke - 2

Junior
1. Craig Trott - 95
2. Christoff Snyders - 84
2. Guy Botterill - 84
4. Ashley Haigh-Smith - 59
5. Megan Verlaque - 47
6. Henk Lategan - 45
7. Tjaart Conradie - 42
8. Clint Weston - 35
8. Hans Himmell - 35
10. Paul Franken - 31

Manufacturers
1. Toyota - 559
2. Volkswagen - 543
3. Ford - 454
4. Peugeot - 73
5. Subaru - 24
6. Mitsubishi - 8

We had a decent start with the Auris, sadly a slipping clutch at the end of SS7 had us changing the clutch and taking lateness, unfortuantely this caused us to start SS8 35km behind a S1600 car which we caught within 7km.. sat behind him for some 10km.

The car is a definate step forward from the RunX, it does everything the RunX does, just alot easier, now its building the confidence to push the boundries.

On the event itself... well you dont get better rally roads, super highspeed forest roads, when you get it wrong, it goes seriously wrong. Unfortuantely there were some casualties, 2 of which were in the first stage.

A total of 5 rolled cars shows the pace is hot, and everyone is trying hard.

You guys have changed cars and are still having clutch problems. Surely there must be some cause somewhere.

MSA have released championship points but have not scored anything for the Gauteng Rally, pending the appeals. I can't see what the issues are here anymore. The facts are that onboard cameras from the 2 Toyotas were used to prove them guilty of short-cutting, but the onboards on the TV coverage clearly proved that everyone was short-cutting, so surely the penalties should be removed and lets get on with the rest of a cracking season.

Clutch problems werent really related, just yet another rally without a clean run.... i trust this to will pass, :-)

Sadly i think this TDR issue will carry on for some time, this issues needs to be adressed now and sorted to avoid the same problem all over again next year.

The how to avoid it in future will be difficult. I mean the regs said that shortcutting would be penalised and yet people still did it but only a few were penalised for it. I have no problem with them penalising people, so long as they get all of them. I'm also confused because I heard that they'd only nailed those with onboard cameras, but the TV coverage clearly showed everyone except Conrad shortcutting. It's all weird and sad, needs to be sorted out pronto and let us get back to this excellent championship.

Saw the TV coverage of the VW Rally last night. It was quite good coverage and the onboards seemed to be of a higher quality picture than normal, it all looked great.

Grant, one thing they went on about was the different tyre types that could be used and saying that Cronje might be getting an advantage from his choice (I personally doubt it, I think he's just in another league right now), but what are the differences? Width of tread or cut pattern?

BTW I ROFL at your onboard while in the dust of the S1600 car, that conversation was classic!
Moosa: Who's this in front of us?"
Grant: Don't worry about it, just go.
Moosa: You come drive the f***ing car then!

:p

Actually it's quite funny listening to our co-drivers in action. In Europe they tend to read the notes and just sit there, here the co-driver is constantly telling the driver to go faster! My other favourite and a good example of what I'm saying is onboard with Jan Habig and Robert Paisley, I think it was stage 2:

Paisley: Long right 6
(They cross the flying finish and Habig lifts off and slows down)
Paisley: No, right 6 long, keep going, keep going!
Habig: We're finished the stage.
Paisley: What?!
Habig: We're finished.
Paisley: Oh...

Glad you were entertained Mr :-)

I suggest you go listen again to our conversation again, i think you missed the jist of it, you will then understand better, we requested a bigger dust gap and were denied, just a bit of frustration, unfortunately the context doesnt get put in place before showing the actual footage.

Incidently we caught the S1600 7km into a 35km stage...

As for Habig and Paisley, we all did the same, the flying finish was moved and at that stage, were not looking up to see it, so when the bugger in the other seat slacks off we get upset about it :-)

Yeah I know the story, I just thought it was rather amusing how upset he got about your response. ;)

As for the Habig / Paisley thing, ok that makes sense then, cos I've not known Paisley to be that confused. His look of confusion is now understandable too.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bruce D

Actually it's quite funny listening to our co-drivers in action. In Europe they tend to read the notes and just sit there, here the co-driver is constantly telling the driver to go faster! My other favourite and a good example of what I'm saying is onboard with Jan Habig and Robert Paisley, I think it was stage 2:

.

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Remember 1 thing, overseas theyr driving on pace notes, here we drive on route notes, we adapt to a pacenote somewhat , but at the end of the day were describing the road, there they are telling them how fast.


We experimented with 205's in that particular stage, but didnt really see the benefit due to the 2min we lost in the dust.... the tread patern is essentially the same, just more rubber on the road, this can be beneficial at the coast, but the cars will struggle a bit more at altitude.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bruce D

Yeah I know the story, I just thought it was rather amusing how upset he got about your response. ;)

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I'll say it again, go and listen again..

Please some onboard action. :)