24-04-2025
Rally fever grips Nelson Mandela Bay
Round two of the Algoa Rally Club Championship takes place on Monday at the Aldo Scribante Raceway at the Syrabix APS Motul Rally and has been billed as yet another spectator-friendly event with a mix of dirt and tar sections and some high-speed jumps.
The starting line-up of 24 entries includes some newcomers who will be pitting their skills against many of the seasoned campaigners.
East London brothers Justin and Dane Langheine, who did sweeping and recovery duties in the first round of the championship, will be making their debut in a Toyota Corolla KE70 powered by a 2-litre Toyota Beams motor and should be a force to be reckoned with.
Another new pairing are the team of Belinda Ball, the wife of racing driver Dean Ball, with Tarryn van Rooyen doing navigating duties for her. Making a welcome return to rallying are Gordon Nolan with debutant navigator Timothy Ball.
The winners of the opening round of the championship, Gauteng brothers Nico and Juandre Nienaber, return for round two and will no doubt be pushing their Toyota Etios 1600 to the limit once again after a spectacular performance in round one.
Nick Davidson and Ashley Bezuidenhout will be hoping that their four-wheel drive Toyota Auris S2000's reliability issues are now a thing of the past and will be mixing it up with the four-wheel drive VW Polos of Wade van Zummeren, Jody van Zummeren and Riekus Schmidt as well as the four-wheel drive Subaru Legacy of Des Timm with navigator Thango Tyikwe and the Audi S3 Quattro of Cape Town visitors Paul van Wyk and Matt Kohler.
In the two-wheel drive class there will no doubt be the usual close tussle between the likes of national competitors Neels Vosloo and Rikus Fourie, Ross and Roxanne Bartle, Johan and Juane' Viljoen, Jeandré Marais and Tegan Taljaard, all in VW Polos, and Deon Kretzmann and Jason Schreiber's Toyota Etios and Juan van Rooyen with his daughter Cailyn competing in their new Ford Fiesta for the first time.
The beauty of holding the rally at Scribante is that there are many spectator vantage points where one can see up to four cars competing in various stages at the same time, be it on the racetrack or the surrounding dirt roads.
Entrance to the event for spectators is R50 per vehicle, so everyone is encouraged to load up their friends and families, bring the braai fires and cooler boxes and enjoy the public holiday while enjoying the action.
Upcoming events:
April
25: British Sports Car display at the EP Veteran Car Club in Conyngham Road
26: Round 2 of Algoa Motorsport Regional Championship at Aldo Scribante Raceway; Dirt Oval Racing at PE Ovaltrack Raceway in Greenbushes
28: Round 2 of Algoa Rally Club Championship at Aldo Scribante Raceway
May
2-4: Simola Hill Climb in Knysna
3: National Motocross at Rover Motorcycle Club
10: Extreme National Festival at Aldo Scribante Raceway; Dirt Oval Challenge series at Victory Raceway
The Herald
