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What Regional Extreme Festival Round 4 Preview
Where Zwartkops Raceway, Pretoria
When Saturday 24 June 2023
Community Gauteng Regional

Hot Regional racing to warm the cockles of your heart

Zwartkops Raceway is gearing up for its midwinter midseason Regional Extreme Festival where a thrilling program is guaranteed to blow away those midwinter blues. With two heats of two races each in the Pabar VW Challenge and BMW M Performance Parts Series, backed by two heats each for DOE Formula Vee, the Car Care Clinic 111s, Superhatch and the visiting Mozambican Picanto Cup, only the hottest track action is guaranteed.

Rory Atkinson got his Pabar VW Challenge title defence back on track with a win last time out. So Masters brothers Bevin and Wayne intend to retake their lost advantage with Waldie Meintjies, Charl Smalberger and the rest in pursuit. Young Ethan Coetzee leads a monster B chase from class champion Hannes Scheepers, Pierluigi Muzzulini, Elna Croeser, Jacques Hayes, Ross Butt and the gang. Overall leader Yotti Nousias is ahead of Philip Croeser, Bjorn Bertholdt and Charl Andersen in Class C. Pabar VW Challenge never fails to thrill.

The BMW M Performance Parts Series form book was also turned on its head last time out. Bob Neill took race 1 in his M3 Turbo. He will have Leon Loubser and William Einkamerer to deal with in Class A, while Andreas Meier, Lorenzo and Salvi Gualtieri, Lyle Ramsay, Nek Makris and Renier Smit will fight it out in Class B, and Nicholas van Zyl, Nicholas Fischer and Nicholas Naidoo are the men to beat in Class C. Classes D and E will race alone with Arri van Heerden and Reinhardt Miller among the respective frontrunners there.

Reigning champion Peter Hills may have taken some time to get his DOE Formula Vee with CIM Lubri Fuel title defence properly underway, but he certainly bounced back in style at the previous round. His rivals won’t be taking that lying down though. Expect Jaco Schriks and Lendl Jansen, son Brandon Hills and Eric Booyens seek revenge. Add Theodore Vermaak, Shaun van der Linde and Kyle Watt and that single seater action runs deep into the pack.

One class Zwartkops’ faithful will be intrigued to be thrilled by again is the Mozambican Kia Picanto Cup, which makes its first visit to South African soil this season. These little cars are usually shared between two drivers, one of them driving each race. Expect a little extra excitement to be added by one or two South African drivers filling guest seats. Close and exciting racing guaranteed!

The Car Care Clinic 111 GTs, Sports, and Saloon Cars and Superhatch classes return to sprint racing after sharing the track for the Phakisa 2000 last time. Wouter Roos is out to continue his 111 winning ways hounded by a pack of other VW Golfs including Wayne Lebotschy’s wieldy Mark 1, Louis Cloete’s Beetle, Johan van der Vyver in a Subaru, Lucas Bezuidenhout’s Lexus, Civic man Lenard Archer, and Roland Hopkins ‘Polo, among an eclectic bunch of cars.

Superhatch will see Karel Stolts’ Etios fight it out with Francis Aldrich’s Corsa, Quintus Viljoen in a Polo and Seten Naidoo’s Civic. George Aldrich’s Peugeot has Thishan Govender’s Civic and Andre de Lange in a Golf to deal with in Class B. Zwartkops midwinter Regional Festival race program is backed by live music and entertainment, stalls, and all the expected good food and refreshments. Entry is R130 per person, R90 for students and under 12s get in free. See you at Zwartkops on Saturday 24 June to race away those midwinter blues!

Issued on behalf of Zwartkops Raceway

Photography by: Andre Laubscher

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