Low Flying at Westhill

Reporter: Rikus Jordaan

The second stop on the Winter series took the racers to the Westhill circuit. After a very successful first event where the two cars being fielded this season matched up nicely drivers of the slightly slower UFR where noticeably nervous as the circuit was full of high speed corners where the UFR’s agility would perhaps not match the speed of the XFR.

Throughout practice sessions during the week it became apparent that the UFR was at less of a loss than most expected and that competition for top lap times would be stiff. Attendance at practice looked good and expectations were high for another full field come Thursday.. Read More...

On race day drivers arrived early to squeeze in a last bit of practice before qualifying started. After an intense qualifying session Anton Tcholakov took the pole with Rowan Becker taking the remaining front row spot followed closely by Hansie Myburgh. With the two of the three fastest times coming from UFR’s it was clear that fears of a one way battle where proved wrong and the drivers where eager to get underway.

The sprint race got underway with two drivers unfortunately having false starts, which required them to complete a penalty Drive-through. This saw Rowan Becker dropping down from 2nd to 10th position. The first lap saw some intense action with drivers swapping several positions within the space of half a lap. Most notably Anton Tchokalov dropped from pole position to 16th place and Hansie Myburgh dropped from 2nd place to second last. Some skillful driving from these racers saw them work themselves back up the field. Steven Pelser made use of all this confusion to move up 5 places to 2nd position within half a lap and took the lead on the next lap. The race ended with Steven Pelser winning the race followed by Keith Macfarlane and Gary Klinkert. After their unfortunate starts Anton Tchokalov, Rowan Becker and Hansie Myburgh managed to fight there way back into the points.

The main race kicked off with less confusion than the sprint but saw the previous race winner unfortunately dropping to almost the back of the pack. From the get go it was clear that it was going to be an intense race. 24 laps of this long course meant that there was a lot of time to play catch up for the few drivers who slipped up in the sprint race. It also meant a lot of time to try to not slip up for the front runners. The race proceeded with nothing more serious than a few bumps and spins, which cost positions but lucky not the entire race.

The competition was fierce and drivers where pushing their cars to the limit. It seems that everyone was in a battle for position the entire race, with several battles so intense that positions where swapped numerous times per lap. Despite this Rowan Becker managed to secure an early lead and led the race from lap 2 to the finish. Hansie Myburgh started in 6th and quickly made up the positions to lead the pack at the end of the 1st lap. He however slipped back to 6th place but fought his way up again to end the race in 2nd place. Anton Tchokalov started in 4th place, briefly fell back to 6th place, but managed to work his way back up the field to claim the last podium spot. Honorable mention goes to Pieter Kitshoff who, after having his sprint race interrupted, started from the back of the grid and fought his way past 2/3 of the field climbing an amazing 12 places.