The Italian Job

Reporter: Marc van Niekerk
The hardcore SARL fly boys were at it again. This time it was Monza. Second last race of the GP '79 championship. Ferrari vs Lotus vs Ligier plus the odd politically incorrect, fuel guzzling, ozone layer damaging Renault to boot. The only thing around running hotter than the Renault was the battle for final championship honours.

During open practice the three main contenders for the championship - Dewald Batt, Marc van Niekerk and Marc Wright played their cards close to the chest by lapping with race setups and not showing their real pace. The electricity in the air could be cut by a knife and the crowd were worked into a frenzy during the qualifying session where Marc W managed to go sub 1min39 in his Ferrari, closely followed by Marc vN in a Lotus and Dewald in another Ferrari. Being the exact opposite of the current standings in the championship, the race could not have been scripted better. Neels Botha did very well to qualify in 4th place.

At the race start, all got way cleanly, but on lap 1 Marc W ran wide and through the gravel trap at Curva del Vialone, dropping down to 4th place and championship leader Dewald, then in 2nd, spun on the entry to Parabolica, loosing his front wing in the process. He had to take a detour via pit-lane and dropped down to 11th and last place.

Dewald immediately set out to claw back as many places as he could, with Marc W determined to try and chase down Marc vN. A softly audible cheer went up from somewhere in the woods when the Renault of Craig Hume expired on lap 12. Reports that the local police escourted a handful of Green Peace protesters away from the track soon afterwards for not having valid entry tickets could not be confirmed at this stage. Suggestions of a mysterious white powder found in one of the protesters pockets were also being brushed aside as hogwash.

Driver of the day, Neels ended up finishing 3rd, showing his good qualifying pace was not a fluke. A driver to watch out for the future. Up front Marc vN held off a late charging Marc W for the win. Dewald managed to work his way up to 5th in the end, behind Andre van Staden.

Although this was not a race to be remembered by the crowd, it had the effect of setting up the final race at Watkins Glen perfectly - already touted as the mother of all races with Dewald clinging on to a slender 3 points lead over Marc vN, followed by Marc W a further 6 points behind. The battle for 4th is also not over yet, with Andre, Ken Hunter and Leon Coxen all in contention.

Stay tuned.