The Investchem Formula 1600 racing gang delivered spirited and entertaining racing at Aldo Scribante’s Volkswagen Race Day in Port Elizabeth, but nobody was going to stop championship leader Scott Temple from romping to a maximum points haul on Saturday.
Temple (Road To Race/1st Race Mygale) did his ever improving title aspirations no harm at all when he claimed the pole position point with a lap half a second quicker than Andrew Rackstraw (RDSA Investchem Mygale), Alex Gillespie (ERP Trucking Components Mygale), Andrew Schofield (Investchem Mygale) and Nicholas van Weely (Magnificent Paints & Hardware van Diemen).
Always together it seems, Tiago Rebelo and Siyabonga Mankonkwana (Investchem Mygale) where next up ahead of improving rookie Alex Vos (Ecurie Zoo van Diemen), Gerard Geldenhuys (Abacus Divisions Mygale) and Zac Edwards (SCM Mygale). Class B leader Allan Meyer’s van Diemen suffered a clutch failure and switched to a Fantastic Racing Mygale for the races, while Brendan Tracy (Investchem Mygale) had a troubled qualifying to start at the back.
Temple made a great start and led away, while Rackstraw dropped to fifth behind Gillesipe, van Weely and Rebello after both Rackstraw and Schofield misread the starting orders. Rackstraw was however soon up to fourth ahead of Mankonkwana and Geldenhuys with Tracy, Meyer and Schofield enjoying their own tussle a little further back ahead of Edwards after Vos took an early shower following an electrical issue.
Rackstraw was all over the back of van Weely before he made his move in the van Diemen for fourth and quickly closing up to Gillespie, whom he hounded for a few laps, but there was contact as Andrew made his move on Alex and both were out. That handed second to van Weely and a podium third to Rebelo, ahead of Mankonkwana.
A recovering Schofield broke away from Tracy and Meyer to close down and make a late race pass on Geldenhuys for fifth, while Tracy held off Class B winner Meyer for seventh ahead of Zac Edwards, with Gillespie and Rackstraw classified as finishers albeit both never made the finish.
Race two was a far more straightforward affair as Temple stormed to another lights to flag win, although a determined Andrew Rackstraw kept him honest throughout as the two entertained an enthusiastic PE crowd. Behind them, Gillespie held off van Weely for a few laps before Nicholas found a way past only to stop two laps later when his throttle cable melted and failed, to allow Gillespie back to third.
Schofield, Rebelo and Mankonkwana had straightforward runs to fourth, fifth and sixth, while Tracy, Geldenhuys, Edwards and Meyer enjoyed a tussle behind, with Edwards claiming Class B winner Meyer’s scalp on the last lap. Tracy was however handed a 30 second penalty for passing under the yellow flag to drop to 11th. Alex Vos’ promising qualifying came to nought with his ongoing electrical woes, while van Weely was classified but not running.
So, Scott Temple claimed a maximum points haul with the fastest lap of the day on top of his pole position and two race wins to take the overall win from youngsters Rebelo and Mankonkwana and Schofield a hard fought fourth. Geldenhuys was next up ahead of Zac Edwards and Class B winner Allan Meyer and the troubled Tracy, Rackstraw, Gillespie, van Weely and Vos.
That leaves Temple in a massive championship lead over van Weely and Rackstraw with Rebelo and Mankonkwana next up in their ongoing point-for-point scrap for fourth, Schofield and the duelling Gillespie and Geldenhuis. The Investchem Formula 1600 championship now takes its midseason break before returning to action at Zwartkops in Pretoria end July.