V-Power Swakop Rally done and dusted

Rudi Bowe

Last Saturday saw the 7th Swakopmund Rally and round 2 of the Namibian Rally Championship that took place in and around the coastal town.

With ten teams in the sedan class and six in the off road class the Swakop rally was a huge success with Jaco Redelinghuys and co-driver Dries Booysen in their Gobabis Toyota Yaris S2000 4×4. They came out on top in the S3-class as well as the overall spot in the 201.74 kilometers with a time of 1 hour 7 minute 12 seconds.
For Allan Martin and co-driver Maretha Olivier in their J&P Hydraulics VW Polo S2000 4×4 the day started out with gremlins that would see the team lose huge amounts of time as the Polo started to give clutch problems but Allan nursed the Polo with a slipping clutch and with some luck on his side and absolute crazy driving he pushed the limits and at stage 5 driving on 2 wheels he still managed to take 2nd position overall in and won the S4-class in a time of 1:07:31.
Marco Luis and co-driver Jannie Coetzee in their STI Subaru Impreza Turbo 4×4 ended third in S4-Class with a time of 1:31:28. Jan Everson and co-driver Fanie Botes in with their Seal Consulting Engineers S2-klas VW Polo 4×2 had to retire at the end of stage 5 with engine problem.
For the young Zachary Martin with Michael Strydom as co-driver the rally started with a led foot as he pushed his little S1600 Golf MK1 as hard as he could but at the midway point with a healthy lead in class S1 the engine of the Golf had cried enough and sadly the team came to a standstill in a cloud of smoke losing all hopes of a 2nd win in a row after their win in round 1 in Gobabis.
The only all women’s team, Welmie Kühn and and co-driver René van Wyk with their Kühn Paneel-kloppers 1.6i Toyota RunX 4×2 finished the rally in S1-class. Welmie said after the rally that she enjoyed it. For her it is really fun to race and that it is not only men that can do this sport. If everything goes well she will finish all the rallies.
The Sedan class winners:
S4: 1 Martin/Olivier, 2 Dippenaar/Van der Westhuizen, 3 Luis/Coetzee
S3: 1 Redelinghuys/Booysen
S2: 1 Malan/Van Niekerk in their Zebra Trailers 4×2 Toyota RunX
S1: 1 Bergh/Robbertsin their J.R. Repair Services 4×2 Toyota Corolla, 2 Van Heerden/Van Wyk in their 4×2 Toyota Auris
The overall winners in the Sedan division are Jaco Redelinghuys/Dries Booysen with Allan Martin/ Maretha Olivier second, Wilro Dippenaar/Riaan Van der Westhuizen third and Tinus Malan/Paul van Niekerk, Johan Bergh/Herman Robberts, Ettienne van Heerden/Willy van Wyk Marco Luis/Jannie Coetzee was fourth, fifth, six and seventh respectively.
The Off Road class winners:
Class A: 1.Labuschagne brothers
Class C: The winners are Bartch/Fouriein their Safe-wear4x2 Ford Courier and second place was Coetzee/ Howard in Mitsubishi Pajaro V6 4×2.
Class D: 1. Kruger/Louw.
Class E: 1. Breed/Louw.
The Off Road division was won by Breed/Louw in a time of 1:14:01 second was the Labuschagne brothers in a time of 1:22:18, third was Kruger/Louw in 1:29:41 Wido Bartch/Patrick Fourie in 1:30:12 and Gert Coetzee/Ciske Howard in 1:55:31 was fourth fifth respectively.
Next up is the Tsumeb rally on 18 May, which might possibly see Allan Martin retiring his trusted Polo and get behind his exiting new rally car.
Walvis Bay Motor Club would like to thank the fol-lowing sponsors for their contribution to make the V-Power Swakopmund Rally a success: V-Power, Mr Nardo Sardinha, Compass Walvis Bay, De Duine Hotel Henties Bay, Seal Consulting Engineers, Puma JD Service Station, Ocean View Shell, Sky-Way, VIVO Energy, Steckel’s Toyota, Star Body Works, Namib Diesel, Safe Wear Namibia, West Coast Aluminium and Glass, J&P Hydraulics cc Racing, Namibia Motor Sport Federation, Windhoek Motor Club, Walvis Bay Motor Club, Desert Explorers, Emed Rescue, Swakopmund Municipality, Salt Company, Paintball Club, Trans-namib and all the spectators.