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26 June, 2011
Hutchison leads TDR on Day One
Former South African off-road car racing champion Evan Hutchison and Danie Stassen edged out reigning champions Kallie and Quintin Sullwald in a dramatic finish on Saturday to Special Vehicle category proceedings on racing section two of the Toyota 1000 Desert Race.
Hutchison and Stassen (Motorite Revo), came home just 18 seconds ahead of current joint championship leaders Kallie and Quintin Sullwald (Elegant BAT), but the biggest moves of the day came from former Class P champions Johan van Staden/James Rossouw (Atlas Copco BAT) and triple TDR winners Shameer Variawa and Siegfried Rousseau (Varigo BAT).
Hutchison caught and passed the Sullwalds two kilometres from the end of the second of the two 250 kilometre loops that made up racing section two of the Botswana event organised by the Four Wheel Drive Club of Southern Africa. After a disappointing season it was a major boost for the crew who were troubled by a broken gear lever early in the first loop.
The Sullwalds reported a clean run and were quite happy with their lot.
"We ran a good pace all day, conserved the car and today's result should produce a good fight with Evan and Danie," said Sullwald senior.
Van Staden and Rossouw sneaked in ahead of Variawa and Rousseau on the second of the two loops. Variawa and Rousseau were, however, comfortably placed in their search for a fourth successive TDR win. A terrific drive took Archie Rutherford/Mike Lawrenson (Regent Jimco) into a solid fifth and gave them the lead in Class P. They were followed by Brett Parker and VZ van Zyl, who won this race with Greg Daus in 2002, in a Jimco and Richard Fuller and Geoff Minnitt who were the second Class P crew in their Atlas Copco BAT.
Jimmy Zahos/Stefan Coetzee (Cobalt Porter), Hermann/Wichard Sullwald (Sullwald SVR) and brothers David and Gary White (Ruwacon BAT) completed the top ten. The two Sullwalds started the day leading the overall championship with brother Kallie and cousin Quintin.
It wasn't a happy day for Nick and Ryan Harper (Motorite BAT), who started the day just two points behind the two Sullwald crews in the overall championship. The Harpers ran into mechanical problems and were among crews who were time barred.
Other notable retirements were Colin Matthews and Alan Smith (Century CR3), KwaZulu-Natal crew Clint Gibson and Gary Campbell (Gibson SVR) who blew a motor on the prologue, Guy Henley and Warwick Goosen (Century Jimco) and Democratic Republic of Congo crew Edoardo and Riccardo Argazzi in an ARG Dragon.
The tough conditions also took a very heavy toll on Class B competitors and there were no finishers in the class. Among the casualties were last year's winners Coetzee Labuscagne and daughter Sandra (Raysonics Zarco), brothers Keith and Andrew Makenete (Zarco) and the father-and-son pair of Bes and Etienne Bezuidenhout in the Adenco BAT.
Crews who retired on Saturday because of mechanical problems, or were time-barred, were allowed to restart the race on Sunday, eligible for half points.
The race was due to restart at Kumakwane at 08h00 on Sunday. The first cars were expected at the finish back at Kumakwane at approximately 15h00.
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