Story by Roxy le Roux
Photos by Arthur Hiscox
This past Saturday, Zwartkops witnessed its very first night event and who better to have claimed that title than the SupaDrift drifters. The very first night event with lighting set up to generators, was actually very well attended, with spectators staying right up until the end.
As with any event, there were some spanners in the works for some as we saw a few locals not drifting, some new faces, new cars and interesting end results.
On Friday night’s practice we saw Dean Williams take flame due to a nitrous related incident. The car was worked on to get it ready to compete on Saturday but unfortunately an injector fault put him out of the race. Jason Webb attacked the track in his new Nissan 200SX S13. We could see that he wasn’t completely comfortable in the car but with a bit more seat time and a few tweaks it’ll deliver a highly competitive Jason again. Jonathan Rudman also ran into some problems in his Speed and Sound Nissan 200SX but still competed. He took on the Speed and Sound Chev Lumina and managed to use that heavy car’s weight transfer to his advantage and managed the quite well. Chase Audagnotti graced us with the presence of his Nissan Skyline R33. It was initially thought that he wouldn’t compete in the Skyline due to three broken pistons on Friday but thanks to determination and team work, a brand new engine was purchased, put in and dyno’d by 12 o’clock on Saturday, giving the relieved Chase the opportunity to compete. Chase had been competing in the past 6 SupaDrift events in his naturally aspirated Nissan Silvia so seeing him in the Skyline proved that there is a lot more talent hiding in Chase. All that was needed was the right equipment. Adam Shefer, that has been out of action for around 4 months, was also at the event in his ALB / Kuston Ink 200SX and ready to prove to us what we have been missing.
Qualifying saw 24 drivers take to the tar to impress our judges and the results for the Top 16 were as follows:
1. Adam Shefer 95.00
2. David Nell 94.67
3. Ernest Simpson 93.00
4. Wade v Zummeren 91.33
5. Jonathan Rudman 89.33
6. Riaan Stokes 86.67
7. Lee-Roy Frans 85.33
8. Jim McFarlane 84.33
9. Shaun Lamprecht 84.00
10. Hannes Frans 84.00
11. Mike Skelton 83.33
12. Vic Pardal 82.33
13. Mike Radloff 81.67
14. Rudi vd Berg 79.67
15. Jason Webb 78.00
16. Chase Audagnotti 77.00
Tandem runs and pairing were where things got interesting. The most interesting was the father / son battle between Hannes Frans (father) and Lee-Roy Frans (son). Going up against each other was going to be a tough thing to do but at least father and son knew that it was a competition and took it as ‘may the best driver win’. It was to be Lee-Roy who came out victorious and beat Hannes. Unfortunately for Lee-Roy, he not only walked away with victory over his father but booked himself some grounding time as well.
The Top 16 ladder also saw Ernest Simpson in his Drift Performance Parts Nissan Silvia loose to Rudi Van den Berg in his Falken Tyre / Gizocorp Mazda RX7. Upon initiation Van den Berg gave Simpson no room to switch as he neared the point of passing Simpson. When it came time to switch, Simpson was unable to do so as he would have hit Van den Berg and possibly caused more damage to both cars due to the impact so Simpson did the only thing he could, and that was loose complete drift, straight line and continue his drift once Van den Berg had overtaken him.
In the Top 16 eliminations we saw Rockstar Energy Drink’s Mike Skelton catch a lift to the judges box for the second time this year after he went harvesting and off track completely. Skelton went up against Turbo Toys’ Riaan Stokes but Stokes took victory in that tandem and was Skelton’s lift to the judge’s box.
The Top 8 eliminations saw a OMT between Ed Hardy Energy Drink’s David Nell and Lee Roy Frans which marked the first of 3 to come for Frans. The OMT time decision was that Frans was victorious and would go on to the Top 4.
Top 4 witnessed two OMT’s when Adam Shefer went up against Rockstar Energy Drink’s Wade van Zummeren and Frans went up against Van Den Berg. Van Zummeren called 5 minutes when judgment for an OMT was announced so that he could repair his exhaust. Judgment on the OMT came and it was decided that Van Zummeren had the advantage and went on to the finals.
Frans faced his second OMT against Van Den Berg after judges couldn’t decide who the better driver was. However, Van Den Berg ran into some problems, resulting in him not being able to finish the race and Frans winning by default. Frans had gotten his wish. To compete against Van Zummeren.
3rd and 4th place finishes were obvious as Shefer took 3rd by default and Van Den Berg took 4th place.
The last and final race for the evening. Frans faced his third OMT when a decision couldn’t be made as to who had the advantage.
OMT!
Frans drove his heart out and we honestly think he was a little underestimated, being the age he is and especially driving the car he is driving. Nevertheless, Van Zummeren was victorious in the Rockstar Energy Drink / Achilles Tyres Nissan Skyline R33, taking 1st place and Frans walked away with 2nd place as well as the Mark Swartz floating trophy for the most spirit.
The first night event for SupaDrift was a good test for both organizers and drivers alike. Thanks goes to F1-X Performance Exhaust, Achilles Tyres, Turn1 Wheels, Speed and Sound Magazine and TyreTraders.co.za
