Morgenrood takes Swartkopz by storm

Randfontein racing legend, Ben Morgenrood, once again dominated the track at Swartkopz Raceway during round seven of this year’s Super Series.

In race one, Ben Morgenrood further tightened his hold on the title chase with a lights to flag victory.

He lined up in pole position with Rui Campos alongside him.

At the start the field negotiated turn one in orderly fashion but turn two proved more challenging.

A midfield incident involving Carl Nel in his Gears for Africa Jaguar, Andrew Strike in his Strike Racing Shelby and Brian Algar, also in a Shelby, going into the hairpin caused mayhem and forced a red flag.

At the re-start, Morgenrood again led them away, with Terry Wilford and Franco di Matteo hot on his heels after they had overtaken Campos.

The V8-GT’s better traction out of Zwartkops’s slow corners made life difficult for the Shelby’s, but that did not deter Campos who led Larry Wilford (Fuchs Titan Corvette) throughout the race, with Algar and Alan Eve (Pilot Pens Shelby) in close attendance.

Terry Wilford then slid off the road with fading brakes when second place seemed a certainty and that promoted Di Matteo to the runner-up spot at the flag.

Campos finished in third and in the process broke a seven-year long Shelby lap record at Zwartkops with a best lap of 01:02.287.

The previous holder was Donovan Roscoe with a lap time of 01:02.493, which he set in 2007.

Larry Wilford finished fourth ahead of Algar and Eve.

The inverted grid for race two saw Andrew Strike and Ray Wilford lead the field away, but Wilford took control at the front, while the faster drivers all set about making their way from the midfield.

Leading that charge was Franco di Matteo. He had not won a race this season and was determined to put that right.

The Italian picked his way through the field in determined fashion and eventually relieved Ray Wilford of the lead with a couple of laps to spare.

Behind him, Ray put in his best performance this year, finishing second ahead of Morgenrood.

Ferdi van Niekerk (Motorola Cordless Phones) was the first Shelby home in fourth place, with Larry Wilford fifth, and Rui Campos sixth.

Terry Wilford spun halfway through the race on oil deposited by another competitor and was a distant thirteenth.

The fastest lap time of the day overall was small consolation.

Not surprisingly Di Matteo took the overall win for the day in the V8-GT division, with Campos doing the same in the Shelby Sports ranks.

In the championship stakes, Morgenrood consolidated his lead, with Campos looking equally good for the runner-up spot with two rounds to go, the next of which is at Killarney on 5 October.