Arangies burns up Zwartkops

Brilliant racing, an overall circuit lap record and a large crowd typified round three of this year’s national Extreme Festival series at the Zwartkops Raceway on Saturday.

The opening race for G&H Transport Extreme Supercars brought spectators a huge bonus when Charl Arangies blasted his Stradale Aston Martin Vantage GT3 around the 2.4km circuit in a time of 59.89sec.

That gave him the overall Zwartkops lap record, plus the first official sub-one minute lap time in a race car at the circuit.

He won the race, chased to the flag by Charl Joubert (Lotus Elise Honda Turbo), Tato Carello (Daytona McLaren 650 GT), Dawie Olivier (G&H Transport Baby Beemer), Mark du Toit (TAR Ferrari F430) and Jonathan du Toit (TAR Ferrari F430).

Arangies also won race two with ease, this time leading home Carello, Olivier, Jonathan du Toit, Ricky Giannocarro (G&H Transport BMW M3) and Darren Winterboer (Barons BMW 335i).

A notable retirement was that of Joubert, whose Lotus blew its engine on the warm-up lap.

Engen Audi drivers Michael Stephen and Simon Moss dominated the first Sasol Global Touring Car race, ahead of Gennaro Bonafede (Sasol BMW), Robert Wolk (Sasol BMW), Michael van Rooyen (RCS BMW), Johan Fourie (EPS Couriers BMW), plus the works Volkswagen Jettas of Mathew Hodges and Daniel Rowe.

Race two, held from an inverted starting grid, saw Rowe snatch the lead and calmly hang on to it throughout the 12 laps.

He was chased hard and all the way by Bonafede, Stephen, Moss, Wolk and Van Rooyen.

Bradley Liebenberg (Ferodo Mini JCW) won the first Sasol GTC2 race, just ahead of Keagan Masters (VW Motorsport Golf Gti) and Charl Smalberger (Sabertek Golf Gti).

Masters won the next time, followed by Liebenberg and Devon Robertson (Champion Mini JCW).

The first Engen Polo Cup race was red-flagged on the opening lap when Clinton Bezuidenhout (Glyco Polo), Charl Wilken (Cronje’s Autobody Polo), Simon Need (Photonics Polo) and Jason Campos (Turn One Polo) came together in the first corner, and retired.

After the restart Tasmin Pepper (Electric Life Polo) sailed into the lead and stayed there, followed over the finish line by Jeffrey Kruger (Universal Health Polo) and Darren Oates (Payen Polo).

However, Kruger was excluded from the results due to his involvement in the first corner crash.

Pepper also led race two from start to finish, ahead of Kruger and Justin Oates.

In the process, she set an Engen Polo Cup lap record at the circuit.

Sven Grune (Kawasaki ZX10R) won the first Red Square Kawasaki Masters race from Greame van Breda (Stefanutti ZX10R) and Gareth Bezuidenhout (Kawasaki ZX10R).

The penultimate lap saw Pieter de Vos step off his Kawasaki in the high-speed Corner four, luckily escaping with just minor bruises.

De Vos returned in race two, taking third place behind Grune and Van Breda. Nicholas van Weely (Magnificent Paints Van Diemen) took both the Investchem Formula 1600 races, ahead of Liam Pienaar (Fantastic Mygale) and Alex Gillespie (ERP Trucking Mygale).

The first Car Care Clinic 111 Sports and Saloon Car race started in spectacular manner when frontrunners Wouter Roos (StrataDrilling VW Golf) and Louis Cloete (SV Tech VW Beetle) went off, while Neil Lobb retired his TVR Chimera.

That left veteran George Bezuidenhout (Accolade Nissan Primera) to win from JP Nortje (N4 Autocraft VW Polo) and Kevin Miller (Auto Aircon Ford Focus ST).

• Nortje won the next time around, followed by Bezuidenhout and Roos. Jonathan du Toit (TAR Honda Civic) won both the autObarn SuperHatch races from Brett Garland (autObarn Honda Civic). Chris Davison (Precision Opel Superboss) and Louis Scholtz (Car Care Clinic Honda Civic) swopped the respective third places. The next round of the 2018 Extreme Festival series will be held at the East London Grand Prix circuit on Saturday, June 3.