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Tarka Stad 400km National Off road Race – Sponsored by Queen Motor Spares 53 Cars competed in the fifth round of the Off road National Championship, held in Tarka Stad, Eastern Cape. It was an impressive turn out considering snow and rain storms were threatening all week long.
The 40km Prologue began on Friday afternoon at 13h00 with the usual two minute dust gap between each vehicle. Many of the drivers agreed that it was the toughest Prologue of the season thus far and the 2 lap race was sure to put all the cars, drivers and their mechanics to the test. Brandon Harcus successfully qualified the 2003 3.5L V6 Nissan BAT in 2nd position, just a minute behind Geniel De Villiers’ Nissan. It would be Gary Bertholdt’s turn to start them off on the 1st lap of the 400km race. Due to their qualifying position, dust was fortunately not a hindrance to them, although they did have the Ford Ranger close on their heels. After 25 km the car slid off the fast section of the road and hit a pile of rocks. They were lucky to escape without a big roll. After this incident Gary drove like a man possessed and closed the gap on Geniel to 11 seconds. Towards the end of the 1st lap, the road opened up and so did the gap between them and Nissan, with Nissan proving to be too fast in a straight line. They decided to hold station and maintained their 1 minute gap to the pits.
They were lying 2nd overall when they drove into the pits to swap drivers and refuel, taking only 2 minutes to complete their stop. Not needing to refuel, Ford drove through the pits and took over 2nd place. With Brandon now in the drivers seat, they began the 2nd lap. 5 km’s into the 2nd lap whilst still settling into their new seats, Brandon hit a huge ditch and the car flew 20 metres. The terrain during the 2nd lap had become extremely rough due to all the cars tearing up the track. With 100km to go, they decided to back the pace off completely to secure their 1st place in the Special Vehicle category. With a 20 minute gap between themselves and the next Special Vehicle, Brandon and Gary proudly brought the BAT home to take 1st place overall in the Special Vehicle Category and 1st place in their Class A. Clint Gibson in his 2.0L Class B BAT retained his winning streak having 6 minutes to spare before the next Class B crossed the finish line. This was an extremely good event for BAT overall. |
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