2013 National Championship

The ear splitting sound of top Drags in action blasted eager spectators at the final round of the SA Drag Racing Championship held at Tarlton International Raceway on 27^th October.  The game played out across eight categories displaying a mass of impressive speed projectiles.

Leading the arena in Top Eliminator was Nico van Rensburg driving his spectacular Top Alcohol Funny car.  Having tweaked the proverbial horses to their max, he demolished the competition by raking in the championship with 165 points. Runner up, Deon Swanepoel, racing his A-Dragster took second spot with 152 points and Dalmain Hattingh managed to collect 140 points thereby producing a very respectable third position.

The pressure was tangible during the Senior Eliminator match off.  Gavin Wilkins was primed to take the championship, however this was subject to how the quarter final round revolved.  In the end, his beautiful Mustang cooperated to perfection and he garnered the gold laurel with 192 points.  This placed Nico van Rensburg (Ford Thunderbird) in second with 151 points and Charles Slater took bronze with 129 points.

Johan van Zyl has done exceptionally well this year.  In 2011, he took over the seat of the Super Competition Eliminator 1990 Corvette which has witnessed a twenty year history in the Drag Racing scene and has been driven by the likes of Peter Lindenberg, Frans Mennie, Johan van der Linde and Louwtjie van den Berg.  The Vette didn’t let him down and he claimed the championship with 147 points, narrowly beating Louwtjie’s Chevy II with 145 points.  Not far behind, veteran driver, Reg Murray pushed his Dragster into third position with 130 points.

Competition Eliminator saw Dennis van Loggenberg in his Chevy CanAm lead the field with a comfortable 157 points.  The consistency of Michelle Taylor (Toyota Celica) saw her rope in an easy second with an overall 130 points and Marco Gounder (Opel Kadet) slid into third with 124.

Modifed Street and Super Street only held Regional status for the 2013 season and completed 8 rounds, six at Tarlton and two at Nitro Raceway.  Ester Cloete (VW Golf) cleaned up Modified Street, taking the championship with 165 points.  Although competing in her exquisite Mercedes for most of the year, Elise Havenga switched over to a BMW for the last round and took the runner up position with 140 points.  Hot on her heels, Llewellyn Watson racing the yellow Tarlton Capri set a solid third with 140.

It was a very close call in Super Street but Henk Bannink (Audi) finally set the stage with 138 points against second placed Chris Foley’s (Toyota Corolla) 136 and one point behind at 135, Ugan Naidoo (VW Golf) took a neat third.

During the year, the bike categories, Supersport Shootout and Superbike Elimination completed six rounds at Tarlton and a seventh at Nitro Raceway in Brakpan.  After quite an absence on the strip, well known rider, Wayne Heasman (Suzuki) took gold in Supersport Shootout with 249 points.  Runner up, Zafar Hoosen (Suzuki) pocketed a glistening silver with 211 points and Dougie Leach (Suzuki) with 209 delivered a painless third position.

Jerry Lombard (Suzuki) nailed the championship for Superbike Elimination with 254 points beating brother, Jesaja Lombard (Suzuki) who staked his claim to second with 188 points.

It should be noted that nine times world champion, and the most successful rider in AMA Drag Racing history, American, Rickey Gadson who has visited our shores several times, has always held South African riders’ interests at heart.  Prior to the final round, Rickey invited Peter de la Rey (BMW) over to America to compete in an AMA event in which he did extremely well.  Peter went on to claim third position in the SA Championships with 184 points. 

The thunderous noise of the Tarlton Jets completed a brilliant day’s racing and with the season at an end, congratulations go to all Championship winners.  A huge debt of gratitude is also owed to all the 2013 sponsors for their invaluable assistance throughout the year.