Nankang Drak 250 Race Report and Results

Touted by many as KZN's flagship off-road race, the Drak 250 doesn't only present drivers with a bone jarringly difficult course, but also generally speaking a nice view if the machine breaks down (give a minute or two to let the dust settle). Which is important when considering that almost two thirds of the 2012 contestants never saw the checkered flag. This year saw the course shorten to just over 60km, and receive an additional lap. Consequently the 'next' pitstop was at least 10 kms closer, plus dirvers got an additional pit stop.

This may, in a small way have attributed to more numbers finishing the race this year; 16 out of 30. Another change to this year's race was the re-introduction of quads. Greeted by novices, such as myself, with scepticism, laced with the bad humor of predicting the quads being lapped repeatedly, things couldn't be further from the truth: The quads held their own, and in some fashion quite spectacularly, and in many ways proved to be more reliable.

Going into the Class A race Reg Sutton was leading the championship 25 points in front of Arthur Barnes in second place. With only 3 more races left in this year's Championship Reg only needed to take some points away from this race to get within touching distance of consolidating the lead. There was also nervy jitters in the Trethewey camp seeing that they had not finished in two races prior to the Drak. Being defending champion of the Drak, as well as the Sun City 400 rally in two weeks time, Lance really needed a solid performance to get his campaign on the roll.

The prologue immediately saw Trethewey take charge beating Arthur to pole position with 20 seconds to spare. Reg Sutton raced in third, a little more than a minute behind Trethewey. Both Don Thompson and Neil Camp registered fast times, but the dissapointment must've been Lance Woolridge in his Ford who somehow managed to find 6 minutes between himself and the leaders. All of the 8 Class A vehicles completed the prologue.

There was drama early on in the first lap as Barnes turned onto a wrong path just before the boneyard, and allowed a rampaging Reg Sutton through into second place behind Trethewey. The rest of the lap saw Sutton drive aggresively, attacking the lead of Trethewey, and trying to put some distance between himself and Arthur Barnes behind him. His was the fastest first lap, and saw him leading the race by 30 seconds ahead of Lance. At the end of lap 1 the top five machines were all within 2 and a half minutes of each other. Unfortunately Neil Camp, and Leon Bothma had to retire.

Lap 2 was the defining lap in the Class A race: Arthur Barnes came back strongly after the first lap(se) and posted his fastest lap of the race. Reg Sutton developed problems and fell 15 minutes off the pace. Don Thompson had also picked up problems resulting in him spending an hour in the pits, basically ruling him out of the race. Lance Woolridge had a consistent lap, and with Sutton and Don Thompson out of the picture found himself in third position.Don Thompson's hour spent in the pits cost him the pointsLap 3 and the Class A race was down to a three-way affair. After 2 laps Trethewey hung to the lead by a narrow 31 seconds. Clearly avoiding making any mistakes, lap 3 proved to be the most complacent lap with the fastest lap being more than 10 minutes slower than the earlier two. Lance added 53 seconds to his lead whilst Arthur lost a further 9 seconds to Woolridge behind him who was having a fantastic ride after the dismal prologue.

Entering the final lap Arthur had to make up almost a minute and a half to catch up to Trethewey and win the Drak. Trethewey however wasn't entertaining the idea of losing his first place, and posted his own fastest lap of the race 52:36 to win the 2013 Nankang Drak 250. Arthur Barnes came second, and Lance Woolridge came third, registering the fastest lap of the entire race at 52 minutes flat in his last lap.

Arthur Barnes finishing second here moves him to within 6 points of Championship leader Reg Sutton. With two races remaining the charge on winning the honors for 2013 has become a two-way race with almost nothing to separate them.

The Class B contest was where most local eyes were. With 4 Underberg locals all contending for honors not only in the Drak 250, but also the top spots in the KZN regional championship were available for those who took points away this weekend. Ralph Voigts and Rob Spencer were leading the championship race and needed to take points away to remain on the top. Defending title holder Gary Campbell was looking very good, and was also a favorite to win this race.Marcus Taylor recorded the fastest time of the Class B Prologue. Very close behind him was James Watson, Gary Campbell, Manfred Schroder, and John Thompson all within a minute of the lead. Ralph Voigts was two and a half minutes off the pace, and Rob Spencer picked up troubles losing more than 6 minutes off the lead.

James Watson was on fire in the first lap, beating Taylor to the boneyard and adding a minute's worth of space between them. He wasn't alone on the charge though.

Gary Campbell followed suit and ran in a similar lap only 3 seconds slower than James. This put Taylor squarely in third ahead of Schroder who wasn't far off the pace. Peterson and Maclean were a few minutes behind the leaders, and were putting up a patient show. Rob Spencer, who's torrid prologue put him 6 minutes behind put in an ordinary lap to stay in contention. Ralph Voigts rolled out early at the boneyard to make this the second year running that he hasn't finished the Drak. John Thompson encountered more mechanical faults and had to withdraw.James Watson beating Marcus Taylor to the BoneyardLap 2 it was Marcus Taylor turning on the heat with a blistering fastest lap helping him regain the lead. Gary Campbell was consistent with another lap time even faster than the one before. James ran in a slow lap, as did Manfred Schroder. Already the field had spread out. Gary was within 40 seconds of Taylor, but 8 minutes off the pace came James in third. Suddenly Peterson found himself less than a minute behind thrid place. Schroder was just less than 5 minutes behind James after the second lap.

Lap 3 saw the leading 5 all post the same slowish laps. Schroder made the most significant progress chipping more than two minutes off Greame Petersons lead in front of him. Taylor again had the fastest lap, and had extended his lead over second place Campbell to more than a minute.

Going into the final lap there were two scraps to be had. Gary Campbell had to make up a minute to beat Taylor to the flag, and James Watson only had a two minute lead over Greame Peterson, who in turn had a two minute lead over Schroder.

Greame Peterson saved up his best lap time for the last lap but didn't count on Schroder being even fasterTwo things happened: Gary Cambell picked up a fuel problem and was left sitting on the Cobham road waiting for petrol whilst watching James, Peterson, and Schroder fly past. Then James lost patience, charged the water a little too hard and flipped his machine, allowing Peterson and Schroder access to the podium. Taylor made no mistakes and crossed the finish line alkmost 12 minutes ahead of Schroder! Who incredibly made up the two minutes behind Peterson running in the fastest lap for a Class B vehicle - right when it was needed, and got himself into the second position. Greame Peterson passed the line in third, but will no doubt be pondering how he lost the second place.

Voigts and Spencer's failure to score in this race sees Marcus Taylor take up the new leadership. With two more races left this season this Class is still wide open to be won.

In the Clubman's Masters Class, Gareth Woolridge shone with the Neil Woolridge Racing Polaris coming 7th overall.

Clubman's Result: Daniel Brookes raced 3 laps in an experimental car posting a best lap time of 58:48.

The big surprise to me were the Quads. I thought they would be overrun by the big machines, but in truth they not only held their own against the cars, but in the case of Egon Wichmann who recorded lap times of less than an hour, did better than the cars. Egon Wichman riding a CAN-AM finished 9th overall.

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