The former Special Vehicle Category champions, Tim Howes/Gary Campbell (Timdrew Property Development BAT Spec 4) have reclaimed the overall title after earning a healthy amount of points at the recent double-header event in the Free State, but the Class A championship title as well as the rest of the championships in the Special Vehicle Category of the 2022 SA Rally-Raid Championship are still up for grabs. Although Howes/Campbell have opened up a sizeable gap to the rest of the field, only small margins separate the rest of the teams in the overall standings as well as the various class championships.
This category might not have attracted the largest number of entries, but consistent participation and scoring has resulted in the title battles now being balanced on a knife edge.
Three overall victories and two runner-up results for Howes/ Campbell puts them in a comfortable lead (151 points), but behind them, the standings have changed at almost after every race with Class G teams making a habit of causing havoc amongst the Class A runners, with the standings also being shuffled regularly.
A good run at the recent Free State double-header event for the father and son team, Werner and Ian Mostert (Moto-Netix Racing Can-Am Maverick) pushed them from third to second on the overall standings (86 points) while they reclaimed the lead in the Class G championship. Lood du Preez/Chris Visser Jnr (Farmers Meat Stryker) also scored at each event and won the fifth round at Nampo. This elevated them from fifth to third overall podium (84 points) and trail the Mosterts by a slender two points.
Trace Price Moor/Shaun Braithwaite (Tip Top Milk BAT Venom) finished on the podium at the fourth round, but could not see out the distance in round five. They remain fourth overall (78 points) and are leading Geoff Minnitt/Gerhard Snyman (Hydro Power Equipment Can-Am Maverick) by only three points. Minnitt/Snyman dropped from second place on the overall standings to fifth, after a mighty roll put them out of contention in the fifth round in the Free State. The team, however, have a little breather of 32 points to the rest of the field.
Howes/Campbell might have the overall title wrapped up, but they will still have to fight for the Class A championship title. Competitors are awarded an additional five points in the various class championships for starting a race and this puts a different spin on the standings. Howes/Campbell are leading (138 points), but only 32 points separate them from Du Preez/Visser Jnr (106 points) which means if they put a wheel wrong and the runners-up put all the wheels right, they might be in trouble.
Price Moor/Braithwaite (87 points) are on the third step of the Class A podium with Sandra Labuscagne/Jonck and Jaco Jonck (KEC Racing BAT) needing only six points to overtake Ernest Roberts/Henry Köhne, who migrated to the Production Vehicle category after the Mpumalanga 400, to finish the season in fourth place.
The Mosterts (156 points) have a fairly comfortable lead in the Class G championship although they are not safe yet as Minnitt/Snyman (134 points) are close enough to still overtake them if anything happens. Glen Theron/Craig Galvin (Moto-Netix Racing Can-Am) missed the season opener and although they experienced a seesaw season, they are on the Class G podium (74 points) with a small three point gap to Francois de Wit/Ewald van Rensburg who competed in the last three events.
The defending Class G champions, Cecil and Elardus Larney, can write a book about their 2022 season that started off with them not being able to finish the first two races. They find themselves in fifth spot (63 points), but a miracle could see them finish the season on the podium. Peter Walter/Pierre Jordaan are sixth (53 points) with the rest of the field having only competed once.
Quintin Lessing/Noel Acton (Century CR-T) lead the Class P standings (50 points) from the Makenete brothers, Keith and Andrew who moved up to Class A mid-way through the season.
Teams have a final two opportunities to give it their all and make up for lost ground, with unclaimed titles still available in the overall and class championships. . The sixth and seventh round of the SA Rally-Raid Championship takes place on 11 and 12 November from the Parys Airfield.
Images: Andre Schoeman
