The standings in the Special Vehicle Championship as well as the new Side by Side National Championship of the 2019 South African National Cross Country Series (SACCS) were only finalised at the Parys 400, the sixth and final round. Although many of the championship titles were already allocated after the penultimate round, the rest of the picture changed after the Free State event.
The fact that most of the championships had been finalised before the Parys event, did not mean that the remainder of the standings could not change – and they did.
Lance Trethewey and Adriaan Roets (LT Earthmovers BAT) missed the final event but had already claimed the Overall Special Vehicle and the Class A titles. Behind them things changed. A second place at Parys for John Thomson/Maurice Zermatten (Mormond Zarco) pushed Thomson from fifth place to the runner-up position in the Overall Drivers’ Championship. The Moosajee brothers, Taahir and Talha (Dunlop Zone Stryker) completed their first SACCS season on the podium with Taahir third in the Drivers’ Championship and Talha second ahead of Zermatten, who missed the Berg 400 and only did loop two of the TDR 1000, third in the navigators’ standings.
Clint Gibson/Alaric Smith (Stryker) only competed in selected events and due to good results, that included a victory at Bronkhorstspruit and a podium in Botswana, they ended up fourth overall for the year. Julio Ferreira (Aceco) took the Class P Drivers’ Championship and finished fifth overall among the drivers while Victor Ntsekhe, who navigated for John Telford (Calcamite BAT) and competed in the first three events of the season, rounded off the overall top five navigators.
In the class championships, competitors scored an additional five points for starting an event. This resulted in points looking somewhat different to the overall standings.
In the Class A Drivers’ Championship Trethewey won the first four events of the year before he had some bad luck. It was, however, enough to clinch the title. Here Taahir finished as the runner-up after fairly consistent scoring with Thomson rounding off the podium. Gibson is fourth with Sandra Labuscagne-Jonck fifth in Class A after her first season behind the wheel of the Total Agri Porter. Telford is sixth followed by Ralph Voigts (Voigts Group BAT) who also only competed in selected events.
Keith du Toit (BAT) finished eighth in the Class A Drivers’ Championship followed by Zaheer Bodhanya (Jimco) who competed with nephew Lais Bodhanya at the Toyota 1000 Desert Race. Dean Bradbury is 10th after starting the Berg 400 in the beginning of the season.
The podium for the Class A Navigators’ Championship looks the same as the overall standings with Roets taking the title ahead of Talha, who claimed three podium results with his brother, and Zermatten in third. Sandra’s husband, Jaco Jonck, finished fourth in the standings after they could only score the starting points at two events. Ntsekhe finished fifth after competing in the first half of the season and finishing on the podium three times. Smith is sixth this season; André Voigts is seventh; Boyd Dryer, who sat next to Gibson at the Berg 400, is eighth with Xander Maré and Clint McNamara, who both only competed in Botswana next to Du Toit and Thomson respectively, rounding off the top ten.
The Class P Championship was initially led by Nic Goslar/Andrew Massey (Mens Clinic Zarco) with Goslar and Ferreira doing battle for the Class P Drivers’ Championship title on every occasion. Ferreira made use of various navigators and consistent participation and scoring saw him taking the title ahead of Goslar who missed the last event. Keith Makenete (BAT) rounds off the podium after scoring healthy points at the Parys 400. Trace Price Moore (BAT) made a good start as a newcomer to the SACCS and won the class at the Parys 400 to finish the season in fourth place with Guy Henley.
Due to various once off appearances in the Class P Navigators’ Championship and valuable points scored as Goslar’s navigator, Andrew Massey clinched the 2019 title. Mohammed Moultson competed in the final two events of the season next to Ferreira and finished second followed by Johan Basson who had a chance to sit next to Ferreira in Botswana. Only one point separates Moultson and Basson. Stewart van Graan navigated for the Botswana driver, Lepsy Mosope (Zarco) in the TDR 1000 and bagged enough points to finish fourth with Shaun Braithwaite rounding off the top five after scoring healthy points next to Moore winning the class at the final event. Another one of Ferreira’s navigators, Onkabetse Seemise, scored points next to him at the Bronkhorstspruit 400 and finished the season with the same amount of points than Keith’s brother, Andrew Makenete while Hein Möhr and Ntaote Bereng both scored points for starting an event.
In the new Side by Side National Championship (SxS NC), brothers Werner and Leon Mostert (Moto-Netix Can-Am Maverick), were the only team to start and finish each of the six rounds of the series. They had their share of bad luck and after winning in the early part of the season, they finished off the podium towards the end. Their consistency and regular participation combined with good points saw them being crowned as the first ever SxS National Champions.
The three teams behind them missed the first two events of the season and made their debut at the TDR 1000 in Botswana. The competition was fierce, and the racing action was quite exciting with all teams making use of the Can-Am Maverick SxS vehicle. Dewald van Breda/Johann du Toit won at Parys and claimed another podium result to finish second followed by Christo Rose/Dirk Swart who also scored two podium positions. The paraplegic young driver, Wickus Haasbroek and his navigator Jurgens Smith, also made a good start to their first SACCS season and finished on the podium after both days in Botswana. They followed it up with yet after another podium at Bronkhorstspruit but missed the penultimate event and their chances of a podium took a tumble when they took a tumble at the final event.
They are fourth for the year followed by Peter Walter/Shaun de Villiers who missed a few races during mid-season including the TDR 1000. Theo Erasmus/Edward Odendaal decided to step up from the regional series and won the Lichtenburg 400 after their first national outing. They are sixth for the season followed by Gerry van der Byl/Andrew Katay who only competed in the first two events. Dean and Ashley Bradbury scored the same amount of points in the SxS NC Drivers’ Championship and are eighth and ninth with Markus Labuschagne 10th after scoring points in Botswana.
Pierre Jordan stood in for De Villiers at Bronkhorstspruit and finished eighth in the SxS Navigators’ Championship followed by Rikus Hatting who partnered Dean Bradbury in Botswana and Timmy Botes who sat next to Ashley Bradbury during the first two events.
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