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Best weekend yet for local racer

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East London proved a good weekend, and bad, for the Audi S4 quattro competitors on Saturday. For Simon Moss (A38 – Engen Xtreme) the weekend proved his best yet in the series.

Thanks to two fourth-place finishes Moss finished in fourth overall for the weekend to rack up his best race overall result to date. This puts Moss in a very strong position as the Bridgestone Production Car field move into the second half of the season.

“Race one was okay, I just slotted in behind Michael and followed him around,” says Moss. “In race two, I made a mistake and broke the slipstream, so the leaders got away from me so I just had to keep it going to the end. Two fourth places finishes means good points and that’s been a good race weekend for me.”

Michael Stephen (A1 – Engen Xtreme) provided consistent results throughout the weekend, with a third in qualifying, a third in race one and two and a third place finish overall.

“We had high hopes heading to East London but always knew the BMWs could make use of the long straights,” says Stephen. “It turned out to be the case and, with the Safety Car in race one – and the same thing happening in the closing laps of stage two, just when I started attacking the red flag came out and the race was stopped.”

The outcome in East London means that Stephen’s no longer leads the championship – but this could play in his favour over the next few rounds as he will not be required, as series leader, to start from the back of the field.

For Gennaro Bonafede (A32 – Audi Sasolracing) the East London event saw him face an uphill battle.

“We were just 0.1 of a second off of Michael in qualifying, so we felt we had the pace this weekend,” says Bonafede. “Contact with Hennie in race one had a very unlucky outcome, with us both spinning off. In race two there was something wrong with the car and I just couldn’t keep up. It is very disappointing, especially with all the work the team have put into the car since the last event.”

Hennie Groenewald’s (A8 – Audi Sasolracing) weekend finished soon after race one started – sidelining him for the rest of the weekend.

“It was a weekend that started poorly,” says Groenewald. “We were the slowest car on Friday, but work overnight saw us going much quicker this morning and we matched Michael’s times. Turn two of race one when Gennaro and I touched, I spun and then Michael van Rooyen was unlucky to t-bone me which ended my race weekend.”

With just four weeks before the next Super Series event, this time at Phakisa, the race workshops will be really busy with preparation work and the racers will be hungry to get back to the business of earning championship points.

Simon Moss in East London
Simon Moss. Photographer: Morné Condon
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Alan Straton

Chief Cook, Bottle Washer and Broom Mechanic at MyPE
Passionate about Port Elizabeth and definitely NOT packing for Perth. Alan's ethos is epitomised in the words of Nelson Mandela; "I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the idea of a democratic and free society. If need be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die." See more articles by Alan.