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- Can a Gqeberha local, the Gauteng Gang or a Wildcard stop them?
- Cape Town drivers fill the Polo Cup championship top three
- Wildcards Lee Thompson and Bryn High likely to stir things up
Kariega – Will the shift of power that has swept the Compcare VW Polo Cup so far this season continue into the third round at the VW Extreme Festival races at Aldo Scribante in Gqeberha?
With four Cape Town drivers in the championship top six of a class that has traditionally been the domain of Gauteng drivers, the upcountry lads will be out to turn the tables in the breeding ground of future SA champions at the Saturday, 28 May 2022 races.
All the Cape and Jozi racers however have another obstacle to overcome this weekend. Local lad Clinton Bezuidenhout is likely to have an Aldo Scribante home town advantage in his yellow and red Stu Davidson Polo. He put it on pole position last time out at Zwartkops and went on to win the first race en route to taking the day. Now he’s had the advantage being the only driver allowed to test at his home track, so Bezuidenhout has to start as favourite.
But those Cape youngsters remain resolute as championship leader Jurie Swart, his Bullion IT Racing teammate Giordano Lupini and second in the title chase by all of a point, 16 year old Angri Racing lad Tate Bishop and their teams trek up from Cape Town. A fourth Capetonian, Charl Visser completes a WP title 1-2-3 behind Swart and Bishop, but he drives for the Zwartkops-based Universal Racing team. His teammate Dawie van der Merwe is the top upcountry driver in the title chase in fifth.
Behind them, Nathi Msimanga leads the Gauteng charge in his Asseda Squadra Corse Polo, with veteran Dean Venter’s VDN Auto Machine, Universal Racing rookie Jagger Robertson and racing lass Lonika Maartens’ Laca Danmar Polo closing off the Cup top ten. Add another Universal rookie in Ethan Coetzee, and another young lady, Kara Hill’s Kalex car, Squadra Corse’s Xolile Njumbuxa and promising Zwartkops debutant, Richards Bay hot rod star Jason Loosemore’s Security Fencing car.
All of the above however have something extra to worry about this weekend. A thrilling wildcard entry could well upset the Compcare Polo Cup applecart down in Gqebehra. Universal Racing has entered former champion Lee Thompson in one of its cars. The last time Lee made an impromptu Polo Cup appearance at Kyalami five years ago. He shook the establishment by dominating that weekend.
And in a late development, another local driver, Bryn High has made a late entry to Saturday’s races. Exciting local EP Modified racer High will make his Compcare Polo Cup debut driving a second Stu Davidson car alongside compatriot Clinton Bezuidenhout.
“The Compcare VW Polo Cup has delivered most of South Africa’s leading race drivers over the past quarter century and it will continue to do so for a while to come as we have some exciting plans up our sleeve at Volkswagen Motorsport,” said Mike Rowe, Head of Volkswagen Motorsport. “Saturday promises more great action at the Polo Cup’s spiritual home. We look forward to South Africa’s best young guns fighting it out in what’s becoming the biggest interprovincial tussle the class has ever seen,” he said.
Now in its 26th year of racing, the Compcare VW Polo Cup is the proven breeding ground of future South African racing champions. Former Polo Cup champions and now DTM drivers Kelvin and Sheldon van der Linde as well as GT America champion Jordan Pepper are just three of the many drivers to have cut their teeth in the class. Compcare Polo Cup races as part of the bumper VW Extreme Festival races at Aldo Scribante on Saturday, 28 May 2022.
Volkswagen Motorsport thanks its partners CompCare Medical Scheme, Dunlop, Sonax, Motul and Volkswagen Genuine Parts.
Ends