Nampo 400 final summary

Production Vehicles Dominate Nampo 400

Production Vehicles dominated the National non-championship invitational Nampo 400, sponsored by Senwes and Barloworld, in the Bothaville area this weekend.

Hannes Steyn and Ockie Fourie were in fine form in the ex-Mark Corbett Class D Isuzu winning Friday's Prologue and leading for most of the main event to take the flag five minutes ahead of Johan Gerber and Coetzee Labuschagne in the GBS Racing Nissan Hardbody.

Steyn and Fourie will campaign the Isuzu in the SA Off Road Car Racing Championship and can be expected to be a thorn in the side of the factory-supported Toyota, Nissan and Ford entries in Class D this season.

Local hero Hein Grobler and Charles Wolmarans led in the closing stages of the race but the engine of their GBS Racing Nissan Hardbody lost power a few kilometres from the finish and they had to coast into the pits and then push the vehicle across the line to claim third place.

Thomas Rundle and Rassie Erasmus won Class E in the Barden Tyre Services Toyota Hilux.

Mark Corbett and Gavin Kelsey were the lone Special Vehicle finishers in the Century Property Developments BAT and made good use of the extremely sandy conditions to prepare the vehicle for the season-opening Nissan Dealer 400 in Darling, which is also characterised by similar conditions.

Class B challengers Henry Kirstein and Renier Jooste had a scary moment when the Atlas Copco BAT caught fire but speedy action by Grobler and Wolmarans ensured that damage was minimal.

Grobler and Wolmarans won the Production Vehicle category in the Northwest Off Road Challenge and Northern Regions Off Road Championship sections of the Nampo 400 with Alfred and Tommy van Vuuren second in the Class D Nissan Hardbody and Deon Venter and Rickus Erasmus third in a Toyota.

Derick and Peter de Witt (Prolong ORCO) won the Special Vehicle category in the regional section with veteran Wolf-Peter Pfumfei second in a WPP and Glenn Classen and Mathew Ludwig third in the C.O.R. Entertainment Zarco.

Only 24 of the 49 starters managed to complete the Nampo 400.

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