BULAWAYO Motor Club (BMC)’s Darren Winterboer was in a class of his own on Saturday when his new Barons Motor Spares-sponsored BMW 335 led him to fourth consecutive victory of the annual Toyota Castrol Three-Hour Endurance at Breedon Everard Racecourse on Saturday.
RONALD MOYO SPORTS REPORTER
Winterboer completed 127 laps, seven more than the first runner-up of the pair of John Amm and Eric Salomon to win this year’s edition overall award.
There was a difference of 10 laps between him and the second runner-up, Brett Cameron.
His best lap of the day was the 17th which he completed in 1:20.339secs, being the second best of the day after Sam Tingle’s second lap which he finished in 1:17.430. The Falls Road Circuit covers the distance of 3,49km.
After the race, Winterboer attributed victory to his strategy which saw him maintaining speed from the first to the last lap. “I am very happy for winning this event for the fourth time in a row,” he said.
“It was not an easy race, but I managed to stick to my strategy. I came to this race with a strategy of sticking to a particular speed. I think the average speed was 155km/h.”
Brett Cameron won this year’s index award with 95,90% while Kevin Steenkamp and John Cameron came second and third on 94,92 and 94,85% respectively.
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The South Africa-based pair of Robby Petersen and Themba Khumalo won the One-hour Motorcycle Endurance overall award, denying BMC motorcyclist Fuzzy Walker an opportunity to reclaim a double after winning both, the overall and the index awards in last year’s edition.
Petersen and Khumalo completed 44 laps getting the better of the pairs of Phil Achenoul and Shaun Whyte, and Donovan Fourie and Austin Olivier.
The 18-year-old Khumalo who made his debut in style said: “I am happy that I managed to win in my first appearance,” he said.
“I am 18, so I am still hopping for the best in future, this is my first, but not last participation in this event.”
Walker walked away with the one-hour motorcycle endurance index award with 96,29% while Ian Gutherless and the pair of Phil Achenoul and Shaun Whyte came second and third with 96,18 and 96,15 respectively.
Toyota Zimbabwe National sales and marketing manager Carl Varga said as sponsors they were impressed by the growing number of cars and bikes taking part in the event.
“This is our fifth year sponsoring this event. When we started sponsoring the event there were about 10 cars participating, but this year we had thirty something, which is a good development,” he said.
“We were pleased by the whole event and we can confirm that next year we will continue sponsoring the event.”
The event celebrated its 45th anniversary this year.
