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| Copyright © Nissan South Africa |
Fish River Sun, (July 28, 2007)
Duncan Vos and Ralph Pitchford (Nissan Navara) made it three in a row when they won the Amathole 500, round five of the Absa SA Off Road Championship, which ended at the Fish River Sun in the Eastern Cape on Saturday afternoon.
In a dramatic finish to the 500-km race, that started at nearby Mpekweni on Saturday morning after a 96-km prologue between Bisho and Fish River Sun on Friday, Vos and Pitchford crossed the line in a time of 7 hr 42 min 19 sec with a flat rear wheel.
It was Nissan's fifth successive win this year and they were also winners of the manufacturers' challenge. "This was a great result for us," said an enthusiastic Glyn Hall, general manager of Nissan Motorsport. "To win you first have to finish and Duncan and Ralph did the job under great pressure. Our privateers again did us proud and helped us extend our lead in the manufacturers' championship."
Cronje and Birkin from Toyota had led from the start after setting fastest time in the prologue, but went off the road on one of the final corners, within a kilometer of the finish, with Vos and Pitchford just over a minute behind them.
"It was a tough race, very fast," said Vos. "I really had to push very hard. It was maximum effort all day and putting Mark under as much pressure as possible. The guys are pushing really hard - you need a lot of commitment to be on the pace if you want to win.
Cronje was first into the DSP, some 20 seconds ahead of Grobler and a further two seconds ahead of Vos. At the Kat River, an hour after leaving the DSP, Vos was back in front of Grobler by 20 seconds.
Vos increased his lead in the production vehicle drivers' championship to 37 points over team-mate Grobler (102-65), who remains second despite his non-finish and is 13 points.
Norwegian Ivar Tollefsen and English co-driver Quin Evans finished seventh overall and seventh in class SP in the third works Nissan Navara. They were also first overall in the four-day FIA-sanctioned African Heritage Cross Country being run in conjunction with the Amathole 500. They completed the second day of this four-day 1 250 km international event, second round of the FIA Cross Country Rally World Cup.
The next round of the Absa Off Road Championship is the Ford/Limpopo 400 in Limpopo Province on September 7 and 8.
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