No stopping Willie Hepburn, 77, in V8 showdown at Aldo Scribante

He may be well into his 70s but South Africa racing legend Willie Hepburn remains a one-man army, emerging as the star of a dramatic Super Value Foods race weekend at Port Elizabeth’s Aldo Scribante circuit on Saturday.

Not only did the 77-year-old dominate the V8 Special Coastal Challenge races but he also towed his car to Port Elizabeth from Gauteng, spannered it and repaired it to squeeze into the next race even though many thought his weekend was over.

It was also a good weekend for Bay lad Brynn High, who took the Modified win, while Kean Barnard dominated the Sports and GT races and Ricardo Otto did the same in the motorcycle races.

Hepburn gave notice of his AMSC Coastal Challenge, Historic and Classic Saloons class intentions, putting his Sabat Opel Rekord V8 in a commanding pole position ahead of a healthy 24-car grid.

He cleared off to a solid firstrace win as he left the East London Capri Peranas of Damian Staffen and Darron Gudmanz to fight it out for second.

There was drama as Hepburn rushed to repair his Opel for race two after an off in the Modified race just prior but there was nothing a lot of duct tape, a few zip ties and a little blood, sweat and tears could not fix and Hepburn had it sorted just in time to start at the back.

He was third by the end of the first lap and took two more laps to haul in the leading Peranas of Gudmanz and Staffen before taking a popular win.

It was plain sailing as Hepburn did the triple in the final.

The EP Modifieds also qualified on a damp track as several drivers opted not to go out and started at the back of their classes as Hepburn once again leaned on his legendary experience to slither his monster Opel into pole position.

It had dried by the time race one started and Hepburn led High early on.

But Hepburn slowed and stopped after going off on lap three, leaving High momentarily leading Deon Slabbert and Robin Spence, running in Class A in his Subaru Forester.

Slabbert soon slowed too, but pushed on to finish eighth as High took the win from Spence, Class B and C winners, Thys Geyser (GDC Golf) and Marais Ellis (Auto Magic BMW) and a subdued Aldo Scribante (Audi S4).

Race two delivered a real dice early on as Hepburn held off High and Scribante passed High for at second mid distance.

But the Scribante car then stopped as High found a way past the thundering Rekord with Spence a lonely third.

Slabbert found trouble early on and slipped back as Geyser disposed of Steve High to take Class B with Slabbert third, Nel turned the tables on Ellis in C and D, E and F went the same way as race one while Royce Griffin (RPG St Francis Astra) took Class X.

Hepburn brought his A game to race three to rumble to a lights-to-flag win from High and Spence.

On two wheels, Ricardo Otto (Yamaha) sped to three race wins over Jaco Scholtz (JC Suzuki) as Johan Anker (Yamaha) took third in the opener.

Wade Wright beat Anker to third in races two and three.

Lotus trio Kean Barnard, Gordon Nolan and Jefferey Hall filled the first Sports & GT podium ahead of Gordon Nicholson (Nissan GT-R) and Syd Lippstreu (Toyota Celica).

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