The Petrefuel Algoa Rally Club Championship will see the final two rounds of their 2024 season taking place at the resurrected Amatola Rally in the forests of the Hogsback area this weekend.
Friday’s round 6 is a night rally starting in the main street of the village at 8pm, with round 7 a day rally that starts on Saturday at 8.30am.
The night rally will be made up of four dirt stages through the forests totalling a distance of about 65km and Saturday’s rally is made up of six stages with a total distance of 95km.
The rally headquarters will be at the Main Road Community Centre in the village of Hogsback and the cars will go off in three-minute intervals to allow the dust to settle between them.
The first cars are expected back at parc ferme next to the rally headquarters at about 11.55pm and the last car at about 1.10am for Friday's night rally.
The village of Hogsback has embraced the return of the Amatola Rally and many of the accommodation establishments are expecting to sell out over the weekend.
There is also an information centre that will be set up at race headquarters for spectators to get a detailed spectator guide of where to view the action from the many spectacular viewing areas.
Heading into the last two rounds of the drivers’ championship, Neels Vosloo has a slender 17-point lead over Deon Kretzmann, with the ever-consistent Francois Vermaak a further 19 points adrift.
In the navigator’s championship, Rikus Fourie leads with Jason Schreiber 17 points behind him and Juane Viljoen in third place.
There are already 23 confirmed entries with a couple more expected for the Saturday action as Algoa Rally Club have introduced a “Brille en Pille” class that caters for past rally heroes to enter and enjoy the Amatola event as it used to be a regular feature on the national rally scene.
Various national stars will be taking part in the weekend’s events after bringing home a bagful of trophies and awards from the last round of the National Rally Championship in the Dullstroom area on November 16-17.
East London-based competitor Oliver de Man along with his navigator Ingrid Jeacocks in their debut national rally season won the SA NRC5 Championship for classic-type cars as well as finishing in third place overall in the two-wheel drive category.
Local heroes Neels Vosloo and Rikus Fourie finished in second place overall in the SA NRC 4 class for open, two-wheel drive cars as well as second place overall in the two-wheel drive championship, while Fourie also finished on the podium in the navigators championship after taking third place.
For Jeffreys Bay resident Jeacocks it was a season of up and downs as she also navigated for Jonno van Wyk in the premier NRC1 class in their 4-wheel drive Toyota Starlet that battled with reliability issues at a couple of events.
Upcoming events:
November 29: Algoa Rally Club, Amatola Rally in Hogsback
November 30: Algoa Rally Club, Amatola Rally in Hogsback; Dirt Oval Racing at PE Oval Tack Raceway
November 29-30: SA Endurance Series Kyalami 9-Hour
December 1: Cars & Coffee at SA Air Force Museum in Forest Hill
December 7: EC Off Road Racing at Johnny’s Pitstop near Despatch; Kart Racing at Algoa Kart & Motorcycle Track on Victoria Drive; Border 100 in East London at Grand Prix Circuit
December 14: Drag Racing at Aldo Scribante Raceway
December 27: Dirt Oval Racing, the Atta Victor Memorial Race at Victory Raceway.
HeraldLIVE
Season finale in Hogsback for Algoa Rally Club
Plenty of action expected during night and day events
Image: Dries Beetge
The Petrefuel Algoa Rally Club Championship will see the final two rounds of their 2024 season taking place at the resurrected Amatola Rally in the forests of the Hogsback area this weekend.
Friday’s round 6 is a night rally starting in the main street of the village at 8pm, with round 7 a day rally that starts on Saturday at 8.30am.
The night rally will be made up of four dirt stages through the forests totalling a distance of about 65km and Saturday’s rally is made up of six stages with a total distance of 95km.
The rally headquarters will be at the Main Road Community Centre in the village of Hogsback and the cars will go off in three-minute intervals to allow the dust to settle between them.
The first cars are expected back at parc ferme next to the rally headquarters at about 11.55pm and the last car at about 1.10am for Friday's night rally.
The village of Hogsback has embraced the return of the Amatola Rally and many of the accommodation establishments are expecting to sell out over the weekend.
There is also an information centre that will be set up at race headquarters for spectators to get a detailed spectator guide of where to view the action from the many spectacular viewing areas.
Heading into the last two rounds of the drivers’ championship, Neels Vosloo has a slender 17-point lead over Deon Kretzmann, with the ever-consistent Francois Vermaak a further 19 points adrift.
In the navigator’s championship, Rikus Fourie leads with Jason Schreiber 17 points behind him and Juane Viljoen in third place.
There are already 23 confirmed entries with a couple more expected for the Saturday action as Algoa Rally Club have introduced a “Brille en Pille” class that caters for past rally heroes to enter and enjoy the Amatola event as it used to be a regular feature on the national rally scene.
Various national stars will be taking part in the weekend’s events after bringing home a bagful of trophies and awards from the last round of the National Rally Championship in the Dullstroom area on November 16-17.
East London-based competitor Oliver de Man along with his navigator Ingrid Jeacocks in their debut national rally season won the SA NRC5 Championship for classic-type cars as well as finishing in third place overall in the two-wheel drive category.
Local heroes Neels Vosloo and Rikus Fourie finished in second place overall in the SA NRC 4 class for open, two-wheel drive cars as well as second place overall in the two-wheel drive championship, while Fourie also finished on the podium in the navigators championship after taking third place.
For Jeffreys Bay resident Jeacocks it was a season of up and downs as she also navigated for Jonno van Wyk in the premier NRC1 class in their 4-wheel drive Toyota Starlet that battled with reliability issues at a couple of events.
Upcoming events:
November 29: Algoa Rally Club, Amatola Rally in Hogsback
November 30: Algoa Rally Club, Amatola Rally in Hogsback; Dirt Oval Racing at PE Oval Tack Raceway
November 29-30: SA Endurance Series Kyalami 9-Hour
December 1: Cars & Coffee at SA Air Force Museum in Forest Hill
December 7: EC Off Road Racing at Johnny’s Pitstop near Despatch; Kart Racing at Algoa Kart & Motorcycle Track on Victoria Drive; Border 100 in East London at Grand Prix Circuit
December 14: Drag Racing at Aldo Scribante Raceway
December 27: Dirt Oval Racing, the Atta Victor Memorial Race at Victory Raceway.
HeraldLIVE
Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Latest Videos
Most Read
Soccer
Rugby
Sport
Rugby
Cricket