BRIGGS DOMINATES AT KILLARNEY

Mike Briggs gave himself and the Opel Vectra the fourth straight win
of the season when he dominated the second round of the AA Fleetcare
Touring Car Challenge at Killarney, Cape Town on Saturday.

Briggs won both 15-lap heats fairly comfortably, despite being pipped
for pole position by World Touring Car Champion Paul Radisich, in South
Africa to assist the Sasol Ford Team with the on-going development of
the Ford Mondeos.

The practice session, despite problems with the electronic timing
equipment, saw improvements almost across the board with Radisich adding
a new element of competition not only for the Ford Team, but for the
five other manufacturers represented.

In the first heat Radisich blasted away from pole position to lead
Briggs and Giniel de Villiers (BP Nissan Sentra) into Hoal's Hoek,
hanging onto to first place for a few of the early laps. Briggs piled
on the pressure and soon swept past the New Zealander (albeit after
removing the Mondeo's back bumper in a coming together at the end of the
main straight), soon opening up a gap between the Opel Vectra and the
Ford Mondeo - the latter now coming under pressure from De Villiers.

Terry Moss, on the third row of the grid, made a demon start to push
the Rothmans Audi 80 into fourth place into the first corner - dropping
back as the straight line speed of Grant McCleery's Opel Vectra began to
tell.

However, there was consternation on the startline when Moss finished the
warmup lap with a puncture, being forced to race with one practice tyre
quickly fitted on the grid.

"The balance and handling of the car is superb," said Moss. "As soon as
we can change to a sequential gearbox I believe we will be at least a
second a lap quicker. In the meanwhile, we are relying on the fact we
can brake much later than any of the other cars and the durability of
the Dunlop tyres we run to keep us in the hunt."

With Briggs well established at the front and Radisich comfortable
in second place, De Villiers found his third place under attack from
McCleery, who eventually passed the young Nissan driver to claim third
place in the heat.

Moss brought the Rothmans Audi home in fifth place ahead of Nic de Waal
(BP Nissan Sentra). Anthony Taylor finished seventh in the Castrol
Toyota Camry saying his tyres went off on lap four and the brakes began
to fade from lap six - but it was enough to keep him ahead of Sarel van
der Merwe in the second Sasol Ford Mondeo.

Van der Merwe, in fact, drove the car normally occupied by Ben
Morgenrood who sat this even out while Radisich drove Van der Merwe's
car.

Mike White (Minolta Toyota Camry) finished ninth ahead of Chris Aberdein
(Rothmans Audi 80), Deon Joubert (Envirocar BMW 318i) and German driver
Sabine Reck (Motorplan BMW318i).

Although a non-finisher Steve Wyndham gave the Playboy-backed Toleman
Motor Sport BMW 318i its first outing - the car having been built from a
shell to raceable in just three days by Mick Jones and Eddie Pinto.

The second heat got off to a shaky start being aborted on the first lap
when Deon Joubert and Sarel van der Merwe were involved in startline
collision - Joubert being forced to retire and Van der Merwe able to
continue after some hasty bodywork repairs. However, damage to the side
shafts in the shunt caused him retire six laps into the race.

When the race restarted Briggs pulled away from the line to lead
Radisich and De Villiers with Chris Aberdein (Rothmans Audi 80) making
the blistering start this time move right up with the leading bunch in
the opening laps.

While Briggs again opened up a gap on the field, De Villiers put the
pressure on Radisich and was beginning to look like he might find away
around the Ford when Radisich slowed and pulled off the track, the
Mondeo apparently having blown an engine.

De Villiers' comfortable second last only a couple of laps until he
slid off the track at Hoal's Hoek, crashing into the tyre barrier - the
Sentra having suffered a puncture after being forced off the road by the
slowing Radisich.

This let Nic De Waal move up into second place, albeit a long way behind
the Opel Vectra. However, coming back from a slightly less spectacular
start was Terry Moss who fought a tough battle with Grant McCleery,
Moss' Audi finally taking third place.

For Chris Aberdein, his early charge came to nothing and he was forced
out after just three laps with a broken throttle cable while leading his
Rothmans Audi team mate.

Shaun van der Linde brought his Envirocar BMW 318i home fifth ahead
of Anthony Taylor - the last of the Class A runners in this race of
attrition.

In Class B Kosie Swanepoel (BMW 325iS) won both heats from Duncan Vos
(Accord Nissan Sentra) and Jesse Huggett (Windsor Garage VW Jetta).


AA Fleetcare Touring Cars, Round 3 & 4, Killarney (ZA)
30 laps - 62,25 miles, Feb 10

 1. Mike Briggs		Opel Vectra	39m35,10s, 95,19 mph
 2. Nic de Waal		Nissan Sentra	40m08,48s
 3. Grant McCleery	Opel Vectra	40m13,21s
 4. Terry Moss		Audi 80	 	40m18,80s
 5. Anthony Taylor	Toyota Camry	40m52,34s
 6. Kosie Swanepoel	BMW 325iS	-2 laps
 7. Duncan Vos		Nissan Sentra [B]
 8. Jesse Huggett	VW Jetta [B]
 9. Shaun van der Linde	BMW 318i [B]
10. Giniel de Villiers	Nissan Sentra


CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS AFTER TWO ROUNDS (FOUR RACES)

1. Briggs         Opel Vectra   A    36
2. McCleery       Opel Vectra   A    21
3. De Waal        Nissan Sentra A    11
4. Moss           Audi 80       A     8
5. Joubert        BMW 318i      A     8
6. Van der Linde  BMW 318i      A     7

=ends=


***********************************************************
Colin Windell  
CyberRace Inc  (c) 1995. All rights reserved