EAST LONDON TOURING CARS - PREVIEW


BORDER DISPUTE!

Although Mike Briggs has both hands firmly on this year's AA Fleetcare
Super Touring trophy, and rounds 13 and 14 at the East London Grand Prix
circuit on Saturday give him the opportunity of further putting the
issue beyond doubt, the Border area fans can be assured of a concerted
effort by the other teams to dethrone him.

The Port Elizabeth driver, in the Opel Vectra, has a 50 point lead over
team-mate Grant McCleery. Third placed Terry Moss, in the Rothmans Audi
quattro, is a further 10 points adrift of McCleery - and determined to
close that gap.

The scrap developing between Moss in the Rothmans Audi, BMW Envirocar
drivers Deon Joubert and Shaun van der Linde, Mike White in the Minolta
Toyota Camry and Steve Wyndham in the Sasol Ford Mondeo adds a little
spice to proceedings. And, behind them, the likes of Anthony Taylor and
Chris Aberdein, in the Castrol Toyota Camry and the second Rothmans Audi
respectively, will keep the interest going.

Certainly for the Rothmans Audi squad much is at stake but Audi Sport
manager Andre van der Watt says: "We have made considerable progress
with the two cars since the start of the season. Each time we have gone
back to a circuit our lap times have improved dramatically so we know we
are progressing in the right direction.

"Hopefully this will be true of East London. We know our choice of tyre
is right and hopefully this will work in our favour towards the end of
each race.

"Sheer effort and determination - plus a bit of luck with the weather -
has earned Terry Moss third place in the series. We will do all we can
to make sure he keeps the position."

The famous East London Grand Prix circuit is made for Super Touring
cars, but the Opel squad has amply demonstrated throughout the season
that it has a package that is hard to beat.

On the Class B front Kosie Swanepoel is under the sort of pressure he
never felt in the early part of the season. Duncan Vos in the Accord
Nissan Sentra lies second in the championship, but has the advantage of
an early start to the season.

Latecomers Hein Lategan, in the Beeld Motors VW Jetta, and Leon
Mare in the Bankfin Toyota Sprinter are now major threats. Mare, in
particular, looks to be a dangerman - as his win in the wet in Cape Town
demonstrated.


CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS AFTER 12 ROUNDS ARE:

Class A:

1. M Briggs (Opel Racing Vectra) 88, 2. G McCleery (Opel
Racing Vectra) 38, 3. T Moss (Rothmans Audi) 28, 4. D
Joubert (BMW Envirocar) 27, 5. S v.d. Linde (BMW Envirocar)
23, 6. M White (Minolta Toyota Camry) 20, 7. S Wyndham
(Sasol Ford Mondeo) 16, 8. A Taylor (Castrol Toyota Camry)
15, 9. C Aberdein (Rothmans Audi) 11, 10. N de Waal (BP
Nissan Sentra) 10, 11. S v.d. Merwe (Sasol Ford Mondeo) 9,
12. P Radisich (Sasol Ford Mondeo) and G de Villiers (BP
Nissan Sentra) 7.


Class B:

1. K Swanepoel (BMW 325) 79, 2. D Vos (Accord Nissan Sentra)
57, 3. H Lategan (Beeld Motors VW Jetta) 38, 4. N van
Rensburg (BMW 318) 29, 5. L Mare (Bankfin Toyota Sprinter)
15, 6. D Bruins (Cornrights Opel Astra) 13, 7. J Huggett
(VW Jetta) 8, 9. D Joubert (BMW 318) 7, 9. P Lanz (BMW 318)
and P Piazza Musso (Nissan Sentra) 2.


Manufacturers:

1 Opel 88, 2 Audi 35, 3 BMW 34, 4 Toyota 28, 5 Ford 24,
6 Nissan 16.


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