WesBank V8 Supercar Championship leader this year and the current champion, Hennie Groenewald (Timken/SP Racing Jaguar) who has not won a race since the beginning of June at the WesBank Raceway, will be going all out to change this pattern.    In 2006 he won only one of the two races held at Zwartkops so it is not that easy to pull off a win at Zwartkops.  

There is also a big cash prize on offer from the Zwartkops Raceway for any driver/rider who can lap this track at under one minute.    This has been accomplished before in practice but never in a race. 

To keep Hennie Groenewald and his 450 kW (600 hp), 1250 kg race car on his toes are two drivers who each took a race off him at Killarney.   Robert Briggs (Timken Jaguar), who registered his first overall win in his debut year, and Mackie Adlem (Kyalami Fuchs Titan Mustang), the fastest man to have ever lapped a South African circuit. 

Besides these three, there are a host of other young drivers able to upset any forecast, particularly on the tight corners of this Pretoria circuit.   Gordon Connelly (Dezzi/Cowan Signs Jaguar), who is as quick as anybody could crack a win, as could Roof of Africa motorcycle winner, Jade Gutzeit (Dezzi/Trysome Mustang), who picked up 2^nd and 3^rd places at Zwartkops last year. 

Hoping to halt a string of expensive crashes in his quick Corvette is Jaco Correia  (Omega Motor Spares) from Welkom, who is always racing in the leading pack. 

This Omega Motor Sports Team has also paid heavily for Jaco’s brother, Danie, who almost totalled his Corvette when his brother ran over his bonnet at full speed at the WesBank Raceway and destroyed his car.   Unbelievably they both had their cars up and racing at both Kyalami and Killarney in the next races, thanks to the work put in by father, Danie, and the team. 

Back in form is another V8 man par-excellence, Willie Hepburn (Project Orange Corvette).   A strong 3^rd in competitive company saw this veteran star, now well into his 60’s, give some of the youngsters a driving lesson at Killarney.   Finishing all 12 races so far this year, Richard Pinard (Permatex/Timken Jaguar) gives as good as he gets and spends his races mixing it with groups of other cars.  He wants to improve on his best, 5^th place, in the Free State. 

Terry Wilford, the South African GT2 Champion in 2006, will take over the wheel of his father’s Fuchs Titan Mustang for the Zwartkops meeting, and could be the dark horse of the day.   Vernon Bricknell (Nationwide Jaguar), the boss man of Nationwide Airlines, has a great history of winning at Zwartkops, particularly racing one of the most powerful Porsches in the country. 

Two fathers of sons that race in WesBank V8 racing are Des Gutzeit (Dezzi/Trysome Mustang), 5^th overall in Cape Town, and Deon Auby (Tyco Chev Lumina) from a racing family, who can mix it with the best. 

Steve Smith (Cool Cat Carriers Jaguar), Johnny Eekhout (Johnspeed Cobra) and Steve Herbst (Prei Instrumentation Corvette) are all capable of providing surprises at Zwartkops. 

A big cash prize for lapping at under one minute, a packed field of V8’s in close company, the speed, passing on every corner in the 2^nd race when the inverted starting grid is used, plus the sound of big American V8 engines hard at work, could make the WesBank V8 Supercar Races “The  Best Spectacle at Zwartkops” on Saturday.