Scribante top the hill in record time

KNYSNA NEWS - Franco Scribante provided a spectacular display of motor racing when he walked away, not only crowned again as the Jaguar Simola Hillclimb King of the Hill, but winning all the other events in his class.

On Sunday, May 8 Scribante set a new King of the Hill record by racing his Chevron B26 Suzuki to a finishing time of 38.646. Desmond Gutzeit (40.323) finished second in his Nissan GTR R32, with Anton Cronje (42.564) third in a Subaru WRX.

Already on Friday, May 6 Scribante set the pace by winning the Classic Conquerer, where the 10 drivers who set the best times out of the seven classes raced individually up the Simola Hill. Scribante bettered his record by taking the first place in a time of 41.432. On the same day Scribante won his H5 class in the Class Final in a time of 41.601 in a Chevron B19 Ford. That was also the fastest time out of all cars racing in the eight different Class Finals on Friday.

On Sunday he took the first place in the C5 class of the Class Final in his Chevron B26 Suzuki.

At the time of lining up for the main event, the King of the Hill race, Scribante already showed in the five Saturday practice rounds that he was fired up to top the final podium, by finishing seventh in practice round five in a time of 52.121, then he took third place (47.291) in practice round two, second places in practice rounds three and four (42,135 and 41.915). In the last of the five practice rounds Scribante had the crowd on their feet, when he set the best time of 39.578.

At that time he was the obvious Hillclimb crowd favourite as the people cheered every time they heard the Chevron B26 Suzuki rev.

Scribante earned his place in the top 10 to race for the King of the Hill trophy when he qualified in a time of 41.987. That was after he was involved in an accident in the first qualifying round, when his car's front left wheel on turn two broke loose.

Gutzeit was the overall winner in the Sunday Class Final in a time of 37.696, with Wilhelm Baard (38.001) second and Darron Gudmanz (38.588) third.

The top 10 in the King of the Hill, finished as follows:

1. Franco Scribante (38.646) in a Chevron B26 Suzuki
2. Desmond Gutzeit (40.324) in a Nissan GTR R32
3. Anton Cronje (42.564) in a Subaru WRX
4. Wilhelm Baard (42.745) in a Nissan GT-R
5. Duane Galloway (43.716) in a Nissan GTR R32
6. Edrich Zwiers (43.894) in a Nissan Gtr R35 GTR
7. Michael Beachy Head (45.084) in a Porsche 917 Replica Infiniti Cos
8. Enzo Kuun (45.452) in a V8 Masters Car Mustang Ford
9. Shane Gutzeit (46.094) in a Mitsubishi Lancer EVC EVO 7

10. Darron Gudmanz Nissan GTR - Did not finish.

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