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Following a great outing at Phakisa three
weeks ago, in which Michael Stephen took a race win and pole position,
he will be looking to continue this winning trend at the penultimate
round of the Bridgestone Production Car Championship, to be held at
Killarney (Cape Town) on 26 September 2009.
Michael’s incredible
17-point haul at the last event has propelled him into third place in
the Class A championship standings. His Engen Xtreme Team Audi A4 is
only eight points behind the BMW 330i of current leader Anthony Taylor.
Although Michael has taken the same number of race wins (three) as
Taylor, there has been one race of the 14 run that he didn’t score
points in and this has made the difference. This clearly illustrates
just how closely contested the championship is and why this is seen as
South Africa’s premier motorsport category.
“I said after
Zwartkops that I would have to pull out something special at Phakisa to
get back into the championship chase and I did just that. I have to
commend my team for a great job and hope that I can continue to
represent them well,” remarked Michael.
Killarney’s long
straights and sweeping corners traditionally favours the Nissan 350Z
chassis and championship rival Leeroy Poulter will be racing 20kgs
lighter than Michael, who has accumulated a massive 75kgs of success
ballast. Working further against Michael’s ambitions is the fact that
Capetonian Johan Fourie will also be 10kgs lighter and Fourie is a
tough challenger to beat on his home circuit.
“I don’t believe
that it is going to be an easy weekend. I believe that the racing is
going to be close and hard fought and every little advantage is going
to come into play. At this stage, I need to ensure that I finish both
races and finish them as high in the points as possible. I am confident
that we will be able to achieve our objectives,” concluded Michael.
Michael looks forward to meeting fans in the pits at Killarney on 25 and 26 September 2009.
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