Excitement is building for the second round of the South African National Cross Country Series (SACCS), the Total Agri 400 which takes place next weekend.
The event forms the third round of the 2020 championship and will take competitors to NAMPO Park in the Bothaville area of the Free State where the annual NAMPO Show, the biggest agricultural show in the southern hemisphere, has been taking place for almost six decades.
“Although the Total Agri 400 is being staged in one the country’s biggest maize producing areas, competitors can rest assured that the route will not be a typical mealie field race,” said SACCS Route Director Evan Hutchison in a statement.
“Competitors will have to keep their eyes peeled and the concentration levels high if they want to stay out of trouble,” Hutchison cautioned.
NAMPO Park will serve as the race headquarters, start/finish, and designated service point (DSP).
“It has been a very gratifying experience to work with farmers in the area and everyone is extremely keen to ensure the event is a huge success,” Hutchison said.
The route is an interesting mix of soft, sandy sections with some tricky tracks through vlei areas and includes a glimpse of the Vaal River along with some hardpack, rocky and technical sections.
The Pirelli Qualifying Race on September 18 will be approximately 48 kilometres and will be the perfect appetiser for an exciting weekend of Cross Country of racing.
The route will include a combination of fast sections as well as soft sand and hard pack terrain around some of the most fertile farming properties in the Bothaville area.
For the main race on September 19, competitors will traverse a variety of terrain on a route that has all the ingredients to satisfy the enigmatic nature of the SACCS Cross Country fraternity.
From the start, crews will head north towards Orkney, veer down towards the Vaal River from where they will return in a southerly direction towards Bothaville before finishing at NAMPO Park. The route will be 170 kilometres in distance and competitors will complete it twice.
Entries are open and with two weeks to go, it is all systems go for an event that looks to become yet another highlight on the SACCS calendar.
With the documentation and registration process as well as vehicle checks and competitors briefing before the Pirelli Qualifying Race on Friday now all electronic, the racing action will start at 13:00. The results will determine the starting order for the main event that will get underway the following day at 08:00.
Although the event is closed to the public, enthusiasts can follow all the action on the RallySafe App on September 18 and 19. The App can be downloaded free of charge from the App Store or Google Play Store. Information will also be shared on the SACCS Telegram App as well as on Facebook SACCS.
