Ford Fights Back!

Motorsport, as any adrenaline junkie worth their racing stripes will tell you, is less of a sport and more of a rollercoaster ride. This weekend, the Neil Woolridge Motorsport (NWM) Ford Rally-Raid Team experienced the gut-wrenching highs and lows of this wild ride at the back-to-back Rounds 4 and 5 of the South African Rally-Raid Championship in Parys, Free State. Spoiler alert: there were thrills, spills, and more punctures than a porcupine's pillow fight.

Friday: Puncture, Puncture, and… Oh, Look, Another Puncture!

The INGCO Parys 400 on Friday began with our reigning champions, Gareth Woolridge and Boyd Dreyer (#200), tearing up the track like they had a personal vendetta against every grain of dust. But motorsport being the fickle beast that it is, soon threw them a curveball. After a blazing start, Gareth and Boyd found themselves stuck in the dust cloud of a slower competitor, then found themselves in a Groundhog Day loop as a puncture forced them back behind the very same rival.

By the end of the day, they limped home in sixth place, no doubt wondering if Lady Luck had taken an extended tea break.

Meanwhile, Lance Woolridge and Kenny Gilbert (#234) found themselves auditioning for a role in a Mad Max sequel, courtesy of a suspension failure and an unintended roll. Thankfully, they emerged unscathed, with their Ford Ranger merely looking like it had been through a car wash... from hell. They wisely decided to retire and give their mechanics a chance to play ‘Extreme Makeover: Rally Edition’ overnight.

Saturday: The Almost Triumph That Wasn’t

Come Saturday’s INGCO Vaal 400, both Ford Rangers were back with a vengeance, polished, tuned, and no doubt with a stern pep talk from the team. Gareth and Boyd were in beast mode, ripping through the course like they were late for a very important date. By the halfway point, they held a solid 50-second lead over the Toyota of Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings. Things were looking peachy, and you could almost hear the victory speech being drafted.

But motorsport has a dark sense of humor. Just 60km from the finish, the dreaded rock-strike occurred—puncturing a tire and deflating their dreams of a win. Despite executing a pit-stop-worthy tire change, the damage was done. Fourth place was all they could muster, a mere 01:33 behind the winners.

Lance and Kenny, not to be outdone by their teammates, decided to make Saturday interesting by clawing their way up to third. In a nail-biting finale, they missed out on second place by just one second. That’s right, folks—one second! A blink, a sneeze, a hiccup, and suddenly you’re off the podium’s second step, left gazing longingly at the spot that could have been yours.

A Weekend of “What Ifs”

“This has been the name of the game for our championship this year,” Gareth lamented. And who can blame him? From reigning champs to a season of “almost but not quite,” it seems like the NWM team is destined for a sequel of ‘How the West Was Won... and Lost to a Puncture.’

Lance, ever the optimist, praised the team’s resilience. “It was a challenging weekend, but to get a podium was a great way to end a tough double-header.” Spoken like a true racer who knows that in motorsport, the only thing more inevitable than a puncture is the need to keep going.

Team principal Neil Woolridge summed it up best, noting the weekend’s bitter irony—so close to a double podium finish, only to have victory slip through their fingers like sand in the Kalahari. Still, he praised the team’s competitiveness, which, while not yielding a win this time, certainly made for one heck of a ride.

Next up: Welkom in September. And if you listen closely, you can already hear the NWM team whispering to themselves: “What could possibly go wrong?” Here’s hoping Lady Luck returns from her tea break by then.