Greg Minaar Update-Racing Cars and Shoulder Surgery!

The day before his major surgery on his left shoulder, Greg Minnaar took part in a televised celebrity car race, and blew away the opposition.

The WesBank Celebrity Blacklist Car race series, launched this year, allows national celebrities the chance to feel what it's like to get strapped into a full spec 2.0 litre VW Polo race car and push their driving abilities to the limit and race against the clock.30 celebrities were all put through the same format and only the top four were chosen for the final show down that was televised yesterday in cool windy conditions near Johannesburg.

On the 12th of August this year, at his qualifying session, Greg almost broke the lap record that had been unbeatable and set by Radio DJ and South Africa's Formula 1 expert commentator, Sasha Martinengo. Sasha set a scorcher of a lap at 1.29.34 and Minnaar set a time of 1.29.40, leaving both almost two seconds clear of any of their rivals.

Greg commented: "Losing by six 100th's of a second in the car, is no different to losing in a downhill race where the times are just as close and the slightest error can cost you a win."

Yesterday saw the final showdown at Wesbank Raceway of the four top celebrities. Each driver was given 5 warm up laps to refresh their memory of the car, the track and then they would go out and do their final which consisted of an out lap, the hot lap, and then return to the pits.

Greg Minnaar, wearing his custom made Alpinestars race suit, wasted no time in letting his rivals know that he meant business and on his warm up lap was already 2 seconds quicker than anyone else.

On his hot lap, and driving very aggressively and making that VW Polo squeal around every bit of the track, Minnaar came across the line with what most felt could be the quickest time for today. In the end it turned out to be a new lap record!

Greg was crowned the first ever champion of the WesBank Celebrity Blacklist Challenge, with a scorcher of a lap, nearly 3 seconds quicker than 2nd place.

Greg said: "It was an awesome experience to drive a race car like that, and with a single lap to count, it made it just as nerve wracking as racing a downhill event".

Final Results:

1. Greg Minnaar 1min 28.82secs
2. Sasha Martinengo 1min 31.41secs
3. Lolly Jackson 1min 33.15secs
4. Magesh Ndaba 1min 33.49secs



Surgery:

After a season plagued by constant shoulder dislocations and complicated further by a broken scapula at the World Championships in Scotland, Greg Minnaar went under the knife today to rectify his problematic left shoulder.

Dr Mark Ferguson from the South African Sports Clinic declared after the operation that he is very confident with the results. What was supposed to be a routine 1h 30min operation to repair cartilage damage and carry out the re-attachment of tendons in the front of the shoulder, turned out to be an operation of more than two and half hours. The damage caused by Minnaar's crash at Fort William had rendered the rear cartilage of the shoulder so badly damaged that it too had to be repaired and a tendon was re-attached using four screws.

Following the operation a rather subdued Greg commented: "Although right now there is a lot of pain and discomfort, my main focus is to get home and start a full and speedy recovery."

The recovery period is estimated to be between 8 to 10 weeks.

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