It was only the second time that Meyerton Raceway hosted the On-Road nitro race on a separate race day, separate from the electric cars.  The current 6 month series started in July and will only end in December, so new participants are welcome to join and still stand a chance of being in the points. There is still enough time to catch up on the series points. We accommodated the pan car belonging to Kevin in the 8^th scale GT class for now, but we are aware of quite a few guys that own pan cars. We believe they are eager to take them from the shelf now, knowing that we are catering for this class again. They used to race with us in the past and will probably return now. The same goes for the GT’s. At one stage we had 8 or more of them on the track on a Sunday. We hope to have them back soon. Let us spread the news?

 

 

For the August 1/10^th race we had 8 guys and one lady entering. Usually Charmaine Wright also participates, but this time they had to forfeit, because they had a family thing going on. So Ronel Bann, new to this class, was the only woman driver this month. It was very obvious that she adores the wroom-wroom of nitro and she will probably stay in this class for the whole series. Lucas Dillschnitter, who qualified first in the tenth scale class, unfortunately will be missing the next two race meetings, because he is getting married soon and will be busy with preparations for the wedding and then he will be on honeymoon. We hope that the new missus will allow him to return to the track, after they have tied the knot!  Haha.

Our Setember winner of Best presented RC body: Kevin Bann

 

200mm Nitro Touring:

The 1st round saw Lucas Dillschnitter in the lead, with a best lap of 20.4 seconds. Behind him was Jason Landsberg with an even better fastest lap of 18.6 seconds, but Lucas’s average lap times were better. Ronel ended in 3^rd position and her husband Kevin was in 4^th place. Behind him was, Bjorn Boogaard, followed by Johan Barnard, Henry Ogden and Johan Killian. Kobus Griesel did not start. Kevin and Henry both had faster laps than Ronel, but they also had more flame outs and that cost them some very precious time.

In round two it was Lucas in the lead again and as in the 1^st heat, it was Jason behind him, with Jason racing some faster lap times.  Of course Lucas’s more consistent laps made him the winner, yet again. This time Kevin came 3^rd with Kobus  in 4^th place. Behind Kobus it was Ronel in 5^th position.  Johan Barnard and Johan Killian both suffered from numerous flame outs and Henry did not start.

In round 3 Jason eventually took over the lead from Lucas. Both drivers had lap times of less than 20 seconds. Henry ended 3^rd with Ronel behind him in 4^th place, Kevin was followed by Kobus in 6th position. Then it was Bjorn and Johan Killian. Johan Barnard did not start.

The 30 minute Final race:

This is the round when disaster struck BIG TIME!!!!!! Jason and Lucas were leading the race with multiple overlaps. Unfortunately they both experienced serious car trouble later on in the race. Lucas had to quit after 58 laps. I think a belt on his car broke. Jason left the track after 60 laps, but by then he had been in front by so far, that even his 454 seconds (7.56 minutes) interruption did not cost him to lose the race. In effect he lost an average of 23 laps, but he came back for one more lap before the race was over and still won the race.  He completed 62 laps. Runner up Kobus completed 60 laps and Lucas, with almost 4 minutes less racing time than the rest, still ended in 3^rd place with his 58 laps. Sometimes bad luck can kick you harder than words can express: Kevin drove for 17,52 minutes without his transponder in his car and once he realized this, he went down to the track, found his transponder and then finished the race by completing 26 official laps. Should this not have happened he too could have had 62 laps behind his name!!  Ronel managed to do 51 laps and I am sure that she is still in awe ….Johan Killian did fairly well and Henry broke front control arms on his car after a collision and left after completing only 4 lapsBjorn and Johan Barnard did not start. Jason’s best lap for the day was a very fast 17.92 seconds.

1/8^th scale:

Daniël was undeniably the better racer from the start with his average lap times being 10 seconds faster than the runner up in the first round.                                                                                                                                                     In the second round this advantage shrunk to only a 4 seconds difference, when Kobus and Kevin got the hang of it and didn’t allow Daniël to overpower them so much anymore. It serves to be mentioned now that Daniël has got many years of experience, while Kobus and Kevin only recently started with RC racing. André Steenekamp wasn’t far behind Kobus and Kevin and Henry did not start. Round 3 saw Kobus in the lead with André in second place and Kevin in 3^rd. Henry and Daniël both quitted early on in the race, due to car trouble.

Final:

Daniël , with his advanced experience and skills, won the race hands down with 90 laps completed and a fastest lap of 17.07 seconds. In 2^nd place was Kobus with 81 laps and Kevin, 3rd, with 73 laps. Both these gents can pat themselves on the shoulder for performing so well. Even André with his 61 laps can be satisfied with his performance, after being out of the race for more than 400 seconds (almost 7 minutes) He fixed the problem and came back into the race for 10 more laps towards the end of the race. Good sportsmanship displayed there, André!

We are looking forward to the September on-road nitro challenge…and hoping for far a better attendance.