Trying to get the track ready for racing so early in the New Year was quite a challenge with all the rain that we had. To top that, a part of the track was still under construction and our regular garden help only returned from his Christmas leave a mere 5 days before the race so you can imagine that it had been more than just a bit nerve wrecking for us.

We had to get in an extra worker to work on the track to assist in raising the level of part of the track. Altogether we added an extra (4)? truck loads of sand to the track. Thanks to all the rain, the grass had grown so long that it was in desperate need of being cut. Fortunately, two club members together with their wives and kids, rocked up and assisted Henry and myself to cut the grass on the islands and around the tracks in order to be ready for the public. Thanks Kobus and Tobie as well as your wives and kids for assisting us in cutting the grass and trimming the edges. Then, on the Friday night before the race, the weather gave us one more fright when the rain came down in buckets. The track was totally flooded and with the help of Kevin, we managed to dig trenches for the water to run out and away from the track. Luckily it did not rain again during the day or night again. On Sunday morning we were able to suck up the last moisture from the track with sawdust. Phew, we almost didn’t make it! But as they say: All’s well that ends well.

 

According to the amount of enquiries we received about the race, we expected quite a number of entries for the first race of the year. But seeing the on-line entries, we were almost disappointed to learn that there would be just over 20 drivers. But as usual, the number of guys that showed up at the end, is a different story altogether! 46 entries, divided into Nitro buggies, Electric buggies and nitro Truggies.

 

A few things that I really wish I could change:

 

Jacques Brits was WELL ahead in first place in the Buggy B Final when his buggy flamed out a minute before the end of the race. And there he fell right out of the race…

 

The same happened with Kobus Griesel in the Truggy class. His 6 laps of 50 something seconds is proof that he CAN, but, those flame outs…

 

The young James Boogaard also drives very well, but will only be able to prove this if his truggy co-operates. And on this race day this truggy just would not…

 

The Qualifiers

 

Heat 1 Round 1 Nitro Buggy:

 

This heat was a mixture of drivers with variable driving skills. There were those well known to us as well as completely strangers. It was great having new drivers joining us at our club. Nelis du Plessis that used to race with us many moons ago had also entered, Welcome back, Nelis!    Nelis (predictably) won the race, with one more lap than his closest rival, Jason Landsberg. Murray van Lelyveld came from far to join in the RC fun for the day. He ended in 3^rd position. Harry Wilesmith, more familiar to us on the on-road side ended 4^th with Johann van Zyl behind him. Our very own Johan Barnard came 6^th with Ronel Bann 7^th. Then it was Rudi Botes a newbie, in 8^th position. Robert Stanton, obviously a young driver with lots of RC skills, only managed to do 4 laps, but that was because of a very late start. His 55 sec lap showed his potential. And then it was Tobie, with loads of car trouble. Best lap in this round: Nelis – 54.7 seconds.

 

 

 

Heat 1 Round 2 Nitro Buggy:

 

Johann van Zyl took the lead in this race, with Nelis in 2^nd place. The both of them, as well as Murray (again in 3^rd) drove laps of 54 seconds. Robert now moved up to 4^th position, which was no surprise to me. He drove an even faster lap: now only 53.4 sec, the fastest lap in this round. The only problem is that his laps were not consistent at this stage. Jason had to settle for 5^th position. Jason didn’t do anything wrong, the others were just…….better…faster…in this round. Then it was Johan, Ronel, Rudi and Harry, in that order. Harry had a VERY late start, but at least all his laps were of less than 60 seconds. Tobie did not start.

 

 

 

Heat 1 Round 3 Nitro Buggy:

 

Robert took the lead with Murray in a well deserved 2^nd place. His 4^th lap was a brilliant 52.9 seconds!  Nelis ended 3^rd with Jason behind him in 4^th.  Jason, who only recently started with off road racing now also boasts a fastest lap of just 53 seconds…well done! All the rest were a bit hampered with flame-outs. Johan, Tobie and Harry did not start.

 

 

 

Heat 2 Round 1 Nitro Buggy:

 

According to our best knowledge, these were our ‘Top Guys’, regarding their driving skills, but a computer glitch shuffled them into a not-so- familiar position on the squatting list. Nevertheless, it seemed that it was a wise decision to put them together in a group of their own. In this round, there was hardly any lap of 60 seconds or more. In fact, 50 seconds were more their style! Tiaan Oelofse led the race with a fastest lap of 47.7 seconds. Brilliantly done, Tiaan! In 2^nd place was Lammie (Albie Loose Wheel Greyvenstein) and in 3^rd it was Hein van Rensburg.  Daniël du Plessis was in 4^th position and behind him Johan Godwald. In 6^th place we had a very young, but also very skilled driver, Calvin Barnard. Ilzio de Sousa only ended in 7^th position, after a very late start. But with laps as low as 50 seconds, he will probably overcome this early setback. Jan Vermeulen apparently had a similar problem, because he only started when the others were about to finish. Adriaan Johnsen did not start.

 

Heat 2 Round 2 Nitro Buggy:

 

Again Tiaan and Lammie in the first two positions, now with Johan Godwald behind them in 3^rd.  Ilizio have moved up to 4^th place and Calvin advanced to 5^th. Hein backed out of the race after only two laps, and I can only assume it was due to car trouble. Daniël also retired after only 1 lap after a flame out. Jan Vermeulen and Adriaan did not start. Best lap in this round: Tiaan – 47.8sec.               PS: Well done, Lammie, daai 49 sec lap van jou was awesome!

 

Heat 2 Round 3 Nitro Buggy:

 

Tiaan 1^st, Lammie 2^nd and Hein 3^rd. Johan 4t, Calvin 5^th and Jan 6^th.  Hein has now also managed to break that magical 50 seconds barrier…Well done, Hein!   Daniël, with a broken drive cup, had to settle for 7^th position. Ilizio and Adriaan did not start. Fastest lap: Tiaan – 47.06 seconds.

 

 

 

Heat 3 Round 1 Nitro Buggy:

 

MJ Schoeman won this race with a lap more than Henry, who came 2^nd. Behind Henry was Kevin Bann and Kobus Griesel respectively. Then came Jakkie Landsberg, Jacques Brits, André Steenekamp and Gavin Mclean in that order. Jacques Brits only joined the race when the race was already halfway through. André and Jacques van Zyl both retired after only 2 laps and Bjorn Boogaard did not start. Best lap in this round: MJ  -  50.4 seconds.

 

 

 

Heat 3 Round 2 Nitro Buggy:

 

Again MJ in the lead, but now Bjorn almost caught up with him! So, Bjorn 2^nd and Jacques Brits in a well deserved 3^rd place. Both Kobus and Kevin now improved on their own lap times with 2 seconds, but this time Kobus beat Kevin with .6 of a second. Jacques van Zyl had a very late start and both Henry and Jakkie backed out after 2 laps due to flame outs. Andre and Gavin did not start.  MJ’s fastest lap – 50.8 seconds.

 

 

 

Heat 3 Round 3 nitro Buggy:

 

MJ still in the lead, with Henry back in 2^nd place.  Bjorn ended 3^rd with Kobus tailing him to end 4^th.  Gavin ended in 5^th place after one LONG flame out. Jacques van Zyl was also held back with a flame out that lasted more than 3 minutes. Kevin, Jacques Brits and Jakkie were all plagued by car trouble and André did not start. MJ’s best lap – 49.9..Jippie, he broke that barrier!

 

 

 

 

Heat 4 Round 1 Nitro Truggy:

 

Johann van Zyl won this race with one more lap than the runner up.  Brendon van Staden,  new to Meyerton,  but nevertheless a very welcome competitor, ended 2^nd. Our very own toppie, Kobus Griesel ended 3^rd , only .1 of a second slower than Brendon. Sandra Greyvenstein, the lady that we expect a lot of, only managed to end 4^th, this time around. Looking at the results, I notice that she was out of the race for more than 3 minutes which clearly explain her position in this round.  These top 4 competitors all did laps of less than 60 seconds.  Behind Sandra, we find another lay driver, Ronel Bann in 5^th place. From this point it was just trouble with a capital T for the rest: Johan Barnard only started when the race was about to finish. The same goes for young James Boogaard. Kevin Bann, Henry Ogden and Murray van Lelyveld did not start.  Fastest lap in this round belongs to Sandra – 51 seconds.

 

 

 

Heat 4 Round 2 Nitro Truggy:

 

Sandra was back where she belongs: at the top! This time she beat her closest rival Brendon with 4.5 seconds. Kobus moved up to 3^rd position. At that stage I was doing race commentating, but I didn’t make a fuss about the fact that Kobus was in a very good position, because I was afraid that it might just make him nervous! Haha. Toppieeeee! Again these top 3 drivers had laps of less than 60 seconds. As you could have gathered by now, 60 seconds is my (personal) criteria to split the good racers from the average racers. And less than 50 seconds are the exceptionally good drivers. Again, this is only my personal opinion. Please don’t blame the club, I am just the reporter!

 

Johan Barnard came in 4^th with a best lap of 61 seconds and after him Ronel with 62 seconds. Johann van Zyl only managed one lap before he retired and the other four guys did not start. Sandra’s best lap  - 50.4 sec

 

 

 

Heat 4 round 3 Nitro Truggy:

 

Murray took the lead away from Sandra in this round and Sandra had to settle for 2^nd place. Brendon took the 3^rd place from Kobus and subsequently pushed him down to 4^th.  Ronel ended in her now famous 5^th place, but she lost valuable seconds on her average, after a flame out that kept her out of the race for 3 minutes. Johan Barnard retired after 3 laps and the rest did not start. Obviously their truggies caused them more trouble than pleasure on this day…shame. Sandra’s best lap – 50.7 sec.

 

Heat 5  round 1 Electric buggy:

 

Leo de Oliveira took the lead from scratch and won the race comfortably. Andre Steenekamp came 2^nd and Gert Swart 3^rd. It is the first time that Gert raced off-road at Meyerton, where we normally find him on the tar track. But if you know Gert, you will realize that his RC skills will allow him to excel in whatever he wants to race. Behind him was his good friend Harry Wilesmith to which the same applies. And behind Harry, it was Kevin Bann, also a very versatile driver. In less than a year he had already tried his hand to almost anything RC car related. His wife, Ronel, closely behind him in 6^th place. Marius Burger left the race after 3 laps. Leo’s best lap – 53.6 seconds.

 

Heat 5 Round 2 Electric Buggy:

 

Leo 1^st,  André 2^nd and Marius 3^rd.  Uhmm, that was sort of what I expected from Marius… in the first round.  Gert ended 4^th with Kevin in 5^th place. Until here, they all raced laps of less than 60 seconds. Ronel came in 6^th with a not-too-shabby average of 63 seconds. Now it was Harry’s turn to leave the track after just 1 lap. Leo’s fastest lap – 54.7 sec.

 

Heat 5 Round 3 Electric Buggy:

 

Leo in his famous 1^st place, still improving on his own lap time. Gert Swart in 2^nd place and Harry in 3^rd place. Andre fell back a position or two, while Kevin, Ronel and Marius all had very late starts.  Kevin, though was also improving his own best lap in every round and I know that is what is important to him. Leo boasts a splendid 52.9 seconds lap.

 

 

 

 

 

Finals:

 

C Final Buggy:

1. Gavin Mclean

 

2.Johan Barnard

 

3. Ronel Bann

 

 

 

B Final Buggy:

 

1. Jan Vermeulen
2. Jason Landsberg
3. Kobus Griesel

 

 

 

 

A Final Buggy:

 

1. Tiaan Oelofse        (fastest lap 47.44sec)
2. Johan Godwald     (fastest lap 49.22sec)
3. MJ Schoeman        (fastest lap 49.91sec)

 

 

 

 

Final Electric Buggy:

 

1. Leo de Oliveira     (fastest lap 52.90 sec)
2. Gert Swart            (fastest lap 55.35 sec)
3. Marius Burger      (fastest lap 57.33 sec)

 

 

 

 

Truggy Final:

 

1. Sandra Greyvenstein    (fastest lap 50.24 sec )

1. Murray van lelyveld      (fastest lap 50.79 sec)

1. Johan Barnard                (fastest lap 62.63 sec)