Much to our delight it was such a lovely day out at the track that we were all wearing short sleeves. Even for drivers’ briefing! After a long, cold winter we always appreciate nice, sunny weather. The 24 entries - split into 4 heats – were a bonus. I mention this because we are aware that other clubs struggle to get their nitro on road division going. So, a sincere thank you to all the Meyerton Raceway supporters. We love you and appreciate your loyal support.

I am not afraid to acknowledge that we could have fit all twelve 10th scale (200mm) drivers in the same heat, but as our regular readers will know by now; we choose to keep the semi skilled and the very skilled drivers apart, for obvious reasons. And if you are new to our website, I will gladly repeat the reason for doing so: Novices easily feel overpowered by the real fast guys and the skilled drivers can sometimes feel that the beginners are being a nuisance to them. It is of course a real threat, because uncontrolled movements/actions can cause an accident between them that can cause them hundreds or even thousands of rands.

We welcome Jacques Brits to the on road side of our club competitions. Jacques is a very well known off road driver.

The winner of this month's Best presented Nitro On Road RC car - Jason Landsberg. Congratulations!

Okay, lets get to the race.. The race started at 9h30 and we had 2 classes for the 200mm drivers, a class for the 8th scale GT’s and one for the four 8th scale pan car guys.

Heat 1 - Round 1, 2 and 3 – 10th scale (200mm):

Car 1 – Henry experienced an unexpected hiccup with his car after one lap only in the 1st round. In the 2nd round things went better and he ended 3rd. In the 3rd round he repeated that achievement.

Car 2 – Colleen Vorster completed 11 laps, just doing her own thing. In the 2nd round she raced one more lap but couldn’t do a faster lap. In the 3rd round she improved on her own best lap. In all 3 races she kept a steady 4th place.

Car 3 – Marika Claes ended 2nd in the 1st round, again 2nd in the 2nd round, but with a much faster best lap. She ended 2nd yet again in round 3. Well done, Girl! Wys daai manne!

Car 4 – James Boogaard is a young boy that can handle his RC car very well. Unfortunately frequent flame outs did not allow him to show off his full potential. In round 1 he suffered two flame outs, but boasts a fastest lap of 19.66 seconds. In Round 2 he won the race, doing 6 laps of less than 20 seconds, even after a late start and a flame out. Best lap – 18.60 sec. He DNS in Round 3.

Car 5 – Jannie Holtzhausen kicked off with some spectacular laps, but had to quit after only 4 laps, due to car trouble. Round 2 was equally disastrous for him. He DNS in Round 3.

Car 6 - Ewald van der Neut, a guy who has been hospitalized often in the recent past, gathered his physical strength to compete this month and he made a huge success of it by winning both races that he competed in. He did not race in Round 2, though. Good job, Ewald.

Heat 2- Round 1, 2 and 3 – 10th scale (200mm):

Car 1 – Johnny Claes did some excellent laps in Round 1, (17 second lap were at the order of the day), but he also had one long flame out. In Round two he raced well again, but I think he retired from the race too early. Things went much better in Round 3 and he completed the race and also had his fastest lap – 17.02 seconds. Mooi man!!

Car 2 – Lucas Dillschnitter: By now we all know that Lucas can get podium positions, providing his car plays along. On this day he achieved two second places in the heats, but he picked up trouble in his last qualifier. His fastest lap in the heats – 16.87 seconds. Way to go, Lucas!

Car 3 - Bjorn Boogaard: Bjorn won Rounds 1 and 3 hands down, but he couldn’t finish Round 2. His fastest lap – a brilliant 15.80 seconds. Such a kind man and then he is fast as well.

Car 4 - Jason Landsberg: In Round 4 he had the fastest lap times, but he also had the worst of luck. Round 2 went much better and then he not only won the race, he also achieved the best lap of all drivers for the day. 15.55 seconds!! He ended 2nd in Round 3. A real star, this guy!

Car 5 – Piet du Toit recently returned to the RC game. Piet is able of doing very fast laps and he did it again – 17 second laps is not uncommon for him. Today his best lap was 17.29 sec.

Car 6 – Kevin Gates is a guy that keeps on surprising us with his vast improvements in this game, but for reasons I cannot recall now, he never raced in Rounds 1 and 2. By Round 3 he was ready and he completed 12 beautiful laps before he retired from the race before it was finish.

Heat 3 - Round 1, 2 and 3 – 8th scale GT:

C ar 1 - Kobus Griesel was our top GT man for a long time, but recently he had to share the podium with other drivers that are equally determined to get there. Kobus still gets lots of 18 second laps and he is still fighting fit, so don’t think the challenge is over yet.

Car 2 - Kevin Bann comfortably won Round 1. And Round 2, with one more lap AND a faster best lap (17.27sec). He repeated this performance in Round 3 yet again! What can I say? If your AVERAGE lap time is less than 18 seconds, there is hardly any room for improvement left... This man is out to get it and nothing is going to stop him. Lekker man, lekker!

Car 3 – Ronell Bann is still standing tall against the men, figuratively speaking. With every round she became faster and upped her position in the race from 7th to 5th. You go Girl!

Car 4 – Johan completed his first 2 Rounds with big success. He achieved several 19 second lap sand even 2 of 18 seconds, but for some reason he never took part in Round 3. I sincerely hope that you are happy with your results, Barrie, because WE are and so should you.

Car 5 - André Steenekamp once again had himself a good race day. At least he did well enough to qualify 3rd in the Finals and that says it all.

Car 6 – Henry competed in all three qualifying rounds and completed all three to the very end.For him that is good enough to cal lit a successful day of racing.

Car 7 – Jannie Holzhausen had a variety of car trouble that caused him lots of grief and he more often than not, had to leave the race early.

Car 8 – Jacques Brits joined the race with a car a little bigger than the rest. (7th scale?) He was as nervous as hell, but he didn’t do too bad at all! Lots of laps less than 20 seconds. Hope to have you back next month!

Heat 4 - 8th scale Pan Cars:

Round 1: Only Kevin and Kobus started. Kevin completed 18 laps and Kobus 16. Both suffered flame outs during the race, Kobus more so than Kevin. Kobus’s best lap – 17.86 sec.

Round 2: All four competitors started, but not all of them finished. It seems like it was only Schalk Vorster that succeeded in finishing the race with 18 laps. Best lap in this round belongs to Kevin: 18.11 sec. Kevin, you should have known better than trying to race in a serious competition with only half a tyre!!?

Round 3: I’ve been waiting for Jason for many months already to return to this class and now you all can see why: Jason joined the race and did 22 laps with an AVERAGE of 16.93 sec!!! His fastest lap - 15.07 sec. Amazing!

Kevin Bann clearly had major car problems, because he only completed 14 laps now. …..Oh, I think he eventually put on new tyres only after the race has already started. He still equalled his earlier best lap of 18.11 sec. Schalk improved on his own best lap time with almost 2 seconds, but unfortunately he only lasted for 5 laps. Kobus did not start.

THE FINALS:

B Final 10^th scale Nitro:

Car 1: James also had frequent car trouble in this 30 minute race and I happened to walk by as he was telling his dad that he doesn’t want to try again (after a 12 minute flame out, who can blame him?) but he went back and finished the race anyway. Well done and that was good sportsmanship displayed there. And a BIG congratulations with a best lap of only 17.90 seconds!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You did extraordinarily well!

Car 2: Henry experienced two LONG flame outs and returned to the race, but after the 3^rd flame out he quit.

Car 3: Colleen Vorster just kept on going and going…for 59 laps. Well done! Your family is very proud of you.

Car 4: Kevin Gates was just unstoppable … 64 of his 90 laps were in less than 20 seconds! He obviously won this race and he boasts a fastest lap of just 17.99 seconds. And he achieved this on lap 89, which means that he never gave up pushing himself to the limits. According to my best knowledge he drove a car that he has never driven before. He bought or borrowed it from another driver that morning. I think he was amazing!! Congratulations Kevin!

Car 5: Jannie Holzhausen had a better than average race. I am sure that he went home a very happy man. I notice 3 flame outs during this race, but he kept coming back and completed 82 laps. His fastest lap – 19.17 sec. Mooi so Jannie, jy het regtig goed gery.

 

A Final 10^th scale nitro:

Accidents ruined what could have been a very exciting and extremely competitive race.                                                                                               

Car 1: Bjorn Boogaard was involved in more than one nasty incident, but he still survived for the entire 30 minute race. He completed 89 laps and with 11 laps of just 16.something, he is undoubtedly a very, very good driver. Bjorn ended in ^2nd place.

Car 2: Jason Landsberg was once again NOT in a position to show off his excellent driving skills, for a variety of reasons….. a collision with Bjorn being the most unfortunate one. Jason still managed to complete 86 laps. But no amount of bad luck can take away the fact that he was able to do the fastest lap of all, namely 15.97 seconds. Jason, jy MAG maar ry!!

Car 3: Lucas Dillschnitter won the race with 5  more laps than the runner up…..a total of 94 laps. According to the race results, he never had even one ‘bad’ lap and that is what counts in this game. We are so happy for you, Lucas. Keep it up!

Car 4: Johnny Claes drove superbly, but he was also victim to a number of incidents that took him out of the race for about 7 out of the 30 minutes. Johnny wrote 70 laps behind his name and ended in 4^th place. Johnny van be very proud of his best lap of 16.85 seconds. Thumbs up for you, Johnny!

Car 5: Piet du Toit was out of the race for several minutes halfway through the race, but he came back and finished the race with 61 laps. Piet was only a fraction of a second away from shattering the 17 second barrier. Next time?

Car 6: Ewald van der Neut’s car lasted only 16 laps. Apparently his receiver packed up. Sorry….!

Car 7: Our dear little lady, Marika Claes….There is not much to say, other than: You go, Girl!!!!!!!! 70 laps and almost breaking through that 20 second barrier is no joke for a relatively novice. I foresee a bright racing future for her.

 

 

 

8^th scale Nitro GT :

(These drivers succeeded in shattering my nerves AGAIN this month! )

Car 1: Kevin Bann won this race and what a well deserved win it was, because his competition (Andre and Kobus) was by no means going to hand it to him on a platter. He beat his two rivals with 3 laps (91 all together) and he was the only one in this class to get a lap of less than 18 seconds. Well done on that brilliant 17.71 sec (2^nd lap) in this race!

Car 2: Kobus Griesel raced his heart out. And although Henry thought he bumped him one time too many, I really did notice that he tried his best to stay clear from other cars. Accidents are almost impossible to avoid…..Kobus ended 3^rd in this race with 88 laps behind his name. Good job.

Car 3: André Steenekamp ended in 2^nd place and he also completed 88 laps. I cannot detect even one flame out on the results printout. We are happy for you, André. Well done!

Car 4: Johan Barnard has one flame out of more than 3 minutes and that caused him to lose his 4^th place to Ronel. But apart from that he had a good race.

Car 5: Jacques Brits with his 7^th scale car also had one longish flame out, but otherwise he had a very good race. Happy for you!

Car 6: Ronel Bann, our rose amongst the thorns, had a splendid race. She ended in 4^th place. We know she loves this class and it definitely shows! Congrats, Ronel, keep up the good job.

Car 7: Henry’s HongNor lasted for the full 30 minutes and this pleases him immensely. Apart from one two minute flame out, things went well for him, too.

Car 8: Jannie Holzhausen: This class didn’t work well for him on this day. He had to retire from the race after only 8 laps. Try again next month, Jannie.

 

8^th scale Pan Cars:

I don’t think one out of these four competitors achieved what they set their goals for. But that is RC for you…. Kevin Bann was the only one to complete the whole race….sort of…. wink….wink….  Kevin’s best lap – 18.54 seconds.

Kobus retired after 29 laps and his fastest lap was 18.04 seconds.

Jason Landsberg stripped a spur gear on his pan car and retired after 16 laps. His best lap – 16.42 seconds.

Schalk Vorster only had 9 laps when he retired, due to a clutch problem.

 

Once again a very pleasant day at the track, thanks to our loyal supporters.