Always nice to have a large group of enthusiastic people at the track, eager to spend a long day of RC fun with us. On this day it was no different and we were pleased to have met two more new drivers from the East Rand.

Michelle and Alec, it was so nice to have had you with us, especially seeing that you have enjoyed it so much. And by the way: You did well on your first official race. Congrats with your podium places!

THE RACE  :

A total of 48 entries, spread over 7 classes.

Beginners:

Car 1 :   Dana Cato  - Dana won both the qualifier rounds and one of the Final legs. She also succeeded in doing a fastest lap of 21.00 seconds, which according to me is way above than what can be expected of a novice driver. Well done, Girl!

Car 2: Johnrique Claes – This 5 year old boy had a much better racing day than last month, when the car that he was driving then was obviously not in good shape. This month Johnrique’s average lap time came down tremendously! If I can believe what I see on the race results, he had quite a couple of laps of less than 25 seconds. You go, Boy!!

Car 3  : Anzea Pretorius-  This kid hasn’t been at the track  for at least a year now… but what a comeback that was! She didn’t stand back one inch for the regulars. Great stuff, Anzea. Hope to see you at the track more often from now on.

Car 4 : Michelle Mynhardt – A young adult, with heaps of potential. And heaps of enthusiasm. I am of the opinion that she will be in a hurry to move up in the ranks of which ever class she chooses to compete in. Doing laps of less than 25 seconds on your first day is extraordinary. So keep an eye on this newcomer…

Car 5 : Alec Cooks – The boyfriend of Michelle, I presume? What I’ve said and predicted about Michelle, goes for this young man as well. Watch this space.

TTO1:

Only 4 competitors in this class today.  JP had a late start and Charmaine did only one lap in the 1^st round. Anette had some problems ‘relating’ to her radio and that left the field open for Marika to won the 1^st round. In round 2 Charmaine took an early lead with JP in 2^nd place, after yet another  (little) late start. Marika almost equaled JP’s performance, which was pretty good! Anette seemed more in control of her radio and car and came down on her fastest lap time with 3 seconds.  In Leg 1 of the Finals, Charmaine took the lead again while JP encountered bigger problems than before. Now it was Marika’s turn to lose a bit control over her car and Anette succeeded in doing even better average and best lap times. In the last leg of the Final, JP seemed to have shed all his car problems and won the race with Charmaine in 2^nd.  Anette managed to do 7 laps of less than 23 seconds, but she also made some unnecessary mistakes, which influenced her average lap time negatively. Marika didn’t do too badly, but she evidently had some trouble with controlling her car.  Hope her hubby can fix the problem for her?

Electric Mini:

Jason Landsberg was the ball again, like in the past. He won all four races in this class. I am tempted to say ‘comfortably’, but his dad, Jakkie, surely must have given him a fright, coming so close to him in the Final legs. Not forgetting Lucas Dillschnitter and Piet du Toit, because they too boasted excellent lap times. Ronel Bann was doing fine too, but Schalk Vorster and Jannie Holtzhausen both had a fair share of car trouble. Jason came very close to breaking that 20 second barrier. His fastest lap was 20.11.

540 Touring:

All 4 races in this class saw the same people in the top 3 positions. Johnny 1^st, Jakkie 2^nd and Lucas 3^rd. If it wasn’t for a mishap in the 1^st round, Jannie could have boasted a consistent 4^th place as well. 

Henk Grootherder, who has moved out of the Beginner class since last month, showed great progress when he came down on his best lap time to a mere 21 seconds. Well done!

The rest of us (Anette, Colin and Charmaine) all had car trouble that caused us not to perform the way would have liked to. Well, at least  I,  (Anette) had a personal best lap time of 21.55 seconds. Something I will endeavor to improve on some more, next month. Best lap in this class belongs to Johnny, driving a loan-car. But boy, he drove it pretty damn well! Fastest lap - 18.51 sec.

 

21.5  Electric Touring:

A full group of 10 competitors. And what a mixture of mixed results?! Kevin Gates had no car trouble and he also achieved the fastest lap time. (18.42 sec) That made him the unopposed winner. Colin Maritz had several laps of less than 19 seconds, but his average just wasn’t good enough to beat Kevin.

Although Johan Barnard and Jakkie Landsberg did not end in the top three places, they also at least had a trouble free race. …Which is always a bonus, isn’t it?  Unfortunately Darren Hill, Gert Swart, Tiny Wright, Ronel Bann, Jannie Holzhausen and Schalk Vorster could not say the same. In each race at least one of the 10 drives had a DNS. But what the heck; this is RC driving as we know it..

 

17.5 Electric Touring:

Again we had a nice full group of ten drivers. Jason led the way from start to finish. He won both the qualifier rounds as well as the two Final legs. His best lap of 16.40 sec was also the fastest in this class for the day. Great stuff!

Marius Burger came very close to that fastest lap of Jason, with multiple laps of 16 –something and a best lap of 16.45sec. It seems that he had a late start in the final leg for the day as well as another problem that caused him to lose valuable seconds and as well as a place on the podium. (not that he cares much for that…)

Harry Wilesmith was his usual fast self and didn’t do much wrong.. securing himself a definite podium place.

The same can be said about André Steenekamp.

Yas Okauchi, our relatively new RC friend had himself a very successful day of racing. His frequent 17 second laps are a sure tell tale of what his capabilities are.

Kevin Bann performed well, doing multiple 17 seconds and one of 16.91, just to show that he can…haha

Gert Swart was also up to his fast, old self, with a moderate amount of car trouble.

Ronel Bann encountered a couple of hiccups, but nothing too seriously. She comfortably average 21 seconds, which is nothing to cry about.

JP Sweeck suffered through the quallies, but he more than made up for that in the finals, where he raced brilliantly.

Colin Maritz had so much trouble in this class; I think he felt like kicking himself for entering for it.

13.5 Electric Touring:

Marius Burger, Kevin Bann and Harry Wilesmith competed against each other. Everyone is fast and everyone is capable of laps of just 16 seconds. But there has to be a winner and this month it was Harry. Marius came 2^nd and Kevin 3^rd. Fastest lap : Marius -16.01 sec. Well done!

Below:  

Best presented RC body for the Day : Marius Burger. Again...! Mooi so!  

 Another succssfull and very enjoyable day at the track. Thanks guys and girls; see you again next month.

PS: For more pictures, please feel free to vist our facebook page -  Meyerton Raceway R/C