A terribly cold start to a day that later turned into a warm, summer’s day!! What a blessing?!  And amidst the racing Henry and I attended to quite a few visitors that showed real interest in RC racing. I took the opportunity to ask a few pertinent questions, for example why they chose Meyerton Raceway as the track/club of their choice. The general feedback was that we made them feel welcome from the very first moment they showed up at the track. And that they pick up a feeling of camaraderie amongst the drivers.  Although lots of prospective buyers come to us with their minds already made up about what they want; they always thank us afterwards for not allowing them to make hasty decisions. We always try and convince them to rather take time, attend races of all three disciplines – on road electric, on road nitro and off road – before they buy.

Okay, back to the race:  We had two groups on this day:  10^th scale (200mm) touring and 8^th scale GT’s. For a change, no one competed in both classes, as it is more often than not the case. And with Nitro, it is a good thing, because with a 30 minute final race, every driver needs a pit crew for re-fueling.  So the two teams could assist each other where necessary.

Best presents Car of the Day :  Jason Landsberg Congrats!!

 

Heat 1 Round 1 – 200mm Nitro Touring:

Club member Jason Landsberg kicked the day off with a win and a pretty fast best lap of 16.14 sec.

Stephen Smith ended 2^nd, and although he boasts a couple of very fast laps, he was not entirely his usual superfast self.  The same goes for Bjorn Boogaard.

Marika Claes, the only woman driver for the day, stood her ground against the men and completed 13 las. Piet du Toit struggled with clutches…or something. He quit the race after only 5 laps.

Heat 1 Round 2 – 200mm Nitro Touring:

Bjorn recovered and won this race. His quickest lap – 16.26 For the rest of the drivers things went from bad to worse…

Jason was out of the race for more than a minute and had to settle for 2^nd place. He still managed to improve to an impressive best lap of 15.88sec. Nice!!!!!!!!!!!

Marika ended 3^rd, because she had less car troubles than Piet and Stephen. But that doesn’t mean she had no trouble; in actual fact she was for 100 seconds and could only finish 11 laps. Stephen retired after 6 laps and Piet did not start.

Heat 1 Round 3 – 200mm Nitro Touring:

Jason got everything sorted out and performed extraordinary well. He succeeded in doing one more lap than before and he also improved on his previous best lap, now doing a 15.2 sec lap.

But he wasn’t the only driver to improve; Stephen, although he only completed 9 laps, raced two laps of 15. Something seconds.

It was however Bjorn that took the 2^nd place in this round and Marika in 3^rd place.

The qualifying order for the Finals was; Jason, Bjorn, Stephen, Marika and Piet.

 The Final results was a perfect depiction of the amount of laps completed by each, the fastest lap times achieved and the degree of car trouble encountered by each driver.

Final result:

1. Jason Landsberg     with 98 laps  - best lap 15.15 Best lap of the Day
2. Stephen Smith        with 96 laps
3. Bjorn Boogaard       with 91 laps
4. Piet du Toit             with 69 laps
5. Marika Caes           with 56 laps before her car flamed out and lost signal

 

Heat 2 Round 1 – Nitro GT:

Wayne Smith made minced meat out of his competitors. Jacques Brits did fairly well and so did Henry Ogden. Johnny Claes’s lap times were good, but his car wouldn’t play along for more than 5 laps in this round.  Johnny had trouble and retired after 5 laps.  André Steenekamp and Jakkie Landsberg did not start. (Jakkie actually did start, but realized that he had serious trouble with the steering on his car, so he quit before he even completed his 1^st lap)  Wayne’s quickest lap – 16.49s

Heat 2 Round 2 – Nitro GT:

Wayne continued on his winning path and Jacques ended 2^nd again. Apart from a late start, Johnny this time had a beautiful race. Best lap – 17.31s. Well done! He achieved a well deserved 3^rd place.

Henry had a late start, not due to car problems, more likely he was playing salesman or something!  André’s problems persisted and that goes for Jakkie as well.

Heat 2 Round 3 – Nitro GT:

Wayne still the best man on the stand. Fastest lap – 16.42s. This time Johnny did even better and came ever so close to Wayne. 17 seconds average lap time is awesome!! Well done both of you. That was fantastic! Andre shed most of his problems and raced 16 laps. Behind him was Henry and Jacques, both with 15 laps and their average lap time and best laps were very close. Jakkie DNS.

The qualifying order for the Finals was: Wayne, Jacques, Johnny, Henry, André and Jakkie

Wayne achieved a 1^st ever for Meyerton Raceway in the GT class when he completed 102 laps. Congratulations!!  Jakkie, apart from two longish flameouts, raced for the full duration of the final, which was a great relief to him and the rest of us. In actual fact; All 6 drivers had a good race and that is all that we ever want.

Final result:

1. Wayne Smith                     - 102 laps Best lap 16.24sec  Best lap of the Day.
2. Johnny Claes                     -  96 laps
3. Jacques Brits                     -  90 laps
4. André Steenekamp             - 88 laps
5. Henry Ogden                     - 78 laps
6. Jakkie Landsberg               - 71 laps

 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

6 month series prize giving:

10th scale:

1.  Bjorn Boogaard

2.  Stephen Smith

3.  Piet du Toit

 

8th scale GT:

1.  Wayne Smith

2.  André Steenekamp

3.  Charmaine Wright  - absent