We made the track available, free of charge, for practice on Saturday, but not many drivers thought that they were in need of practice…haha.  Those who did show up, had a relaxed day and practiced to their hearts’ contend. While some guys left late in the afternoon to go check in at the relevant guest houses, others arrived with a bakkie load of camping equipment. A total of 5 men and three ladies decided to camp out at the site.  A bit of rain fell from 6 to 8pm, but this did not put a damper on the campers’ spirit. Of course Henry and I joined them for a couple of hours, chatting away until late..

 

On Sunday morning, there wasn’t much evidence of the previous night’s rain on the tar track. No sweeping or vacuuming was needed. Uhmmm, Henry reminds me that he had to re-sugar the track. Okay Boss, I’ve told our readers!

40 guys and three lady drivers competed in 68 classes.  Every driver received a welcoming gift from Meyerton Raceway. It seems that they were pleasantly surprised with the customized labels on the bottles of still water.

To the organizers of Tamiya Cup South Africa: Thank you for another opportunity to host a race. Hope we can repeat it in the near future.

We ran 2 qualifiers and one Final, due to time constraints. We were mindful of those who had to travel far. And as always, those who wish to only enter at the track, were guilty of holding up the race, but as the saying goes: we will always have them amongst us. But okay, I do not wish to fight and we know by now that it won’t help, anyway.

Concourse   winners:

Congratulations to the following persons:

Below: Formula 1 class  -   Chris Silver

 

Below: Mini chassis         -   Christo Snyman

 

Below: Meyerton Raceway award for Best Presented:  Janice Snyman

 

The Race:

Heat 1 Round 1 – Stock Touring:

(Probably novice drivers and/or those that doesn’t have a high ranking, yet)

Rolan Ferreira won this race, with a quickest lap of 22.30s.

In 2^nd place were Jason Gouws and Willem Meintjies in 3^rd.

Then followed 5 drivers with different degrees of success; rating from utterly successful to less skilled.                            

We also became aware that two of the very young ones forgot to collect transponders and they unfortunately forfeit all their laps.  I assume they were much too excited and overwhelmed by the newness of it all…

Heat 1 Round 2:

Emil Moerman won the race, with Jason Gouws in 2^nd and Rolan Ferreira in 3^rd. 

Rolan Ferreira, Meyerton club member, was by far the fastest driver in this heat, but a penalty for bumping into another driver, caused him to lose precious time. He later told me that he was not happy with the decision, because the other driver stopped in front of him. Unfortunately this rule always applies to races here at our track and we did not want to make an exception on this day. Especially not on this day…..  Rolan’s best lap – 21.91sec.

Stock Touring B Final:

1. Gerhard Bezuidenhout    Best lap : 22.53s
2. Willem Meintjies
3. Roelof Pretorius

Heat 2 Round 1 – Stock Touring:

George Honey won the race with Quintin Robertson behind him.  Quintin looked like a sure winner, but one longish lap, probably due to an accident, caused him to lose his position in the lead. His best lap – 21.43s.  Marcel Blignaut ended 3^rd.

The 8 drivers that followed Marcel are all fairly experienced drivers and with the exception of Eben Blignaut and Ryan Schoeman, they all had a trouble free race.

Heat 2 Round 2:

Quintin Robertson won the 2^nd round, with a best lap of 20.99s. In 2^nd place we saw Sarel Pretorius and George Honey in 3^rd. George had faster lap times than Sarel, but an accident or something resulted in two very slow (for him) laps. Marcel was forced down to 4^th place now. Young Eben did much better now and jumped from 10^th place to 5^th. Well done! Ryan was still experiencing car trouble.

Stock Touring A Final:   After a dispute......!

1. Sarel Pretorius                
2. Quintin Robertson
3. George Honey

Fastest lap : George Honey – 21.19s

 

Heat 3 Round 1 – Open Stock:

Here we talk about a class that is much faster than the Stock Touring. A whole 6 seconds faster..

Harry Wilesmith is familiar with our track and he also is an excellent driver, therefore it came as no surprise to see him in the 1^st place. His fastest lap – 18.04s.

Behind Harry was Kevin Hattingh. Kevin is a youngster, but as his dad, Jannie Hattingh, they are extremely experienced drivers.  Best lap- 18.12s

Then we had another youngster, Ethan Constable. ( Son of Lance Constable) Ethan is also a very skilled driver and he also managed to drive laps of less than 19 seconds.  He ended 3^rd.                                                                                                                                                                                                  

The day did not start well at all for well known Marius Burger. His excellent lap times of just over 18 seconds did not help much, because he only completed 2 laps.  Lady driver Janice Snyman did not start.

Heat 3 Round 2:

Kevin took the lead over from Harry, after Harry had to quit the race after only 7 laps.

Robbie Webster moved into 2^nd place and Ethan ended 3^rd again.

Marius was still having problems and Janice managed to do 3 laps before she also quit.

Harry’s best lap – 18.01s

Results of  Open Stock Final:

1. Harry Wilesmith   
2. Robbie Webster
3. Kevin Hattingh

Fastest lap  - Marius Burger – 17.94s

 

Heat 4 Round 1 – FWD Touring:

Lance Constable has won this round convincingly. He did not achieve the quickest lap, but he managed to get one more lap than his rivals, which made him a sure winner.  

Wayne van Veenhuyzen ended 2^nd and he was followed by André Marais, better known as Boelie, who got a best lap of 17.80s

Christo Pieterse and Quintin Robertse were having serious car trouble and quit the race early on.

Christo Snyman DNS.

Heat 4 Round 2:

André Marais beat Lance Constable with a fraction of a second…a VERY close call! And Wayne van Veenhuyzen was also only  .2 of a sec behind Lance. All three of them achieved best laps of less than 18 seconds.

 6 very competent guys followed, but JP le Roux and Christo Pieterse did not have the same success this time around…they retired from the race after 8 and 7 laps respectively.

The best lap in this round belongs to Lance – 17.72 s. Well done!

                                                                                                                                                    

Results of FWD Final:

1.  Lance Constable ?
2. Andre Marais       ?       Best lap – 17.80
3. Robbie Webster

(I am not sure I agree with this, though….. At Meyerton a penalty is a penalty, regardless….)

 Heat 5 Round 1 – Mini Chassis:

All the drivers in this class are of almost the same caliber. But there has to be a winner and in this round it was Warren Cooper.  Quickest lap – 20.54s

Jannie Hattingh ended 2^nd and Paul Langenhoven in 3^rd.

 Heat 5 Round 2:

Both Warren and Jannie improved on their best lap times in this Round, but this time Jannie beat Warren to the finishing line. Luanco Eksteen moved into 3^rd place, after Paul ran into trouble. Christo Snyman and Wayne van Veenhuyzen did not start. Quickest lap in this race:  Warren – 20.11s

Mini Results:

1. Jannie Hattingh
2. Luanco Eksteen
3. Paul Langenhoven

Fastest lap: Warren Cooper – 20.32s

Heat 6 Round 1 – Formula 1 class:

Pieter van der Merwe won this round, after being the only driver to achieve a lap of less than 20 seconds. – 19.70s. Luanco Eksteen came 2^nd with a best lap of 20.08s lap and he was followed by Chris Silver. Eben Bliganaut took the 4^th place. I think at this stage this young boy was still struggling to ‘bond’ with his racing car…

Heat 6 Round 2:

Almost the same scenario than in round one, only this time Chris and Luanco swapped place.

Pieter, again in the lead, improved on his best lap, now boasting a 19.57s.  Eben, still struggling with his car, took an early retirement again.

 Formula 1 class Final results:

1. Luanco Eksteen
2. Pieter van der Merwe                       Best lap – 19.38s
3. Chris Silver

Heat 7 Round 1 – Super Stock:

Lance showed off his excellent skills by winning once more, this time boasting a quickest lap of 16.88s. Chazlee Cooper, a young man that grew up in the RC racing environment, ended 2^nd. He was followed by rival Kevin Hatting, also a boy that was raised next to RC tracks. Lance’s boy, Ethan, ended  4^th. A string of very capable drivers followed, all doing pretty fast lap times….

Marcel Blignaut not quite in their league, yet. Or maybe his car just let him down? I am not sure…

Heat 7 Round 2:

Lance had to surrender to Kevin after suffering two troublesome laps, although he now achieved an even faster best lap time – 16.81s. Kevin, with 17 flawless laps, deserved his victory in this round.

Wayne van Veenhuyzen moved up into the 3^rd place.

By the way; Chazlee succeeded in equaling Lance’s earlier fastest lap time of 16.88s, but he unfortunately quit from the race too early.

Super Stock Final results:

1. Lance Constable                 Best lap – 16.81s
2. Kevin Hattingh
3. Pieter vd Merwe

Heat 8 Round 1 – 4 Wheel Drive GT:

Shewwwww…….!!! We’ve witnessed some extremely fast racing in this class! The 6 drivers in this class obviously know each other’s driving style for quite some time already.  They stayed clear from one another and just concentrated on doing their own thing, as best and as fast as they probably could. John Steyn won Round 1 with multiple 15.something laps. His best lap – 15.61s.

André (Boelie) ended 2^nd and Jannie Hattingh 3^rd. Chazlee ended 4^th and Pieter Swemmer 5^th.  Jason Hillcoat, who ended last, had the second best lap in this round – 15.59s, but he only lasted for 9 rounds, before he retired.

Heat 8 Round 2:

Jason showed off his well known driving skills in this round, by not only winning, but he also improved vastly on his quickest lap time – 15.33. His average lap time of 15.82s is really impressive!!

John had to be content with a 2^nd place this time and Boelie was forced down to 3^rd.

Jannie Hattingh now also succeeded in breaking through the 16 second barrier – 1564s. Well done!

4 Wheel Drive GT Final results:

1. Jason Hillcoat
2. John Steyn     Best lap – 15.15s
3. Boelie Marais