We were satisfied to see that the warmer weather brought with it a much larger group of drivers to the track than in the recent (SA) winter months..

 

42 entries are really not too bad. For the first time in months we had to split the 21.5 touring class, because they were too many for one heat.

Four of the 42 entries are totally new drivers, which we are grateful for. The four new drivers are both father-and-son teams. Welcome to Andre and Jeandre van Jaarsveld and Chris and Ethan Jacobs. We sincerely hope that you will enjoy racing at Meyerton Raceway for a long time to come.

          

( A 3^rd father-and-son team visited the track during the course of the day and purchased a brand new car. So there is a big possibility that Andre Jenner and his son Jason might just join us next month)

We regularly loose drivers to other hobbies/sport/interests, so new blood that is flowing into our much-loved hobby is always welcome.

BUT: For Race Control, this was NOT a normal (almost) faultless race day.. However the weather played along just fine, the noise level of the modem connected to the BBK timing system (some technical thing regarding Signal to Noise Ratio) was very high. Subsequently the transponders used in the first two heats of the day were not picked up every time a driver crossed the line and therefore caused unreliable race results.

Henry went and sprayed some muti out of a can on the wires and the problem was solved!

But we were not so lucky when the printer all of a sudden packed up. The 1^st copy of the squatting list came out perfectly, but when the 2^nd copy – for office use – was supposed to come out, it was just blank. We quickly replaced the ink cartridge, but it still wouldn’t print. We then replaced the whole printer and that also failed to work. A 3^rd printer was then connected, but apparently that one is too new and not compatible with the laptop. We had no other option but to carry on with the race with no printouts of the results after each race.

Car of the Day:

A whole bunch of very nicely sprayed car bodies were on display at drivers’ briefing and it was hard to choose only one to receive the Best Presented RC body of the Day award.

      

But the body that we chose was one that obviously required a lot of work, because of the multiple colors that were used. The award went to Nathan Steyn…(with a little help from grandpa Piet, we presume? ) Congratulations!

The Race :

Beginners:

Three novices competed in this class, against 4 boys that are already with us for a year or so, although on an on-and-off basis.

Erich van Rooyen is already a very competent little driver who is ready to take on the adult drivers any time he wants to; probably in the near future.

Ruan Brauer caused unpleasantness by cutting out huge parts of the track all day long while driving, and we were forced to disqualify him in the finals, when he refused to stop doing so, even after he was reprimanded by his rivals as well as race control.

During qualifiers Richard Botes and Victor Fourie both had good and bad races, intermittently.

For the Finals, both Victor and Erich were yet again let down by their cars and they could not perform to their abilities. Sorry about that, boys.

Best lap in this class for the day (Ruan’s short cuts excluding) :

Erich van Rooyen - 24.14s

Beginners overall:

1. Richard Botes
2. Ethan Jacobs
3. André van Jaarsveld

 

Electric Mini:

I hesitate to mention results for the 1^st qualifier here, because of the noise level that influenced the results. The 2^nd qualifier was won by Paul Langenhoven. Louis ended 2^nd and Tyrone 3^rd.

And by the way: It had been Francois Geyser’s first time competing in this class. He seemed quite confident and happy with the performance of his dark green-checker-flag-roof little car..

According to the records I could find, it seems like Paul achieved a quickest lap of 20.67s in the final race of the day in this class.

Overall Mini:

1. Paul Langenhoven
2. Louis Nortje
3. Francois Geyser

 

540 Touring:

In the absence of proper race results, I have to guess that Piet was the main man in this class today. Leon, Henry and Charmaine were fighting each other for the next three places, while newcomer Chris Jacobs was still getting the feel for competition racing.

In the 1^st qualifier round Piet achieved a best lap of 21.66s. (Just wait, things will soon change for the better)

In the 2^nd qualifier he was beaten by Leon, who boasts a best lap of 19.73s. Impressive!

In the Final Piet again beat the rest with a quickest lap of 19.57 s. Well done!

Overall:

1. Piet du Toit
2. Henry Ogden
3. Leon van Rooyen (Leon had to leave before prize giving and he requested that his trophy should be given to Charmaine, who ended in 4^th place.

 

21.5 Touring:

1^st Group:

Paul Langenhoven beat the rest and also boasts the fastest lap – 19.62s

2^nd group: Piet du Toit beat his rivals and his best lap was 19.53s

In the Final Mike and Henry did not compete, so the other 9 competitors drove in one group.

Now it had been Willtin Brauer’s turn to step away as winner, with a pretty quick best lap of 19.25s, but he could not beat Mike Miscia’s best lap of 18.77s earlier today.

Overall  21.5 Touring:

Wilton Brauer

Kevin Gates

Piet Du Toit

Leon Van Rooyen

Janu Lombard

Esmarie Geyser

Gert Fourie

Francois Geyser

Paul Langenhoven

Henry Ogden

Mike Miscia

 

 

TTO1:

Charmaine had quite a few opponents to deal with, but she managed to win the 1^st round, although Tyrone Visser is the one with the quickest lap time – 21.7s

Louis won the 2^nd heat, but it was Tyrone again who had the fastest lap of them all – 20.98s

Overall TTO1:

Charmain Wright

Janu Lombard

Nathan Steyn

Tyronne Visser

Rolan Ferreira

Louis Nortje

Ethan Jacobs

 

13.5 Touring:

Kevin Gates won all of the races. His best lap in the qualifiers – 17.59s

His fastest lap in the Finals – 17.04s

Well done, Kevin!

Freddie Kotze did not stay for the finals.

Paul Langenhoven had been a worthy runner up.

Gert Fourie seemingly enjoyed this fast class and ended 3^rd today.

 

We sincerely hope that all technical hiccups will be a thing of the past at next month’s race meeting.

And we hold thumbs for good weather…