Not a big race, but nevertheless very exciting for the 8^th scale GT drivers. And for their pit crew and family members that came to watch the race.

We were a bit concerned about the weather, because we had some heavy rain showers during the previous night and more rain was forecasted, but luckily no rain fell during the race. To tell the truth; we couldn’t ask for better weather!

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Our race day started about 8h30 am with a drivers’ briefing.

We were happy to see the majority faces of 2017 back at the track, but we also missed a couple of familiar faces amongst them.  But as always, family, but mostly work responsibilities have got a big influence on the turnout at race meetings. We (try to) understand ..

On the other hand, we were privileged to have met a couple of totally new drivers.

The Barnardo dad, Hein, is an old hand to RC racing, but he claims that his driving skills are all rust up. Apparently young Jovan Barnardo is still ‘in training’. We hope that they have enjoyed spending the day with us.

Anzea, one of our female drivers, did come along, but she never raced; apparently her car wouldn’t play along. Stepdad André later discovered that there had been a broken drive shaft.

André himself is usually seen in the 17.5 class, but he is not sure yet whether he is going to continue racing electric on road this year. Being our right hand man in race control, he will nonetheless be at the track most Sundays.

Beginner class:

Esmarie Geyser moved out of this class after being a regular face last year and we don’t know yet where Lauren Winiecki was. Victor, my grandson, was also supposed to take part, but family matters prevented his participation. That left us with a very small boy Ruan Brauer, 11 year old Richard Botes, James Theron and the stranger in our midst, Hein Barnardo.

Richard and James took turns to win their races. James took the overall 1^st place.

Richard’s quickest lap – 24.57s

James’s quickest lap – 22.72s

Little Ruan is still getting the hang of it. His best lap – 35.01s

Hein got his act, or his car, together for the Finals, when things went much smoother for him. His best lap – 25.49s

Electric TTO1 Stock:

Henk Boeree is a guy that makes an on-and-off appearance at the track. Now that he has paid his membership fees for 2018, I am sure that we will see him regularly. Henk won both qualifier rounds, stood one leg of the finals off to Charmaine and won the Final race again. His ultimate best lap for the day – 21.93s.  Good job, Henk!

Charmaine Wright  ended 2^nd in every race, apart from the one that she took 1^st place. Charmaine’s best lap – 22.26s

Nathan Steyn’s only problem in today’s competition is that he wasn’t constant enough throughout the day. His lap times varied too much. From mid 30’s to low 20’s is just not good enough to allow for a very good average lap time. His frequent 23 second laps shows what he really is capable of, but the looooong ones in between caused trouble for him.

Janu Lombard got himself a 3^rd place on the podium. Best lap – 22.01s . Janu, you are capable of winning this class…so come on, show us!

James Theron started the 1^st race in this class with a 39 s average and ended the day with a 29s average. A HUGE improvement! Best lap – 25.14s

Jovan Barnardo’s improvement was even more impressive than that of James. He started with an average lap time of 39.44 and ended the day’s racing with an average of 28s. His best lap - 24.9. Great stuff!

540 Touring:

Piet du Toit is a skilled driver, but he can only prove that if his car works with him…. And on this day the car act up a few times too many. His fastest lap – 19.96 had been the fastest of all in this class. Next time you will show us, hey Piet?

Charmaine boasts two 2^nd places and one 1^st place. She did not race in the 2^nd qualifier.  With some encouragement from race control (me), she delivered her best performance in the final race of the day with a quickest lap – 20.08s.  I knew you could give Henry some carrots!

Henry Ogden improved from a 24.5s average in the morning to only 22.8s in the end. This earned him the 1^st place on the podium. Well done!!!

Esmarie, from this month on, takes part in the ‘proper’ classes, since she has left the Beginner class at the end of December. She started the day pretty darn well! But I suppose her car let her down from then on. I vaguely remember that she came to informed race control that she has got to swap cars. For the rest of the day she never quite recovered fully. At least she returned to the race and thereby showed good sportsmanship.  Best lap in that very first race – 22.96s. You go, Girl!!

Francois Geyser, husband of Esmarie, competed in the qualifiers, but I suppose that he offered his car to Esmarie to keep on racing for the rest of the day. Ahhhh, so sweet!

Marcel van Rooyen just performed well overall. Nothing more and nothing less to say. Very frequent 22s laps and even a couple of 21s laps speak for itself. Marcel achieved a 3rd place on the podium. Mooi so!

Tyrone Visser didn’t complete the 1^st qualifier, but from then on things went smooth for him, until disaster struck again close to the end of the Final race. Tyrone is a driver that shows a huge improvement since he started racing around the middle of last year. The large quantity of fast laps of around 21 and 22seconds will get him far this year. Nice work, Tyrone!

Tiny (Graham) Wright had an on-and-off day again. Okay, much more off than on… He had one nice lap of 23 seconds, though.

21.5 Electric Touring:

The top three positions almost stayed the same throughout the day. Almost , because Piet du Toit threw a spanner in the works in the last race of the day. It had been Freddie Kotze 1^st, Wiltin Brauer 2^nd and Derek Sardini 3^rd, up to the last leg of the Finals, when Piet took the 3^rd place and Derek had to be complacent with the 4^th place.

Piet succeeded in a way, but Francois, Henry and Janu all tried equally hard to catch up with the top three. Tiny skipped one qually and one Final leg, but he still boasts a couple of very good lap times.

Freddie’s quickest lap – a very fast 18.76 seconds!

Wiltin’s fastest lap – wait for it…. 18.60s!  Congratulations!

We are looking forward to be entertained by you guys on every Electric On Road race meeting this year.

Award for Best Presented RC Body of the Day – Charmaine Wright.

 Congrats!

It is evident to see that the guys are excited to do the rough –and-tough –man-thing again…they are hungry for off-road racing!

2018 may just become the year that mark the return of Meyerton Raceway  to the Off Road racing scene.  Well, let’s hope so….

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