A nice group of 37 entries, although I was expecting over 50 entries, seeing that the ‘cold’ season is now long gone. But that’s how it is with this kind of hobby; you never know what to expect.

It was nice to have an old club member, Leon van Rooyen, back with us. Undoubtedly, his return was a result of his young son, Marcel’s interest in on road racing, because Leon actually is a sworn off- road guy.

         

My grandson, Victor, also made his appearance at the track again. Yippieee!

Artur Winiecki and his wife Lauren, who were loyal, or shall I say regular on-road drivers this year, missed the race today, due to work responsibilities.

Artur lately started bringing some of his acquaintances, Giovanni Toldo and Paul de Witt, along to our race meetings. Paul entered online, but he unfortunately fell sick over the weekend. Giovanni, on the other hand, brought his brother Robert and Robert’s three kids along. Robert and two of the three boys tried their hands at the RC thing. They got the hang of it very quickly… they started with 3 or 4 laps in the 6 minute qualifier round in the morning and improved to 8 to 10 laps in the final legs in the afternoon. Good for you; a person could clearly see the raw potential.. Hope you will be back?

OOPS…!!!! Some transponder issues caused the 21.5 Electric Touring class to start in mayhem and it had to be re-run.  I haven’t been in race control to see exactly what had gone wrong, but it seems like quite a number of transponders were allocated incorrectly. That problem remained for the rest of the day and André, our right hand in race control, had to manually allocate the transponders before every race of the day…thankfully for this class only.

Car of the Day:  Cornea Paynter

 Can you see how hard it was to choose..?!

Cornea's car

Piets's car

 

Beginner class:

10 drivers!!  Some of them REAL novices.

Marchel van Rooyen started his race day with a bang. He won the race, with a best lap of 23.3sec.

Marchel was followed by Esmarie. Victor ended in 3^rd.

Richard Botes, in 4^th place, equaled Victor’s 10 laps.

James Theron and Robert Toldo did not complete the race (or they both had a late start)

Shaun Bezuidenhout had a troublesome 1^st round.

The two Toldo boys used their 6 minutes to try and keep their cars on the black tar strip…not very successfully at this stage, haha.

Cornea did not start.

In round two, Shaun shed his car trouble and swiftly moved into the 2^nd place. Best lap – 23.24s

Richard took the 3^rd position away from Victor, who complained that his car was ‘all over the track’. Apparently his car’s tyres were worn…or something. I did not take too much notice at that stage, because I was occupied with ordering the drivers’ lunch.

Robert completed 10 laps and Cornea 8 laps.

The very young Toldo brothers upped their skills and managed to keep their cars on the tar strip much more this time around! They in fact completed 7 and 8 laps respectively.

James started VERY late, but succeeded in doing lap times of 2 seconds faster than in round one.

Esmarie picked up car trouble  - broken drive shaft) and only completed 3 laps in this round. She nevertheless boasts a quickest lap of 23.8 seconds.

Final – Leg 1:

Marchel 1^st, Esmarie 2^nd and Shaun 3^rd.

Robert moved into the 4^th place, still improving with every round.

Victor was falling back…clearly not fully in control of his car today.

Allesandro Toldo already doing a much better job of this RC thing; he completed 9 laps!!

Richard and Cornea also got 9 laps each.

Little Vincenzo Todo completed 8 laps; really in control of his car by now! Well done!

James was still battling with his car.

Final – Leg 2:

Marchel made a catastrophic mistake in this final leg; his car skipped the timing line (he drove around the wrong side of the pole) and it resulted in him losing a lap….and three places. A big drawback at this critical stage, when all his rivals were now revved up and really ready for action!  His quickest lap – 23.22s had been the fastest lap in this class. Well done, Marchel. Sorry about this incident, but I am sure that we will see you in the ‘proper’ classes next year.

Esmarie got the benefit of this mistake and won the race, which gave her a big thrill!  You go girl!!

Shaun took 2^nd place and James 3^rd.

Cornea gave her best performance of the day in this last round.

Overall Beginners results:

1. Esmarie Geyser
2. Marchel van Rooyen   (Marchel had to leave before prize giving)
3. Shaun Bezuidenhout
4. Victor Fourie
5. Robert
6. Richard
7. James
8. Allesandro
9. Cornea
10. Vincenzo

 

Electric Mini:

The whole day Paul Langenhoven beat Janu Lombard, his only rival, but in the last leg of the day, Janu equaled Paul’s 15 laps. Good job, both of you!  Paul’s best lap  - 22.4s.

Overall Mini:

1. Paul Langenhoven
2. Janu Lombard

 

TTO1 stock:

Freddie Kotze stole the limelight from the start with his fast lap times.  He won every round that he competed in. His fastest lap in this round - 21.37s - was also the fastest one of the day in the TTO1 class. He sadly could not have stayed to the end of the race, due to family matters. But even with him not competing in the last leg of the finals, he still managed to sustain his 1^st place overall.

Charmaine Wright had herself a good day. She ended 2^nd behind Freddie in every race and when Freddie had to leave before the last leg of the Final, Charmaine slid into the 1^st place.

Janu Lombard is quite comfortable in this class and he boasts some very fast lap times. Unfortunately he missed two minutes of racing time in the 2^nd qualy, and that resulted in him ending 4^th overall.

Now we get to the two colleagues Tyrone and Louis. Tyrone beat Louis in both qualifier rounds and Louis in return beat Tyrone in both final legs. Congrats, you both shaped up very well this last semester.

James Theron improved on his own best lap time as the day progressed and his best lap of 24s is something he can be proud of, seeing that he is still very much a ‘trainee’.

TTO1 Overall:

1. Freddie Kotze
2. Charmaine Wright
3. Louis Nortje
4. Janu Lombard
5. Tyrone Visser
6. James Theron

 

540 Super Stock:

Freddie Kotze started the day by winning this class as well, but he has quit after this round and only continued racing in the TTO1 and 21.5 classes.

Charmaine Wright found herself in the top three positions three out of the four times she competed in this class. Her best lap for the day – 19.76s

Anzea did fairly good, apart from a setback or two. Her best lap – 20.75 s

Piet du Toit had himself a great race day. He advanced from 4^th place in the 1^st qualifier to 1^st position on the podium. Well done, Piet. Maar ons het mos geweet jy kan…

Henry kept a steady 21s fastest and average of 24s lap time throughout the day.

Leon van Rooyen, as I have mentioned in the intro, recently returned to RC racing. He is actually more of an off-road guy, but he is now supporting his son Marchel. He did very well; he even boasts one 1^st place and one 2^nd place.  Fastest lap -  19.66s   Great job!

Giovanni Toldo seems as if he is hooked on RC . This guy travels very far to join Meyerton’s on-road race meetings. He started the qualifiers with a car that gave him a headache, but when the Finals came, everything was sorted and he showed us what he is capable of; Giovanni won the last leg of the day against fierce competition and he ended 2^nd overall. His quickest lap of 19.46s is the fastest lap in this class for the day. Great stuff!

Tyrone Visser entered and completed a few laps, but he eventually gave it up as a bad job, evidently his car is not performing as it should. You can always give it another try next month,Tyrone?

540 Overall:

1. Piet du Toit
2. Giovanni Toldo
3. Leon van Rooyen
4. Anzea Pretorius
5. Henry ogden
6. Tyrone Visser
7. Freddie Kotze

 

21.5 Electric Touring:

Freddie Kotze won each and every round that he competed in and he most certainly had the fastest lap times by far. Freddie’s quickest lap – 18.20s. (Closest to him was Kevin Gates with a lap of 19.05s)

Paul Langenhoven had been on a roll again, although this guy is one of that Race 1, Skip 1 kind of guys. Yeah I know, too many irons in the fire….of which deep sea diving is a favourite one.  2^nd or preferably 1^st place is where one usually sees this driver. Paul’s best lap today – 19.34s

Wilton Brauer made an appearance again and was seen in the top 3 positions in almost every round. Best lap – 20.27  Good job!

Piet du Toit raced well in this class also and he often achieved laps of 19.-something seconds…which is excellent!

Janu performed satisfactory throughout the day. His best lap – 20.79s . Well done!

Henry upped his own performance in this class quite drastically; he has now succeeded in achieving an average lap time of 22 seconds. Best lap – 21.11. That is good for a guy that says he is a nitro fan…

Francois Geyser  began his day with a best lap of 25.11s and ended his day with a fastest lap of 21.6s. That is what I call PROGRESS! Good job, Francois!

Kevin Gates is known for very fast driving. On this day he did not disappoint us, although his car probably disappointed him big time during the qualifiers. He had been out of the two races for almost half of the time. Shame..sorry man! Luckily things went much better for him in the Finals. I’ve mentioned his best lap of 19.05 earlier…

Tint Wright only competed in that erratically 1^st qualifier round that was abandoned and in one of the final legs. I think this man prefers to be Charmaine’s wing man more than driving himself..?

21.5 Touring Overall: 

1. Freddie Kotze
2. Paul Langenhoven
3. Kevin Gates
4. Wilton Brauer
5. Janu Lombard
6. Piet du Toit
7. Henry Ogden
8. Francois Geyser
9. Tiny Wright

17.5 Touring:

Not well represented at all; in fact only two drivers…again!

André Steenekamp’s car dumped him before the end of the 1^st qualifier and caused him to quit for the rest of the day. It left Kevin to race un-challenged, so he just did a few laps on his own for the rest of the day in this class. Frequent 17.something sec laps are proof of what he is capable of. Best lap – 17.22s.

 See you on the 10th of December for 2017 prize giving. 

Bring and Braai if you like...