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Last leg of RC X challenge at Meyerton Raceway

Entries:

Although the entries came in with dribs and drabs in the weeks preceding the race, came Sunday morning the 17^th November, there were 42 entries that Mark Jooste had to deal with. There were three nitro buggy heats and two nitro truggy heats. With only minimal help from Henry, the squatting list was ready just after 8. Douglas Dyer, who usually takes care of race control, was engaged in cycling that morning and Mark agreed to take over until Douglas was available again a bit later. Dankie Mark, maar ongelukkig vir jou weet ons nou jy kan!

Oh, by the way, we were ready for an electric buggy class, but with only four entries, it just didn’t seem practical to give them a class of their own. We did however give them some opportunities to play around on the track in order to discharge their batteries.

 

 

Drivers’ briefing:

Drivers’ briefing was short and sweet, because by now all the racers know exactly what to expect in the X challenge races.

 

BUGGIES

Heat 1 Round 1 Buggies:

The first race of the day and young Arron, Brian Hilder and Jonothan vd Berg perhaps were not ready for it yet, because they got DNS (did not start).  Hein Fromman however gave a good performance with an average of 54.7 seconds and a fastest lap of 53.17. Johan Godwaldt came 2^nd and MJ Schoeman 3^rd.

 

Heat 1 Round 2 Buggies:

This time around all 10 racers were ready.  Hein won it again, this time his best lap was 53.20. Johan Godwaldt ended in 2^nd position again and Jan Vermeulen 3^rd.

Heat 1 Round 3 Buggies:

Hein improved on his best lap time. His average for this round was 55.38 and his best lap 52.95.  Jan Vermeulen came 2^nd and MJ Shoeman 3^rd.

Heat 1 Round 3 Buggies:

Hein Fromman won again with even faster lap times.  He made very sure that he would end up amongst the A main guys. MJ was second and Johan third.

 

Heat 2 Round 1 Buggies :

Chris vd Westhuizen won the race, with Albie (Lammie) in second place and Pedro in third. Daniël du Plessis’s Agama didn’t want to play along and he didn’t even do one lap in this round. Alan Dyer (The Uncle) also encountered problems, which caused him to complete just 3 laps. Best lap in this round was Albie with 52.75 sec.

 

Heat 2 Round 2 Buggies :

Chris won again and now it was Pedro who came 2^nd. Jacques Brits was third. This time Albie, Adam Sweetling and Daniël had car trouble with Paul Naude and Allan with DNS’s . Chris’s fastest lap was 54.53.

 

Heat 2 Round 3 Buggies :

Pedro Maldonado won this one with his best average (most consistent driving) , but both Paul Naude and Chris had faster laps than him. Paul was 2^nd and Daniël 3^rd. Poor Uncle didn’t even made it to the start! Fastest lap belonged to Paul with a 53.71 sec  lap.

 

Heat 2 Round 4 Buggies :

Adam Sweetling seemed to have solved his car trouble, because now he won hands down! His average was a full 2 seconds faster than the runner up, Albie. Daniël was 3^rd, but Paul in 5^th place, had he fastest lap, 54.54.

 

Heat 3 Round 1 Buggies :

Daniël de Azevedo did not start. Miguel Haasbroek did his normal thing by winning the race with amazingly fast lap times. Justin van Biljon was a very strong runner-up, with his average lap times almost as good as Miguel’s. Thomas Schmuck ended 3^rd.

Miguel’s best lap was 49.67.

 

Heat 3 Round 2 Buggies :

Miguel did not start and Justin took this opportunity to end in 1^st position. His cousin Warren ended in 2^nd place with Thomas in the 3^rd place. Justin had a fastest lap of 50.26 seconds.

 

Heat 3 Round 3 Buggies :

Miguel was back in his old position, namely 1^st, with Warren vd Merwe in a very good second place. This time around Tiaan Oelofse came 3^rd.  It needs to be mentioned that now both Warren and Justin had lap times of less than 50 seconds. Well done, guys!! Miguel raced a very fast lap of just 48.63 seconds.

 

Heat 3 Round 4:

Miguel went around the track even faster now, with Tiaan behind him and Thomas in the 3^rd position. Miguel’s fastest lap now; 48.55.

 

TRUGGIES:

Heat 4 Round 1:

Tiaan Oelofse won hands down. Second was Sandra Greyvenstein and 3^rd was Stephan vd Watt. Joahnn van Zyl did not start. Tiaan’s best lap was 52.22.

 

Heat 4 Round 2:

This time the sequence was Tiaan, Sandra, with ilizio in 3^rd place. Again, Johann van Zyl DNS. Tiaan’s lap time came down to 52.06.

 

Heat 4 Round 3 :

Again, The sequence was:  Tiaan, Sandra, Stephan. With only 1lap each, it is obvious that Johann and Ilizio encountered car trouble. Tiaan went still faster with a best lap of 50.88 seconds.

 

Heat 4 Round 4:

It seems like Ilizio had a very good race with excellent lap times. According to the printout, his best lap was 50.91. His performance owned him the 1^st place, with Tiaan second and Sandra 3^rd. Again, Johann van Zyl DNS.

 

Heat 5 Round 1:

Chris vd Westhuizen won the race, but only with a split second, because Brendan du Preez was with him, all the way!  Rudi Labuschagne was 3^rd and Wykie did not start.

The best lap belongs to Brendan :  52.56

 

Heat 5 Round 2:

Something must have gone wrong with Chris’s truggy, because he only managed 3 laps…..  Brendan now wins the race with even better lap times. Rudi moved up to the 2^nd place and David Parkinson ended 3^rd. Brendan’s fastest lap: 51.21. Nice!!

 

Heat 5 Round 3:

Brendan won yet again. Chris finished 2^nd and Rudi 3^rd.  Again, I want to mention that the other competitors, David, Wykie and MJ Schoeman also raced very well and their lap times were also much better than just ‘average’  Well done, all of you!!

 

Heat 5 Round 4:

Brendan won again, because of his best average, this time with David behind him and Rudi back to 3^rd place. David Parkinson raced the fastest lap; 52.69.

 

 

Truggy Final:

MJ Schoeman and Johann did not compete in the finals. The winner, Tiaan, completed 34 laps with a fastest lap time of 50.59 seconds.  Well done!!!

Brendan was 2^nd with his 33 laps and a best lap of 50.99. David Parkinson was 3^rd with 31 laps and a fastest lap of 51.65 sec. Again, Chris and Ilizio must have had serious car trouble, because they both went off the track after their 12^th lap.

Sandra, being a novice, lady-driver really did well! She completed 30 laps, with an average of 60 seconds and a fastest lap of 53.26 seconds.

Watch out, guys, Sandra is coming for you!

 

 

Buggy C Final:

Jacques Fourie achieved the 1^st place on the podium with his performance. His best lap out of 28 was that 7^th one, 55.25 seconds. Then Jonothan vd Berg  and third was Hein van Rensburg.

 

 

 

 

Buggy B Final:

Daniël du Plessis drove 30 laps in this race. His fastest lap was that 4^th one, 54.8 seconds. With the best average of 60.61 sec,  he won this race. Second was MJ Schoeman and 3^rd on the podium was Brian Hilder.

 

 

Buggy A Main:

All the drivers in this race are really good at what they love to do…RC off-road racing! Almost all the lap times were in the high 40’s and low 50’s.   Miguel, Warren and Tiaan had laps less than 50 second.  Justin van Biljon was on 50 seconds and the rest was between 51 an 55 seconds. Excellent, guys! But there had to be a winner and as usual it was Miguel Haasbroek. Thomas Schmuck earned himself the 2^nd place on the podium and Warren vd Merwe came third.

 

 

2013 X Challenge Buggy Champs:

1.         Miguel Haasbroek

2.         Justin van Biljon

3.         Thomas Scmuck

4.         Warren vd Merwe

5.         Morné Louw

 

 

2013  X Challenge Truggy Champs:

1.         Brendan du Preez

2.         Rudi Labuschagne

3.         Chris vd Westhuizen

4.         Wykie van Wyk

5.         David Parkinson

 

 

Overall Buggy Champ 2013 :

Miguel Haasbroek

 

Overall truggy Champ 2013 :

Brendan du Preez

 

 

Injury:

Unfortunately, we had a nasty accident when David Parkinson ran over the track to stop Miguel’s runaway buggy. It happened during the first attempt to run the A mains. But after it became clear that David indeed sustained some fractures in his ankle, the race was stopped for almost an hour, while we waited for the ambulance to arrive, assess the injuries and remove David from the track. David was admitted to the Medi Clinic in Vereeniging. From there, the next morning, he went to a facility closer to his home, where he was operated on.   He was released after 2 days and is now recuperating at home.