South-African ORE national champs Rd4 – Report

The fourth round of the 2015 South-African ORE national championship moved to the Welkom RC Club. The indoor asphalt track greeted the drivers with great traction and a technical but fast layout for the event that saw special guest Alexander Hagberg made his way to South Africa to compete and show his skills in the Modified Touring and 1/12th scale Modified classes. With Alexander in the field and hosting a RC workshop, the rest of the South African drivers really pushed hard and went faster all weekend. Alexander once again showed is skills and pace as a professional driver and dominated the event from practise through qualifying and into the A-finals. The battle for the podium was really hot in the Touring Modified class with Deon Gove managing to take the runner up spot from Anderton Smith.

Modified Touring A-final results:
1. Alexander Hagberg
2. Deon Gove
3. Anderton Smith
4. Shaun Schutte
5. Ashley Hurley
6. Antonio Caroli
7. Willie Du Plooy
8. Heine Herholdt
9. André Greeff
10.Colin Amis

The 13.5T Touring class was very competitive with some of the fastest laps of the day recorded by these drivers. It was the local Antonio Caroli who set the early pace and he was closely followed during qualification rounds by Shaun Schutte, Willie du Plooy and Anderton Smith. Antonio showed great pace and consistency taking the TQ for the A-mains and winning both finals. Team mates Willie du Plooy and Deon Gove completed the podium.

13.5T Touring A-final results:
1. Antonio Caroli
2. Willie Du Plooy
3. Deon Gove
4. Dillon Du Plooy
5. Willem Janse van Rensburg
6. Anderton Smith
7. Darren Duggan
8. Shaun Schutte
9. Pieter de Villiers
10.Stan Levinson

In the 17.5T Touring class many young drivers continued their good form, showing great pace and skills. Team mates and 2015 championship contenders Dillon du Plooy and Jacques Myburgh had a great battle the entire weekend with Jacques taking TQ and the two of them taking a final each. Dillon eventually took the overall win from Jaques.

17.5T Touring A-final results:
1. Dillon Du Plooy
2. Jacques Myburgh
3. Juan Landman
4. Willem Rense van Rensburg
5. Jonathan Wilken
6. Francois Verwey
7. Claudio Vieira
8. Neville Menezes
9. Christo Hitchins
10.Farhaan Basha

The 1/12th scale class changed to Modified with the visit of the European Champion Alexander Hagberg. During practice and mains Alexander showed his world class skills, talent and speed as he dominated the event with super fast and consistent laps. Alexander ran up to 4 laps faster than the second placed driver. In second final he broke a spur gear after colliding with a back marker which forced him to run the third and decisive main after Willie du Plooy took the win. It was up to the rest of the field to battle for a podium spot with the main battle for second between team mates Willie du Plooy, André Greeff and Shaun Schutte with the better end for Willie.

1/12 Modified A-final results:
1. Alexander Hagberg
2. Willie Du Plooy
3. André Greeff
4. Shaun Schutte
5. Christian Fourie
6. Jordan Levinson

The popularity of the Formula class was once again underlined with 17 entries for the event. The normal four-round qualification was held with one 10 minute final on the Sunday. Kallin Kolmel showed very good pace from qualification round one and managed to take the TQ. He was closely followed by youngsters Farhaan Basha, Pedro de Gouveia and Jonathan Wilken. The 10 minute A-final was enjoyable and showed good racing with Jonathan eventually passing Kallin for the win.

Formula A-final results:
1. Jonathan Wilken
2. Kallin Kolmel
3. Pedro De Gouveia
4. Farhaan Basha
5. Neville Menezes
6. Raymond Loots
7.Gerry Myburgh
8. André Greeff
9. Marno Van Der Berg

Source: Xray [teamxray.com]