South African On-Road Gas Nationals Rd5 – Report

The season finale of the 2015 South African On-Road Gas National Championship took place at RC Zone in Middleburg, about two hours away from Tshwane, Pretoria. A favourite among the 200mm drivers for its technical layout, the track is fast and unforgiving with a brick wall barrier on the outside of the fast “horseshoe” section, which means that one small mistake would send the cars into the wall. The track offered a very high grip level all weekend, with some drivers complaining about too much grip later in the late afternoon. With the national series running a concurrent separate championship called the “Sprint” championship, which is based on qualifying results, first decisions in the championship would made when qualifiers kicked off on Saturday morning. This time the event had attracted more 200mm entries than 1/8 scale, which was not the norm for a national event and only four entries for the 235mm class means this class will likely not be run in the future. Mike Meyers would again dominate over Derrick Plank, Peter Plint and Tony George to take the TQ and seal his spot as Sprint champion for 2015.

200mm Nitro Touring has been a hotly contested class all year. Saturday qualifying would prove to be dramatic once again, with positions swapping between the three contenders for the number two spot in the Sprint championship – Marius Stols, Warrick Atmore and youngster Kyle Munslow. Tempers were running hot after each race and each of the four qualifiers would show different results. Ultimately it would be championship leader Conrad Liebenberg with the TQ and the championship at the end of day one. Class newcomer Jonathan Wilken, who has just joined gas racing coming from the electric classes, would show a serious pace to finish qualifying in 4th place.

The 1/8th scale qualifiers would be missing Sprint championship title contender Wayne Joelson, but newcomer Anderton Smith mixed things up as he ended in the top 3. Antonio Cairoli would get one qualifier over Jacques Liebenberg, but it would be Liebenberg’s TQ to lined him up for the Sunday finals in the number one spot. The championship however would go to Wayne Joelson.

The main event for Sunday saw South Africa’s fastest 1/8th scale racers battling it out although the final was short of some regulars like Wayne Joelson, Willie Noordman and Beyers Hattingh. But the pace was fast and the top three qualifiers Jacques Liebenberg, Antonio Cairoli and Anderton Smith were set to put on a great show. The A-main saw a clean start from all seven drivers and Cairoli would soon put pressure on Liebenberg and he was even able to pass into the lead but it wasn’t to be as Cairolis had to hand over the lead back to Liebenberg after a massive mistake that send him over the fence that left Cairolis’ Xray remain unsettled for the remainder of the 45 minute main. Serpent driver Anderton Smith would be promoted into second place and he would keep the spot for the entire race. Up front Jacques Liebenberg scored lap after lap and within a short while he would start to lap the field. Behind him the battle for fourth and fifth would be between Harold Van Eeden and local favourite Henry Mostert. This would then become the battle for the last remaining podium spot when Cairoli would suffer some more car problems. Van Eeden and Mostert would switch places lap after lap, maintaining a tight gap. A long pit stop at the 15 minute mark would then hand Van Eeden a good gap to build on his third position, but the battle would continue until Van Eeden’s tire stop, when shortly after a collision saw him knock a shock lose, handing the third position to Mostert who ran the 45 minute finale on a single set of tires. With Van Eeden down to fifth, Cairoli was able to scoop up the fourth position and give “Mossie” a well-deserved podium. Up front Liebenberg drove his usual tidy race to take the win with a good margin and with it the South African title. Anderton Smith came in second, Henry Mostert rounded out the top 3 result.

1/8th scale A-main result:
1. Jacques Liebenberg – Capricorn – 176 Laps
2. Anderton Smith – Serpent – 172 Laps
3. Henry Mostert – Mugen – 168 Laps
4. Antonio Caroli – Xray  – 166 Laps
5. Harold van Eeden – Capricorn – 160 Laps
6. Steven Smit – Mugen – 153 Laps
7. Johan Kirsten – Serpent – 120 Laps

1/8th scale Sprint Championship top 5:
1. Wayne Joelson – Mugen – 159 points
2. Jacques Liebenberg – Capricorn – 153 points
3. Antonio Caroli – Xray – 151 points
4. Willie Noordman – Mugen – 139 points
5. Harold van Eeden – Capricorn – 138 points

1/8th scale Enduro Championship top 10:
1. Jacues Liebenberg – Capricorn – 159 points
2. Antonio Caroli – Xray – 147 points
3. Henry Mostert – Mugen – 138 points
4. Wayne Sayers – Mugen – 135 points
5. Wayne Joelson – Mugen – 132 points
6. Lieb Liebenberg – Capricorn – 130 points
7. Harold van Eeden – Capricorn – 127 points
8. Beyers Hattingh – Mugen – 125 points
9. Peter Plint – Serpent – 124 points
10.Michael Meyers – Capricorn – 124 points

In the 200mm Nitro Touring championship the race was on for the last remaining podium spot while the 1 and 2 spot were safely in the hands of Conrad Liebenberg and Marius Stols who both had maintained the pace and consistency the whole season. The last spot would go down to four drivers, Kyle Munslow, Warrick Atmore, Brent Alexander and Bjorn Boogard. DNFs for
Munslow and Atmore at their home race a few weeks earlier would put them under pressure for the last round, leaving them exposed to rookies Alexander and Boogard who had showed good form all year in consistently finishing races. It would however all come down to Saturday’s finals. Newcomer Jonathan Wilkin would be in there to upset things a little and claim points that Alexander, Boogard and Patrick Lester would need to claim their championship standings. It would be an early lead for Liebenberg with the Mugens of Atmore and Munslow chasing close behind. A mistake of Atmore just before the first fuel stop left him with a damaged exhaust, but rapid pit work put him back on track in third. Wilkin would keep his consistent pace in front of Stols and Alexander. Stols, who was suffering gearbox problems on his Capricorn, would be kept under pressure by Alexander, but the Serpent driver would run out of fuel just before the five minute mark, ending his hopes for a top 3 finish as he would struggle, only finishing in 8th. Lester would suffer a similar fate with fuel, but he would keep the fifth place until another hassle with fuel later would hand Stols the number five spot. Trevor Smit and Errol Warner would both have a tough race with Warner having to perform a quick engine swap. The top 3 would see a little more drama with Atmore, handing second and third to Munslow and rookie Wilkin, but solid focus and quicker pit stops got Atmore just in front of Wilkin. At the end Lieberberg would win the race and with it the 2015 title while Kyle Munslow and Warrick Atmore came in second and third respectively.

200mm A-main result:
1. Conrad Liebenberg – Capricorn – 105 Laps
2. Kyle Munslow – Mugen – 103 Laps
3. Warrick Atmore – Mugen – 101 Laps
4. Jonathan Wilkin – Xray –  101
5. Marius Stols – Capricorn – 95 – Laps
6. Patrick Lester – Mugen – 94 Laps
7. Trevor Smit – Mugen – 86 Laps
8. Brent Alexander – Serpent – 71 Laps
9. Errol Warner – Mugen – 57 Laps

1/10th scale Sprint Championship top 5:
1. Conrad Liebenberg – Capricorn – 159 points
2. Warrick Atmore – Mugen – 148 points
3. Marius Stols – Capricorn – 147 points
4. Kyle Munslow – Mugen – 146 points
5. Pat Lester – Mugen – 140 points

1/10th scale Enduro Championship top 10:
1. Conrad Liebenberg – Capricorn – 159 points
2. Marius Stols – Capricorn – 144 points
3. Kyle Munslow – Mugen – 142 points
4. Warrick Atmore – Mugen – 140 points
5. Brent Alexander – Serpent – 137 points
6. Bjorn Boogaard – Capricorn – 135 points
7. Pat Lester – Mugen – 132 points
8. Errol Warner – Mugen – 130 points
9. Derrick Plank – Serpent – 128 points
10.Trevor Smit – Mugen – 123 points

The 235mm A-main would be a straight forward race with the usual line up of Michael Meyers, Derrick Plank, Peter Plint and Tony George. Once again Mike Meyers would have the pace over the rest of the field to take a comfortable win and with it the 2015 championship. Peter Plint would have the upper hand over Derrick Plank who was suffering handling issues for the majority of the race while Tony George would suffer car trouble that ended his race early.

235mm Sprint Championship top 5:
1. Mike Meyers – Capricorn – 156 points
2. Derrick Plank – Serpent – 153 points
3. Peter Plint – Serpent – 143 points
4. Tony George – Serpent – 142 points
5. Joseph Schauerte – Serpent – 53 points

235mm Enduro Championship top 5:
1. Mike Meyers – Capricorn – 156 points
2. Derrick Plank – Serpent – 151 points
3. Peter Plint – Serpent – 145 points
4. Tony George – Serpent – 142 points
5. Joseph Schauerte – Serpent – 53 points

Thanks to Brent Alexander for the report.