November 20, 2017

2017 1/12 Scale Nationals Round 5 – Welkom

Caroli and Laubscher wins in South Africa

The final round of the 2017 South-African ORE 1/12th national championship series was held at the Welkom RC Arena over weekend 18-19 November 2017. With the new track build for the IFMAR 2018 worlds on track, this was the last official event to be hosted at the current indoor facility. To make the weekend more special, the 1/12th Nationals was combined with a Nandos Challenge in the style of a Reedy Format racing for Touring Modified and Pro-stock class.

1/12th Scale Modified

The qualifying rounds showed great racing by the Xray team mates Shaun Schutte, Antonio Caroli and Hein Kotze and it was Antonio who managed to take the TQ honours followed by Shaun Schutte and Hein Kotze for the grid. In A1 on Sunday it was Antonio who took a great win followed by Shaun Schutte. In A2 Antonio retired from the race and after Shaun Schutte made a mistake the young Marius van Niekerk took a great win. In A3 Antonio had to fight hard after a mistake and an accident with a back marker to win the final main and the event. It was Shaun Schutte and Marius van Niekerk who completed the podium for the event.

1/12th Scale Modified A-Main:

  1. Antonio Caroli (TQ) (Xray)
  2. Shaun Schutte (Xray)
  3. Marius van Niekerk (Xray)
  4. Willie du Plooy (Xray)
  5. André Greeff (Xray)
  6. Hein Kotze (Xray)
  7. Anthony Smith (Xray)
  8. Brandon Solomon (Xray)
  9. Francois Laubscher (Xray)
  10. Wayde Solomon (Xray)

1/12th Stock (13.5 Blinky)

The final 1/12th Stock round was going to be a battle between the youngsters Francois Laubscher and Brandon Solomon for the 2017 title. Brandon had to TQ and win to win the title. In the qualifying rounds it was Brandon who showed great pace and consistency and he managed to take the TQ honours from Francois. On Sunday it was Francois who sorted out the pace on his Xray X12 and he drove great in all three A finals to take victory from Brandon and Wayde Solomon. Francois Laubscher also took the 2017 title with this win.

1/12th Scale Stock A-Main:

  1. Francois Laubscher (Xray)
  2. Brandon Solomon (TQ) (Xray)
  3. Wayde Solomon (Xray)
  4. Gerry Esterhuizen (Xray)
  5. Patrick Lester (Xray)
  6. Bianka Landman (Xray)
  7. Petrus Wasserman (Xray)

Nandos Challenge (Reedy Style Racing)

The Nandos Challenge was held as part of the farewell event for the current Welkom Indoor Facility. 6 Rounds of heads-up racing were held on Saturday and three rounds on Sunday.

Touring Modified

The top 5 for Touring Modified:

  1. Ashley Hurley (Xray)
  2. Antonio Caroli (Xray)
  3. Anderton Smith (Xray)
  4. Shaun Schutte (Xray)
  5. Pedro de Gouveia (Xray)

Pro-Stock Touring

The top 5 for Pro-stock Touring:

  1. Brandon Solomon (Xray)
  2. Anthony Smith (Xray)
  3. Amanda Barnard (Xray)
  4. Danie Delport (Xray)
  5. Roux Delport (Xray)