At the weekend, East London Slotcars Club (ELSCC) put up a great display of racing proficiency beating out-of-town clubs from Gqeberha and Pretoria to win first place in the pro, expert, amateur and junior divisions during the second round of the SAMCA SA Championships.
SA champion, Louise Petzer put up an outstanding display of speed and knowledge of the track cementing her first place in the national rankings after a challenging first round in Brakpan, Pretoria that saw her claim third and fourth positions in the pro division for the GT12 and production races respectively.
On the 42m track, she earned the fastest lap of the tournament with an average time of 4,5 seconds in the GT12 race.
Fellow ELSCC racers Hennie Petzer, Clinton Landman and Darren Schultz also sped through to the finals of the GT12 Open, which is the first time in history that the finals have been made up of Border racers.
In round one of the SA championships held in March, Alex Frow from Pretoria-based PMCC, claimed first place in the pro division for both GT12 and P24 and is considered Petzer’s competition for the SA title this year.
Round two, however, proved challenging for Frow who finished in third place for P24 and sixth for GT12 overall owing to challenges with car preparation issues.
Frow said: “Louise [Petzer] is the queen on this track and it shows, however I think we are both in good stead for either one of us to take the title this year because we both come to the sport with years of experience and a similar style of racing.”
Given Petzer’s unwavering first place performance over the two days of racing, she is currently at first place nationally with a score of 37.44, followed closely by her father and oldest ELSCC racer, Hennie Petzer with a score of 36,82 and Frow in third place with 36.15.
The finals of the SA Championships will happen later this year and Petzer aims to retain her title through consistency and improving her sense of timing which she says is important when it comes to knowing how to employ speed correctly to overtake opponents.
Petzer said her favourite moments from round two were seeing the juniors race for the first time in a class of their own with a dedicated junior’s event which SA Model Car association president, Colin Lotz, hoped would provide an avenue through which younger entrants into the sport can be coached and mentored.
Beanstyle Coffee and BWT H20 sponsored the event.
 put up a great display of racing proficiency beating out-of-town clubs from Gqeberha and Pretoria to win first place in the pro, expert, amateur and junior divisions during the second round of the SAMCA SA Championships.){kind=link}