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November 2011
Newsletter
Tuskers Motor Sport
Newsletter – 20/11/2011
Greeting to all fellow club members, competitors and supporters.
Once again our racing season has passed by in a flash. It seems that
years seem to pass faster than the one before – in fact almost as fast
as CJ Blackman in full flight.
Firstly I would like to thank Karen and Sonja on behalf of the club and
especially from me for the huge effort that they have put in over the
year. Without the effort that they put in we simply would not have a
racing season.
Thanks also go to Deanne Ballington for her continued support throughout
the year. Thanks must also go to all of the race officials i.e. MSA
Stewards, COC’s etc for the assistance during the year. Thanks also to
my wife, Gail for her role as the MSA representative for offroad racing
for 2011.
The people who took the time to request venues and then to mark the race
routes each race are definitely the stars of the year. Bjorn and Gerald
Hesterman (and team) for Kusels, Derek Whitely and team for Cranbrook,
ZMSA (Douw and Brett) for the Empangeni and Hluhluwe races and then last
but not least Egon and Ewald Wichman for Noodsburg and Dalton. The
marking this season has definitely been excellent. We have had very few
negative comments on the marking.
Although the Dalton race was very fast, it was safe and the race went
off without incident. Thanks to all who participated.
The race dates have been posted for the 2012 KZN Regional Offroad Bike
and Quad season and are as follows:
• Round 1 - 11th of Feb 2012 - Venue to be advised
• Round 2 - 7th of April 2012 - Venue to be advised
• Round 3 - 9th of June 2012 - Venue to be advised
• Round 4 - 7th of July 2012 - Hluhluwe – Combined with National
• Round 5 - 8th of Sept 2012 - Venue to be advised
• Round 6 - 10th of Nov 2012 - Venue to be advised
We are currently working on the venues for the year and will be in a
position to publish these soon.
I would like to urge all of you to try to introduce more of your friends
and fellow riders to come out to race in the series in 2012. Our numbers
are still not good i.e. Kusels we had 89 entrants, Cranbrook we had 60
entrants, Noodsburg we had 80 entrants and lastly Dalton we had almost
70 entrants. We would like to get back to a field of over 100 per race
if possible.
I would also like to thank some of our sponsors for the support during
the year. RBS Yamaha – Tee shirts at Cranbrook, Startline – vouchers at
Noodsburg, Engineering Process Control (EPC) for the sponsorship of the
Ambulance services and EMG Racing for the vouchers to some classes at
Dalton. We truly appreciate their support.
I am currently working on some sponsorship for the costs of the
ambulance services at the races next year.
I would also like to encourage all of you to do your licence
applications for 2012 online (available mid December) if possible to
avoid problems with parking in the area at the back of Blue Heights
Centre. You should also be aware that the office hours for licensing are
08h30 to 12h30. A lot of competitors are unaware of the fact that we
have moved upstairs to No 30 or that we have changed the office hours.
Lastly, I would like to thank all you for the continued support
throughout the season 2011. We had healthy competition and most of all,
we had a lot of fun at the races.
Good luck to all at the 2011 Roof of Africa. See you all in 2012.
Kevin (Old Bullet) Mitchell
September 2011 Newsletter
Hi fellow competitors, wives and “Pit Poppies”. It has been a big
learning experience for me and this year’s committee to ensure that we
try to grow the sport whilst at the same time ensuring that we have safe
and enjoyable events.
The Year so Far.
The first race at Das Kusels was a race to set the bar (so to speak). It
was well marked and well supported. The work done by Bjorn, Gerald and
their team was hugely appreciated.
The second race was a ZMSA organised event at Empangeni and
unfortunately the rain made it a wet and fairly slippery affair. It was
well organised under the circumstances with some of the route as well as
the pits having to be changed due to the wet conditions.
The next event was staged at Cranbrook (thanks to an offer from Derek
Whitely) who also assisted with marking an awesome course. We managed to
get some assistance from 2 sponsors in RBS Yamaha and Yamaha South
Africa for the supply of tee-shirts to all competitors. Although this
event was enjoyed by all, we did not manage to cover the costs of the
race due to a relatively small field.
Next came the big event of the year for the Offroad calendar in Kwazulu
Natal. The Bell 400 National held in Hluhluwe and hosted by ZMSA.
Unfortunately this event was held in very wet conditions with rain
coming down from late on Friday night and then for most of the day on
Saturday. A tremendous effort went to the marking and hosting of this
race and we would like to commend ZMSA (Douw and his team) for the work
put into the race. Next year Douw has mentioned that he will try to put
on a dry race for us!
Round 5 of the racing calendar was on us and Egon Wichman managed to get
Noodsburg farmers and the mill to allow us to host a race in the area.
From the comments after the race by almost all of the competitors this
was the best marked race of the year so far. Once again we managed to
get some assistance / sponsorship from Startline. We added a couple of
lucky draw prizes in an attempt to get everyone to stay for
prize-giving. I must admit that as far as I am concerned this was the
best spirit that we have had at the end of any race this year. We had
quite a contingent of Weekend Warriors for this race and the friendly
banter before the start and then again after the race added to the
spirit of competitive racing.
What is to Come.
We are working on having round 6 (the final race) at Dalton on the 12th
of November. We will try to ensure that this race will be even better
than Noodsburg (this will be a big challenge). We are also trying for
sponsorship / assistance once again and have some ideas – Watch this
space.
We have also tried to get the thoughts from the competitors on the 2 to
5 minute de-control system. So far the votes that we have received on
the Facebook poll was in favour of the de-control. What this means is
that all competitors will have 2 to 5 minutes (still to be decided on)
from the time that they complete a lap until the time they are allowed
to leave on the next lap. This means that it is down to the skill of the
rider and not the efficiency of the pit crew.
Another suggestion from some of our “Older” competitors is the
possibility of having a Club “Masters” class. This is also being looked
into for the future.
Some Things that You Should Know
Firstly, It was clear from some of the comments just before prize giving
at the Noodsburg race that it seemed to take too long for prize giving
to start. There is a reason for this – There is a time allowed for the
COC (Clerk of the Course) to receive any protests or appeals from
competitors or to impose any penalties for breach of rules against any
competitor. Once the predetermined time is over, the results are signed
off by the MSA official of the day and prize giving can then start.
Secondly, we need to try to get more entrants at our races. If we do not
have sufficient entries we will simply run the club’s funds dry and
unfortunately this will mean that the club will have no option but to
shut down.
It is however, not all “Doom and Gloom” as we had just over 80 entrants
at our last race i.e. at Cranbrook we only had 67. What does this mean
based on Noodsburg race:
Income from race entries - R 29,400-00
Costs incurred ( MSA Permit fee, - R 28,804-00
MSA Commission fees, Ambulances,
Trophies, Insurances and other sundries
(Some of these costs do not change regardless of the number of
competitors i.e. Ambulances etc)
This means that based on the 80 odd competitors we managed to make about
R 600 for the club. Unfortunately after Cranbrook with only 67 entrants
and part funding of the tee-shirts, we ran at almost a R 4,000 loss.
We will get better with everyone’s continued support as well as the
possibility of the occasional sponsor.
With your help we aim to take this club back to the type of race numbers
that we used to have.
Yours in racing
Kevin “Old Bullet” Mitchell
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