The 2020 Speed Rally season was ended in Grand style with a Gala Dinner held in a hangar, kindly made available by Roger Dyson, after the 2020 Season finale at Springs Airfield. The Black tie event marked the end of a very disrupted Speed Rally season which started in November 2019 where it ended, Springs Airfield.
Competitors and their guests Made their way to the beautifully decorated hangar graced with two of Gavin Browns historic aircraft, a De Haviland Chipmunk and a Tigermoth. For some it had been a very long day having left their home basses early in the morning to compete in the finale and then having to wait for the function to hear how they had done in not only in the season results but the results for the day as well.
The evening was opened by Jonty Esser who invited Rob Jonkers to the stage to give a breakdown of how the days flying had gone. Rob showed all the competitors tracks, most of the teams had performed especially well and a few very close to perfect tracks were displayed adding to the suspense as this didn’t reveal anything about who may have won the day. Only two of the teams went a bit wayward which is a testament to the success of the speed rally concept, the improvement in the accuracy of flying from the first Speed Rallies to this one is astounding.
Andrew Lester was invited to say a few words on behalf of the new main sponsor Aircraft Unlimited based at Rand Airport. Andrew thanked everyone for their hard work in making a competition of this calibre possible, Andrew also announced that he would be donating a free MPI as a prize in a hope to bring more people into this fast-growing sport.
Jonty then called special guest, international aerobatics judge and long time servant of South African Aerobatics, John Gaillard, to the stage. John invited all to join the SAC at Baragwanath Airfield on the 5th and 6th of December for the last competition of 2020, Ace of Base. Which will also serve as a launch of Quintin Hawthorne’s new book on South African Aerobatics.
All the officials were then asked to collect a small token of appreciation for all the hard work they have put in to make the season success under extremely trying circumstances. The media partners were then invited to the stage to receive recognition of all the publicity that they have offered the format over the years.
A speed Rally tradition was started at the first speed rally in Secunda in 2018, the host of each rally is awarded a trophy for making their facilities available for the weekend and this year that trophy was awarded to East Rand Flying Club, this trophy is a very special one as it was the tenth Speed Rally. Rob Jonkers was awarded a very special for all his tireless work in creating the courses and of course, playing the important role of Race Director.
Trophies for best husband and wife team, Best team spirit, Best father and son team and the not so coveted “Most creative track” were awarded.
Then the moment that everyone was waiting for arrived – The results. The 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in the GP was called up to take their places on the podium.
1st, 2nd and 3rd place for the most accurate track on the day were then called to receive their trophy
Followed by 1st, 2nd and 3rd place for the closest to handicap speed
Next was the overall winners and runners-up for the 2020 Springs Speed Rally.
The 2020 Speed rally champions were then crowned in the accuracy section of the competition
The 2020 Speed Rally Closest to Handicap champions were then announced
And finally the Overall 2020 Speed Rally Champions
The Speed Rally championships for 2020 were a great success and very soon the 2021 season will be under-way with the first event being staged at Witbank in the 6th of February 2021. Please visit www.speedrally.co.za to join this amazing aviation sport you won't be sorry.
