Theewaterskloof Dam once again played host to the fourth and final round of the 2023 Inflatable Boat Racing National Championships on Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 September, and an action-packed weekend of extremely close racing was expected between the champions of all three classes – stock, pro-stock and modified.
At the end of the adrenaline-filled event, it was the local pairings of Marc Gleed and Jaco van Deventer of Team Rusgenot Transport who took top honours in the modified class category, while Nikki du Bois and Marais Cloete of Team S29 won the stock standard class category. Gleed said his team had again put in a huge effort in preparation for this event with many late nights spent building race engines and a number of weekends spent at the dam testing various propeller and boat set-ups in all weather conditions.
“Our national championship season leading up to the final round had been less-than-plain sailing with a number of curve balls thrown at us,” he said. “We had to deal with a roll at the Blouberg National event and arrived at Vaal Dam National only a few hours before the start due to floods in Cape Town as all major roads were closed.
Arriving at Theewaterskloof early on Thursday morning before the event our team got to work immediately and did the last few test runs to make 100% sure we were happy with the speed and boat set-up as we raced the latest Infanta race boat that had just been launched. Everything went perfectly to plan, and by Friday afternoon we were 100% happy with our race rigs and feeling very determined to go out and compete for the title.”
First up on race day were the two circuit racing heats, where Gleed drew fourth position on the grid for the first heat and got off to a great start taking the lead at the first turn buoy, which he and Van Deventer maintained to the chequered flag.
“We started from pole position in the second heat and managed to take a comfortable victory again,” Gleed said. “It was then on to the final, which was going to be extremely competitive with the top 12 boats all determined to take the win. We got off to a good start and rounded the first turn buoy side by side with a long-time fellow competitor and friend Reghard Roets. The racing was extremely close with neither team tapping off for one second and running side by side for an entire lap until we managed to pull a slender gap which we held on to the finish.”
As weather conditions changed Team Rusgenot decided on a last minute propeller change and maintained good pace and avoided mistakes to finish the long-haul in second position and win the national championships in the Modified Class. “This was a great reward for our entire team after a tough year and added to this was that this was our third National title in a row. All focus is now on training and preparation for the 2023 Trans Agulhas.”
Du Bois said Team S29 did relatively well throughout the series despite battling some obstacles at the Theewaterskloof, and they already had enough points to claim the championship.
“It was a challenging event but we’ve had much better results throughout the series where we performed exceptionally well. We are very pleased with our season and with winning the stock standard class.”
