2014 ARRO Northern District Rally Championship in a nut shell

2014 ARRO Northern District Rally Championship in a nut shell.... What an awesome year this has been for all involved.We made history becoming the first alternate governing body to host rally in the history of the sport in the country.Hosted 6 very successful rallies without any rolls.Made great friends with farmers as we progressed through the year.We were faced with all the challenges one can think about starting something like this and overcome all of them,,,sometimes at the expense of making a mistake but in return learning a lot. Would like to start by thanking each and every individual that made this ''pipe dream'' of ours not only a reality but a super successful season too.There are a couple of individuals that Piet Van Heerden and myself would like to thank especially... Ann Bakkes From WOMZA...Ann from day 1 almost 2 years back you guys were there every step of the way.Your office door was never closed,your phone never to busy to always listen...even if it was just about stupid polotics you were always there to assist.You guys gave us the freedom to exercise our sport we so love in a controlled manner without any red tape.Ann may this be the first season of many under the WOMZA flag and may we only grow from strength to strength. Leon Botha from Rallystar...Leon(Oom) thank you for being just who you are,thank you for your very deep love of the sport and willingness always to help,always ready to give advise,the necessary criticism when its needed to be heard to bring us back into perspective,the help with pace notes even sometimes at very short notice.The use of your facility Rallystar,the hours spent with you in the car are priceless..Thank you Gert Wolmerans...its very difficult only to be able to say thank you after all you have done.From the minute we met you received us with open arms and immediately started helping.Your hospitality at the Bapsfontein Hotel was second to none,even bough us a Grader to grade the roads.Gert ARRO will forever be indebted to you for your kindness. Oom Willem Jansen Van Rensburg......Another person that has gone 500 miles to far for ARRO expecting nothing in return.Thank you for your kindness and willingness always to help with organizing the events at Witklip Farms. Then to all our sponsors,without your guys constant financial inputs things would have been a lot more difficult than what they were.We thank all of you from the bottom of your hearts for opening your cheque books and assisting wherever it was needed even when business was tough this year.. Autobar Fitment Centre-Cherise Groenewald Itallian Panelbeaters-Jose Ferriera Leru Enterprise-Rudi Van Zyl and Lena Van Wyk RSI Autobody-Rinus Plomp Bapsfontein Hotel-Gert Wolmerans Speedspot Technologies-Henry Dearlove/Piet Van Heerden Then to all of our competitors....we maintained an above average of 25 competitors per event which was awesome seeing it being our first ever championship.Despite all the odds we kept seeing new faces.A total of 41 different competitors(excl 4-stage) went through our books showing that there were still many regional cars parked.We thank each and everyone of you for participating at our events and without you nothing would ever have been possible. To all our BRAVE marshals,conditions these people work in does definitely not sit in anyones pants to do.You guys are always friendly,always willing to assist,eat or dust and duck and dive the stones we throw at you.Thank you will never justify our appreciation for what you guys do. Last but not least to our photographers from Rally-Art Jan Viljoen,Johan and Gerhard Niemand thank you for capturing and keeping our memories alive with all your awesome photos,,,without you a lot would be forgotten. In 2013 at our AGM a lot was discussed on what would make a rally championship fair for all,non biast and cost effective so that any competitor in any vehicle could win the overall championship.We came up with a format and ran with it this year in 2014. To our surprise the format was flawless and everything we expected to happen just did so. The aim was that a highly modified Group A Subaru should be able to compete fairly against a stock standard road going Datsun,allowing only consistency to determine a winner and so it did. The overall championship honors going into Round 6 could have gone 3 different ways,Hennie/Melcolm Scheoman in a Group N Datsun P510,Erik De Jager/Tommy Coetzee in Group D Ex works VW Golf and Rinus Plomp/Johan De Bruin in a Group A Subaru were only separated by 23 points in total with round 6 offering a total of 33 points. After Round 6 this is how all ended and the 2014 ARRO Northern District Rally Championship was concluded. Overall Champions 1st Overall-Hennie/Melcolm Schoeman Group N Datsun P510 2nd Overall-Rinus Plomp/Johan De Bruin Group A Subaru 3rd Overall-Erik De Jager/Tommy Coetzee Group D VW Golf Group Champions Group A 1st-Rinus Plomp/Johan De Bruin Subaru 2nd-Jose Ferreira/Pierre Jordaan Subaru 3rd-Vladimir Sibirko/Bradley Naidoo Subaru Group B 1st-Keith Delport/Jeremy Du Plessis Nissan Skyline 2nd-Willem Jansen Van Rensburg/Corne Fourie VW Golf 3 3rd-Gert Wolmerans/Willem Jansen Van Rensburg jnr VW Golf 3 Group C 1st-Jakes/Bertie Jacobs VW Golf 3 2nd-Cobus Groenewald/Natalie Van Wyk Toyota Tazz 3rd-Sarel Coetser/Martin Prinsloo Toyota Corolla Group D 1st-Erik De Jager/Tommy Coetsee VW Golf 1 2nd-Ashley/Lesley Mackenzie Ford Escourt 3rd-Marco Lausberg/Johan De Boeck Chaford Group E 1st-Andre Ehlers/Rudolf Albrecht Toyota Tazz 2nd-Peter Pilusa/James Thomson Nissan Sentra 3rd-Anru/Juane Van Jaarsveld Datsun GX Group N 1st-Hennie/Melcolm Schoeman Datsun P510 2nd-Rudi Van Zyl/Lena Van Wyk Ford Escourt 3rd-Johan/Jessica Van Wyk Ford Lazer Individual awards 2014 Driver of the year Hennie Schoeman 2014 Most improved driver Rinus Plomp 2014 Most loyal competitor Erik De Jager 2014 Battler of the year Rudi Van Zyl 2014 Official of the year Piet Van Heerden 2014 Photographer of the year Jan Viljoen Congratulations to all our overall,group and individual winners for 2014. For those of you traveling over the festive season please return safely.Merry Christmas and seasons greetings for 2015 to all. Have a good one Cheers Cobus Groenewald and Piet Van Heerden