Race 4 Bloemfontein 363km, Bela Vista took the race win, while Chris Stemmet topped both the Follow Up Ranking and the Velocity News Fancier of the Race. Chris Stemmet takes Pigeon of the Week, while Andre & Juan holds the Ace Pigeon Ranking lead to round out the week.

Race 4 Bloemfontein 363km

Carnival Lofts' Race 4 W2026 sent 454 pigeons from 110 fanciers away from Bloemfontein, Free State, on a 363km journey to the loft in Heidelberg, Gauteng.

Conditions at liberation were crisp and clear, with the birds released into a light north-easterly breeze of 7–11 km/h under a fine sky touched by morning frost, temperatures hovering around 0°C. By the mid-race point over the Northern Free State, the sun had lifted temperatures to roughly 11°C, with a west-north-westerly wind at 12–15 km/h pushing the pigeons along under clear, sunny skies. Conditions had warmed further by the time the birds reached Heidelberg, with temperatures around 21°C, a west-south-westerly wind of 14–17 km/h, and fine skies giving way to high, thin cloud on approach.

Top 10 Arrivals

Bela Vista claimed the win at 1339.81 m/min, leading Carnival Lofts' Race 4 W2026 home. Chris Stemmet followed in 2nd. Hotz Lofts & Grand Sons claimed 3rd with 'Durban North Sale', with Willie Munnik close behind in 4th. Andre & Juan took 5th, with Quatro Syndicate following in 6th. Sukkel Hokke came home in 7th, with Chris Stemmet in 8th. Harry Meyer claimed 9th with 'Wonder Boxer', and Marlbank OLR completed the top 10 — the entire top 10 arriving within 3 seconds of the winner.

Velocity News Fancier of the Race

In Carnival Lofts' Race 4 Bloemfontein, 48 out of 110 competing fanciers qualified for this ranking by meeting the minimum requirement of basketing at least 4 pigeons.

Rankings are based on the percentage of a fancier's basketed pigeons placing within the top 5% of the race (the top 22 out of 454 total entries), with ties broken by the highest average velocity of those positions.

Chris Stemmet is named Velocity News Fancier of the Race, topping the ranking with 50.00% of their participating pigeons inside the Top 5%.

Please note: This log scrolls from left to right.*

Fancier of the Race

Race 4 W2026 · Carnival Lofts · Liberation: Bloemfontein · 363 km · 05.08.2026

Ranking is based on Efficiency Rate: the percentage of each fancier's own basketed pigeons that finished inside the top 5% of the race — position 22 of the 454 pigeons basketed in this race. Fanciers with fewer than 4 pigeons basketed are excluded. Ties are broken by average velocity across that fancier's top 5% finishes.

Ranking	Team Name	Pigeons Participated	Positions	Efficiency Rate	Avg Speed
1	Chris Stemmet 🇿🇦	4	2, 8	50.00%	1339.65 m/min
2	Harry Meyer 🇿🇦	4	9	25.00%	1339.50 m/min
3	Antonio Sampiao 🇿🇦	4	13	25.00%	1339.42 m/min
4	Bela Vista 🇿🇦	5	1	20.00%	1339.81 m/min
5	Die van Tonders 🇿🇦	5	11	20.00%	1339.46 m/min
6	Little Caradoc Lofts 🇿🇦	10	12, 17	20.00%	1339.31 m/min
7	Adi Schlebusch, Bower & Volschenk 🇿🇦	5	19	20.00%	1338.97 m/min
8	Sukkel Hokke 🇿🇦	6	7	16.67%	1339.52 m/min
9	Quatro Syndicate 🇿🇦	23	6, 15, 18	13.04%	1339.35 m/min
10	Willie Munnik 🇿🇦	8	4	12.50%	1339.62 m/min

Velocity News Fancier of the Race — official ranking — velocitypigeonnews.com

The Follow Up Ranking

The Follow Up Ranking measures fanciers with the highest percentage of their basketed birds finishing in the top 10% of the race, which means the leading 45 out of 454 pigeons. In Carnival Lofts' Race 4 Bloemfontein, 48 of 110 participating fanciers qualified by basketing at least 4 pigeons. Ties are resolved using highest average velocity across their arrivals.

Chris Stemmet led the Velocity News Follow Up ranking with 50.00% of their pigeons placing inside the top 10% arrivals.*

Top 10% Follow Up Ranking

Race 4 W2026 · Carnival Lofts · Liberation: Bloemfontein · 363 km · 05.08.2026

This ranking identifies which fanciers had the highest concentration of their basketed pigeons landing inside the top 10% of the race — position 45 of the 454 pigeons basketed in this race — relative to how many pigeons they had participating. This metric is the Follow Up Rate, a measure of how many pigeons a fancier brought home in succession relative to their total pigeons in the race. Fanciers with fewer than 4 pigeons basketed are excluded, and ties are broken by average velocity. This ranking does not decide Velocity News Fancier of the Race.

Ranking	Team Name	Pigeons Participated	Positions	Follow Up Rate	Avg Speed
1	Chris Stemmet 🇿🇦	4	2, 8	50.00%	1339.65 m/min
2	Harry Meyer 🇿🇦	4	9	25.00%	1339.50 m/min
3	Antonio Sampiao 🇿🇦	4	13	25.00%	1339.42 m/min
4	Willie Munnik 🇿🇦	8	4, 27	25.00%	1327.95 m/min
5	Die Brille & Ignis Fire 🇿🇦	4	26	25.00%	1316.37 m/min
6	Herman Bohm 🇿🇦	4	31	25.00%	1316.16 m/min
7	Thabang 🇿🇦	4	32	25.00%	1316.16 m/min
8	Derick & Jakkals 🇿🇦	4	34	25.00%	1316.11 m/min
9	Bela Vista 🇿🇦	5	1	20.00%	1339.81 m/min
10	Die van Tonders 🇿🇦	5	11	20.00%	1339.46 m/min

Velocity News Top 10% Follow Up Ranking — velocitypigeonnews.com

Ace Pigeon Ranking

Andre & Juan tops the Ace Pigeon Ranking with ODRA 25 2216 at 1338.22 m/min, ahead of Marlbank OLR in 2nd and PC & D in 3rd with NFS 25 5025.

Ace Race 4: ZA25-ODRA-2216 bred by Andre & Juan won: 6th-30th-42nd-50th
Ace Race 4: ZA26-T/PET-11102 bred by Marlbank OLR won: 10th-30th-41st-178th
Ace Race 4: ZA25-NFS-5025 bred by PC & D won: 16th-37th-69th-80th

Pigeon of the Week

Velocity News introduced Pigeon of the Week to identify the best pigeons week by week. It is awarded to the pigeon with the smallest average margin behind the winner across two consecutive races.

Comparing Race 3 W2026 against Race 4 W2026, CHRIS STEMMET's ODRA 26 8840 earns Pigeon of the Week, averaging 0.175 seconds behind the winner with a 1st-place finish at Race 3 W2026 and 2nd at Race 4 W2026. BELA VISTA's OERF 25 10161 follows closely at 1.470 seconds (19th at Race 3 W2026, 1st at Race 4 W2026), while QUATRO SYNDICATE's OERF 25 10239 completes the podium at 1.925 seconds (6th at Race 3 W2026, 6th at Race 4 W2026).

Pigeon of the Week · Carnival Lofts

Two Race Comparison · Race 3 W2026 333km (30/07/2026) & Race 4 W2026 363km (05/08/2026)

Ranking date: 10/08/2026

Ranking is based on Average Margin: the mean of a pigeon's time behind the race winner across two races. Smallest average margin ranks highest.

1 Chris Stemmet South Africa

Avg +00:00:00.175

ODRA 26 8840

Race 3 W2026 333km · Pos 1 / 465

+00:00:00.000

1553.86 m/min

Race 4 W2026 363km · Pos 2 / 454

+00:00:00.350

1339.78 m/min

2 Bela Vista South Africa

Avg +00:00:01.470

OERF 25 10161

Race 3 W2026 333km · Pos 19 / 465

+00:00:02.940

1553.50 m/min

Race 4 W2026 363km · Pos 1 / 454

+00:00:00.000

1339.81 m/min

3 Quatro Syndicate South Africa

Avg +00:00:01.925

OERF 25 10239

Race 3 W2026 333km · Pos 6 / 465

+00:00:00.630

1553.78 m/min

Race 4 W2026 363km · Pos 6 / 454

+00:00:03.220

1339.54 m/min

Velocity News Pigeon of the Week — velocitypigeonnews.com

Looking Ahead

Bela Vista's win at Carnival Lofts' Race 4 Bloemfontein 363km sets the tone for the loft, while Chris Stemmet leaves the strongest mark on the week, topping both the Follow Up Ranking and the Velocity News Fancier of the Race. Chris Stemmet carries the week further still, taking Pigeon of the Week honours for ODRA 26 8840's consistency across Race 3 and Race 4, while Andre & Juan leads the Ace Pigeon Ranking with ODRA 25 2216. Whether any of them can carry that momentum into the next race remains to be seen.