Diaz One Loft: Hotrod Racing Wins Diaz 2026 Season Opener
At Diaz One Loft's First Race Butterworth, Hotrod claimed the race win, while Brad Bown swept both the Velocity News Fancier of the Race and the Follow Up Ranking outright. Pigeon & Duifie takes Pigeon of the Week to round out the week.
First Race Butterworth 205km
First Race Butterworth marked the season opener for Diaz One Loft, liberated from Butterworth for the 205km flight to Bushmansriver Mouth, with 1095 pigeons basketed across 133 competing fanciers.
At liberation (08:00), Butterworth held a crisp 11-13°C under partly cloudy skies, with a light and variable breeze settling into a gentle south-easterly at 5-10 km/h. By the midpoint near East London (09:40), temperatures had climbed to 16-18°C, the south-easterly firming to 12-15 km/h with a persistent side-wind angle. Approaching Bushmansriver Mouth, arrival temperatures reached 20-22°C beneath building cloud cover, and a moderate onshore south-easterly of up to 18 km/h met the pigeons head-on for the final push into the coastal lofts.
Top 10 Arrivals
Hotrod claimed the win at 1020.40 m/min with 'Comet Cruiser', leading Diaz One Loft's First Race Butterworth home. Stear Painter followed in 2nd with 'Live Forward'. Tine & Johannes Bendixen claimed 3rd with 'Lanturn', with Bontebok close behind in 4th with 'Aesthetic'. Willie Munnik took 5th, with JJJ van der Linde following in 6th with 'Nothing At All'. Camelot Hokke came home in 7th with 'Jakkals', with Marlbank in 8th with 'Mountain Time'. PH / Swarico claimed 9th, and Pigeon & Duifie completed the top 10 with 'Blue Danger' — the entire top 10 arriving within 34 seconds of the winner.
Genetics Behind The Winner
'COMET CRUISER' Race 1 Butterworth Winner against 1.095 pigeons. Bred & entered by Koot Strydom (Hotrod Racing), Bloemfontein, South Africa.
Father to 'COMET CRUISER'
'COMET CRUISER' is bred off a direct daughter 'REMBRANDT' x 'SISTER DIAHATSU', both from proven lines. 'REMBRANDT' won 4th Hotspot 4 Central Provincial OLR against 1.263p 484km & 50th Car Race 1.150 pigeons 690km, Orignal Oberholster Loft. 'SISTER DIAHATSU' full sister 'DIAHATSU' 7th Ace Points, 11th Long Distance Ace, 12th Final and 14th Ace Velocity Diaz OLR!
Mother to 'COMET CRUISER'
'CLOSE BUT NO CIGAR' was a fantastic racing hen herself. She was 4th Ace Pigeon Central Provincial Loft, 51st Prins Albert Final - up until the last race. She won the following: 15th-23rd-45th-51st-100th-116th-125th-128th-145th-175th-233rd-615th-1042th against 1.034 pigeons starting the CPL 2025 season.
Father & Mother 'CLOSE BUT NO CIGAR' - Grandparents to 'COMET CRUISER'. The father ZA21-BPF-987 (g/father 1. Marlbank HS5 1.261p) is half brother to 'URSULA' mother 'SALVO ROSE' 1. Race 8 Afrikapro 1.964p and 2nd Ace Brown Jacket'25. The dam 'ZA24-2711' is full sister 'MARIUS' father to 'SALVO ROSE' 1-6-10-13 Afrikapro 2025. Also 'ZA24-2711' is bred from a full sister to the g/father 'COPPER SUN' 1. Marlbank HS5 1.261p 2026.
Velocity News Fancier of the Race
In Diaz One Loft's First Race Butterworth, 85 out of 133 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 54 out of 1095 total entries), with ties broken by the highest average velocity of those positions.
BRAD BOWN is named Velocity News Fancier of the Race, topping the ranking with 75.00% of their participating pigeons inside the Top 5%.
Please note: This log scrolls from left to right
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 109 out of 1095 pigeons. In Diaz One Loft's First Race Butterworth, 85 of 133 participating fanciers qualified by basketing at least 4 pigeons. Ties are resolved using highest average velocity across their arrivals.
BRAD BOWN led the Velocity News Follow Up ranking with 75.00% of their pigeons placing inside the top 10% arrivals.
Please note: This log scrolls from left to right
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 Live Toss 10 against First Race Butterworth, PIGEON & DUIFIE's 8400 HHC 2025 earns Pigeon of the Week, averaging 26.710 seconds behind the winner with a 21st-place finish at Live Toss 10 and 18th at First Race Butterworth. BRUCE LORD's 573 DRPC 2025 follows closely at 30.775 seconds (24th at Live Toss 10, 19th at First Race Butterworth), while LOFT EINKAMERER's 107 DIAZ 2025 completes the podium at 1 minute and 24.260 seconds (51st at Live Toss 10, 23rd at First Race Butterworth).
Looking Ahead
Hotrod's win with 'Comet Cruiser' sets the tone for Diaz One Loft's First Race Butterworth, though Brad Bown leaves the strongest mark on the week, topping both the Velocity News Fancier of the Race performance and the Follow Up Ranking. Pigeon & Duifie's Pigeon of the Week form across Live Toss 10 and First Race Butterworth points to consistency building in that team. Whether either fancier can carry that momentum into Race 2 remains to be seen.
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