Second Race Mthatha 305km, Banie Deetlefs took the win, while Lauren Gericke topped the Velocity News Fancier of the Race and Oudeluck lead the Follow Up Ranking. Webster Lofts won Pigeon of the Week to round out Race 2.

Second Race Mthatha 305km

Second Race Mthatha covered 305km from Mthatha, Eastern Cape, to Diaz One Loft at Bushmans River Mouth, with 1,013 pigeons basketed across 132 competing fanciers. Liberation at 07:30 opened under a crisp 6-8°C winter morning, clear skies, with a light north-westerly breeze giving the pigeons an early tailwind push. By the race's midpoint over the central Eastern Cape interior near Dutywa/Butterworth, temperatures had climbed into the low-to-mid teens as the sky turned partly cloudy, the wind firming to a moderate west-south-westerly. Conditions turned mostly cloudy and cold into the coastal finish, where a strong south-westerly cross-headwind gusting to 35km/h met the birds as temperatures held in the mid-teens.

Top 10 Arrivals

Banie Deetlefs claimed the win at 1225.09 m/min with 'New Dream', leading Diaz One Loft's Second Race Mthatha home. Dewald & Stefan followed in 2nd with 'Steff'. Natie & Tommie claimed 3rd with 'Zahara', with Anton Schonken close behind in 4th with 'Valve'. Hardy Kruger & Oberholster Loft (DE) took 5th with 'CK 4', with Anton Schonken following again in 6th with 'Wolfie'. Marnes Nel came home in 7th with 'Favoured One', with Willie Munnik in 8th. Boertjie Nel claimed 9th with 'The Difference', and Webster Lofts completed the top 10 with 'Cashflow' — the entire top 10 arriving within 5 seconds of the winner!

Velocity News Fancier of the Race

In Diaz One Loft's Second Race Mthatha, 29 out of 132 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 50 out of 1,013 total entries), with ties broken by the highest average velocity of those positions.

LAUREN GERICKE is named Velocity News Fancier of the Race, topping the ranking with 40.00% of their participating pigeons inside the Top 5%.

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Fancier of the Race

Second Race Mthatha · Diaz One Loft · Liberation: Mthatha · 305 km · 15.06.2026

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 50 of the 1,013 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	LAUREN GERICKE 🇿🇦	5	43, 49	40.00%	1217.82 m/min
2	SAIPR LOFT 🇿🇦	6	11, 25	33.33%	1221.48 m/min
3	WAZEIR LOFTS 🇿🇦	4	31	25.00%	1218.11 m/min
4	BOERTJIE NEL 🇿🇦	5	9	20.00%	1224.74 m/min
5	TINE & JOHANNES BENDIXEN 🇩🇰	11	14, 39	18.18%	1221.29 m/min
6	PH / SWARICO 🇿🇦	6	28	16.67%	1218.20 m/min
7	PHILLIPS & ENGELBRECHT 🇿🇦	14	18, 27	14.29%	1221.31 m/min
8	KAROO HOKKE 🇿🇦	7	35	14.29%	1218.07 m/min
9	WEBSTER LOFTS 🇿🇦	36	10, 22, 34, 41, 42	13.89%	1219.40 m/min
10	ANTON SCHONKEN 🇿🇦	31	4, 6, 30, 46	12.90%	1221.41 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 101 out of 1,013 pigeons. In Diaz One Loft's Second Race Mthatha, 51 of 132 participating fanciers qualified by basketing at least 4 pigeons. Ties are resolved using highest average velocity across their arrivals. This ranking does not decide Velocity News Fancier of the Race.

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

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Top 10% Follow Up Ranking

Second Race Mthatha · Diaz One Loft · Liberation: Mthatha · 305 km · 15.06.2026

This ranking identifies which fanciers had the highest concentration of their basketed pigeons landing inside the top 10% of the race — position 101 of the 1,013 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	OUDELUCK 🇿🇦	4	99, 101	50.00%	1200.61 m/min
2	LAUREN GERICKE 🇿🇦	5	43, 49	40.00%	1217.82 m/min
3	SAIPR LOFT 🇿🇦	6	11, 25	33.33%	1221.48 m/min
4	PHILLIPS & ENGELBRECHT 🇿🇦	14	18, 27, 57, 77	28.57%	1217.61 m/min
5	CAMELOT HOKKE 🇿🇦	23	26, 37, 62, 69, 85, 98	26.09%	1212.47 m/min
6	WAZEIR LOFTS 🇿🇦	4	31	25.00%	1218.11 m/min
7	RAPOLE 🇿🇦	4	54	25.00%	1217.66 m/min
8	BANIE DEETLEFS 🇿🇦	8	1, 81	25.00%	1217.60 m/min
9	WEBSTER LOFTS 🇿🇦	36	10, 22, 34, 41, 42, 51, 56, 59, 96	25.00%	1216.71 m/min
10	ANDERSON RACING TEAM 🇿🇦	4	67	25.00%	1210.69 m/min

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

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 1 Butterworth against Race 2 Mthatha, WEBSTER LOFTS's 274 DIAZ 2025 earns Pigeon of the Week, averaging 74.205 seconds behind the winner with a 36th-place finish at Race 1 and 10th at Race 2. HOT PIGEON POWER's 611 CPL 2025 follows closely at 75.440 seconds (41st at Race 1, 13th at Race 2), while DE KRUIK SINDIKAAT's 806 SFL 2025 completes the podium at 76.420 seconds (43rd at Race 1, 16th at Race 2).

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Pigeon of the Week · Diaz One Loft

Two Race Comparison · Race 1 Butterworth 205km (09/06/2026) & Race 2 Mthatha 305km (15/06/2026)

Ranking date: 16/06/2026

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 WEBSTER LOFTS South Africa

Avg +00:01:14.205

274 DIAZ 2025

Race 1 Butterworth 205km · Pos 36 / 1095

+00:02:23.440

1008.40 m/min

Race 2 Mthatha 305km · Pos 10 / 1013

+00:00:04.970

1224.68 m/min

2 HOT PIGEON POWER South Africa

Avg +00:01:15.440

611 CPL 2025

Race 1 Butterworth 205km · Pos 41 / 1095

+00:02:25.230

1008.26 m/min

Race 2 Mthatha 305km · Pos 13 / 1013

+00:00:05.650

1224.63 m/min

3 DE KRUIK SINDIKAAT South Africa

Avg +00:01:16.420

806 SFL 2025

Race 1 Butterworth 205km · Pos 43 / 1095

+00:02:26.040

1008.19 m/min

Race 2 Mthatha 305km · Pos 16 / 1013

+00:00:06.800

1224.53 m/min

Velocity News Pigeon of the Week — velocitypigeonnews.com

Looking Ahead

Banie Deetlefs's win sets the tone for Diaz One Loft's Second Race Mthatha, but it's Lauren Gericke who leaves the strongest mark on the week, topping Velocity News Fancier of the Race performance after also finishing runner-up in the Follow Up Ranking. Oudeluck's win points to real consistency building off just four basketed pigeons, while Webster Lofts's Pigeon of the Week showing adds another name to watch. Whether any of them can carry that momentum into next week's race remains to be seen.