Diaz1 Loft Race 8: 'PECKTACKULAR' It Was By 9minutes Clear For Gavin Rous
At Diaz One Loft's Eighth Race Ixopo 2, Gavin Rous claimed both the race win and the Follow Up Ranking outright, while Pigeon & Duifie topped the Velocity News Fancier of the Race. Henke Ackerman takes Pigeon of the Week, and Bontebok leads the Ace Pigeon Ranking to round out the week.
Eighth Race Ixopo 2
Diaz One Loft's Eighth Race Ixopo 2 sent 360 pigeons from 102 fanciers away from Ixopo, covering 525km on the day.
Wind ran northwest to west at liberation, swinging west and southwest on route before backing southeast for the late afternoon and southwest to south on the final stretch home. Temperatures were nippy at release, climbing into the mid-teens as the day progressed. Coastal rain was forecast to fall periodically along the route, and while humidity stayed low, moisture in the air ran high, adding real resistance to the flying effort. Organisers flagged the release as a tough one heading into the money ring competition's third leg.
Top 10 Arrivals
Gavin Rous claimed the win at 1142.40 m/min with 'Pecktacular', leading Diaz One Loft's Eighth Race Ixopo 2 home. Henke Ackerman followed in 2nd with 'Rufus'. Marnes Nel claimed 3rd with 'Faith Flyer', with Anton Theo Schonken 2 close behind in 4th with 'Sapphire'. Bontebok took 5th with 'Plascon', with Anton Theo Schonken 2 following again in 6th with 'Topaz'. Pigeon & Duifie came home in 7th with 'Baby Blue', with Abbott Lofts in 8th with 'Desrae'. Kasouga claimed 9th with 'No Fear', and De Kruik Sindikaat completed the top 10 with 'Gpe Hytrin' — the entire top 10 arriving within 16 minutes 59 seconds of the winner.
'PECKTACULAR' 9minute Break-Away Winner
Gavin Rous's 'PECKTACULAR' dominated Race 8 with a huge margin of a solo win. Proving the quality of this top pigeon. The genetics and results that backs up this performances is something to take note of.
The father ZA24-CAS-421 'THE FRILL', direct son to 'BRUTUS BOSS' when mated to his own daughter 'MEGA IMPACT' 8th Ace Pigeon Dinokeng 2023. 'BRUTUS BOSS' 26th Final Afrikapro 2022,direct son to one of South Africa's top OLR breeding Pairs 'THE BOSS X BREAKING NEWS' of Webster Lofts.
The dam to 'PECKTACULAR' ZA20-STRW-060 3rd Bakkie Karoo Million OLR 820km is a direct daughter to a Tomlock cock mated to a daughter of 'MISS BLISS' top Painter Putterie hen.
2nd Place 'RUFUS' Bred by Henke Ackerman
The father is a cock 'URBAN COWBAY' raced at Afrikapro, off the 'URBAN COWBOY' line from America, his granddam 'COURY' won 1st Place Holiday Classic 3oo miles! The dam 'RUFUS' is a special Putterie hen that won 2nd Place Kariega OLR Final!
3rd Place 'FAITH FLYER' Bred by Marnes Nel
'FAITH FLYER' bred from a brother to the dam of 'LOVE 3' Super Ace Victoria Falls OLR , the dam is bred from a half sister to 'LOVE 3' Super Ace Victoria Falls OLR. The best of Marnes Nel!
Velocity News Fancier of the Race
In Diaz One Loft's Eighth Race Ixopo 2, 35 out of 102 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 18 out of 360 total entries), with ties broken by the highest average velocity of those positions.
PIGEON & DUIFIE is named Velocity News Fancier of the Race, topping the ranking with 22.22% 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 36 out of 360 pigeons. In Diaz One Loft's Eighth Race Ixopo 2, 35 of 102 participating fanciers qualified by basketing at least 4 pigeons. Ties are resolved using highest average velocity across their arrivals.
GAVIN ROUS led the Velocity News Follow Up ranking with 40.00% of their pigeons placing inside the top 10% arrivals.
Please note: This log scrolls from left to right*
Ace Pigeon Ranking Week 8
Bontebok secured the top spot on the Ace rankings with 2 DIAZ 2026, achieving a coefficient of 2.6799. Following closely in second was Henry Quirk with 362 DIAZ 2025 at 2.7152, while Willie Munnik completed the top three with 10879 OERF 2025 at 2.7672.
1st Ace Week 8 - ZA26-DIAZ-2 'LOW RISK' Race 7 winner and 9th Race 3.Bred by Arnu Viljoen. The father 'BONT VISSIE' 1st Ultra Ace at Diaz in 2025, a title won by racing 15 consecutive weeks. 'BONT VISSIE' also Diaz OLR Winner by 49min break-away from Richmond 545km 1022mpm! The mother of 'LOW RISK' also completing 15 consecutive weeks to finish 5th Ultra Ace at the Diaz One Loft that same season. The pair covered 6,126km of hard racing across those 15 weeks - exactly the stamina and the ability to recover Viljoen looks for before committing to a pairing.
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 7 Qumbu against Race 8 Ixopo 2, HENKE ACKERMAN's 2331 BORD 2025 earns Pigeon of the Week, averaging 9 minutes and 56.280 seconds behind the winner with an 80th-place finish at Race 7 and 2nd at Race 8. MARNES NEL's 635 WPU 2025 follows closely at 9 minutes and 59.475 seconds (77th at Race 7, 3rd at Race 8), while ANTON THEO SCHONKEN 2's 0903 SA 2026 completes the podium at 13 minutes and 28.555 seconds (171st at Race 7, 4th at Race 8).
'RUFUS' Pigeon of the week
The father is 'URBAN COWBAY' that raced at Afrikapro, off the 'URBAN COWBOY' line from America, his granddam 'COURY' won 1st Place Holiday Classic 3oo miles! The dam 'RUFUS' is a special Putterie hen that won 2nd Place Kariega OLR Final!
Looking Ahead
Gavin Rous's win with 'Pecktacular' sets the tone for Diaz One Loft's Eighth Race Ixopo 2, and the same fancier leaves the strongest mark on the week, topping the Follow Up Ranking on top of the race win. Pigeon & Duifie's Velocity News Fancier of the Race performance stood out. Henke Ackerman's Pigeon of the Week form across Race 7 Qumbu and Race 8 Ixopo 2 points to consistency building in that team, while Bontebok's Ace Pigeon Ranking lead adds another name to watch. Whether any of them can carry that momentum into Race 9 remains to be seen.
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