Dinokeng OLR Get's Underway In Entertaining Race 1 Ventersburg. All You Need to Know
Who wins the race isn't always who dominates the stats. At Dinokeng's Race 1, Hotz Lofts, and AJ Nel & LA ruled the two Velocity News ranking tables, while Die Stormers took an impressive race win. De Beer Hokke's razor-tight Pigeon of the Week finish caps it off nicely
Race 1 Ventersburg 303km
Dinokeng Lofts opened its 2026 season with the 303km Race 1, liberating 503 pigeons from 111 fanciers for a northbound flight to Pretoria's Dinokeng Nature Reserve.
Released at 08:15 under clear skies with light fog (6°C–8°C) and an 8 km/h south-southeasterly tailwind, they encountered clear, dry weather near the Heilbron/Sasolburg midpoint (13°C–15°C, 10 km/h southeasterly breeze). The birds crossed into Gauteng, arriving at Dinokeng in mild winter sun (18°C–20°C, light variable easterly wind).
Top 10 Arrivals
'Jenny's TK' took the win at 1409.78 m/min for Die Stormers, leading Dinokeng Lofts' Race 1 home. 'Bartlo' followed in 2nd for Limpopo Flyers. 'Wind Runner' claimed 3rd for Jaco & Danie, with 'Whisper' close behind in 4th for Francois Steinman. 'Princess Quatar53' took 5th for Zoltan Buzas, with 'Poppie' following in 6th for Hotz Lofts. 'Tokkie' came home in 7th for SPL Lofts, with 'Star Blaze' in 8th for AJ Nel & LA. 'Elektra' claimed 9th for Francois Steinman, and 'Rushing Wind' completed the top 10 for Daniel Troskie — the entire top 10 arriving inside five seconds of the winner.
Fancier of the Race
In Race 1 - Ventersburg, 59 out of 111 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 25 out of 503 total entries), with ties broken by the highest average velocity of those positions.
Hotz Lofts is named Velocity News Fancier of the Race, topping the ranking with 25.00% of his participating pigeons inside the Top 5%.
Please note: This log scrolls from left to right*
The Follow Up Ranking
The Top 10% 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 50 out of 503 pigeons. In Race 1 – Ventersburg, 59 of 111 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.
AJ Nel & LA led the Velocity News Follow Up ranking with 42.86% 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 Training – Kroonstad against Race 1, De Beer Hokke's ZA NOK BPK 25-172 earns Pigeon of the Week, averaging 2 minutes and 55.545 seconds behind the winner with a 2nd-place finish at Training – Kroonstad and 80th at Race 1. Jacques Parsons' ZA VSDK 25-1850 follows closely at 8 minutes and 39.260 seconds (10th at Training – Kroonstad, 11th at Race 1 ), while Jaco & Danie's ZA GPU 25-5360 completes the podium at 8 minutes and 43.995 seconds (56th at Training – Kroonstad, 3rd at Race 1).
Please note: This log scrolls from left to right*
Looking Ahead
Die Stormers' win at Ventersburg sets the early benchmark for Dinokeng's season, but it's Hotz Lofts and AJ Nel & LA who leave the strongest mark on the week, splitting the Velocity News Fancier of the Race performance and the Follow Up Ranking between them. De Beer Hokke's Pigeon of the Week form across Training – Kroonstad and Race 1 – Ventersburg points to real consistency building in that loft. Whether any of them can carry that momentum into Race 2 remains to be seen.
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