HS2 Marlbank OLR Victory for Fourie Forte as CTS & Wespoel Hokke tops the Fancier of the Race Ranking
Marlbank OLR's HS2 Victors Fourie Forte taking the win ahead of Gavin Rous and Harry Wilson. CTS & Wespoel Hokke claimed Velocity News Fancier of the Race, placing 42.86% of their pigeons inside the top 5% , Harry Wilson placed 57.14% of his pigeons inside the Top 10%.
The Race
Marlbank OLR's Hot Spot 2 was liberated from Bloemfontein on 26 June 2026, sending the pigeons 315km. A total of 1,378 pigeons were basketed across 249 fanciers for the race.
Liberation & Race Conditions
Pigeons were liberated from Bloemfontein at 08:00 into a clear, crisp winter morning of 6°C, with a light 10 to 12 km/h breeze out of the north-north-east and brief fog patches lifting quickly over the open Free State interior.
By the mid-race mark near Kroonstad at 10:01, temperatures had climbed to 13°C. The wind had shifted to a light 8 to 10 km/h east-north-easterly, creating a minor cross-headwind, under scattered high-altitude cloud covering 15 to 20% of the sky.
At Heron Banks, Vaalpark, arrivals came into 20°C conditions shortly after 12:00, with a gentle 13 km/h easterly breeze and just 8% cloud cover overhead.
Top 10 Arrivals
Fourie Forte took gold with 'Klein Faan', clocking 1298.1964 m/min into Heron Banks. Gavin Rous followed in second with 'Ophelia', with Harry Wilson third aboard ZA-25-GPU-3265. Mega Pigeons rounded out the front four with 'Lone Wolf', and Loft Einkamerer completed the top five behind 'Apple 2-381-76'.
Splendidior's ZA-25-WBU-1315 took sixth, with Marais Brothers & Lellyett seventh aboard ZA-25-GRPF-2716. Harry Wilson doubled up in eighth with a second pigeon, ZA-25-GPU-3205, ahead of Carnival Lofts in ninth with ZA-25-OERF-10246. Gavin Rous closed out the top 10 with a second pigeon of his own, 'Midnight Velvet', in tenth.
The gap from first to tenth was just 4.37 seconds.
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Velocity News Fancier of the Race
The ranking is calculated only for fanciers who basketed four or more pigeons. Of the 249 fanciers in the race, 147 meet that minimum and make up the pool competing for the title.
The 10 Most Efficient Fanciers of the Day
Please Note: This log can scroll from left to right to view all information *
CTS & Wespoel Hokke takes Velocity News Fancier of the Race. They placed 42.86% of their pigeons within the top 5% of the race, a return that no other fancier in the race came close to matching once the four-pigeon minimum was applied.
Top 10% Follow Up Ranking
This ranking identifies which fanciers had the highest concentration of their basketed pigeons landing inside the top 10% of the 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. Same qualifying rules apply: fanciers need 4 or more pigeons basketed, and ties are broken by average velocity.
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Top 25 Ace Pigeon Rankings Week 2
SAIPR's '1 Van' holds the overall Ace Pigeon lead at 1326.3673 m/min, with Fourie Forte's 'Klein Faan' just 0.04 m/min behind in second and Loft Einkamerer's 'Apple 2-381-76' completing the top three. The margin across the top three is razor-thin, all within 0.21 m/min of each other, while the gap widens gradually from there down to 25th, spanning roughly 17 m/min across the full list.
A handful of fanciers have doubled up inside the top 25. Loft Einkamerer places twice (3rd and 15th), as does Gavin Rous (11th and 12th) and Exclusive Pigeon Paradise (17th and 20th), pointing to early strength in depth rather than a single standout pigeon. Thone Pigeons & R&R Lofts is the only non-South African entry inside the top 25, sitting 5th overall.
With two Hot Spots down, the standings remain tightly bunched at the top, and the Ace Pigeon title is still very much open heading into the next leg of the season.
Looking Ahead
Fourie Forte's win at the front and CTS & Wespoel Hokke's efficiency return will both demand attention as the season progresses, with Harry Wilson also putting in a case on both counts, finishing inside the top three and topping the Follow Up ranking. Whether that form holds up as the races get longer and the pigeons get tested further is the question every fancier in the running will be asking. For now, the names are on the board. We'll see how the rest of the season unfolds.
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