Summarize

Surprises, records at Killarney karting

A perfect midwinter’s Cape Saturday greeted Killarney’s karting faithful and a number of upcountry visitors for 28 July’s fifth round of the MSA Western Cape Karting Championships that delivered an action packed meeting peppered by surprises, tied results, lap records and even a red flag. 

The premier Rotax Max direct drive DD2 gearbox class was one of those to not only deliver a tied result for the day, but also a cool surprise as newly crowned DVS champion Dino Stermin made a winning DD2 debut off pole position before he and Jonathan Thomas shared the overall win for the day on 94 points each. Dino took the winner’s trophy by dint of his second heat win trumping Jono’s two second places, while championship leader Jurie Swart won the other two races punctuated by a second race retirement as he still consolidated his title lead.

Visiting duo, karting lass Ivana Cetinich and Masters winner Jonathan Pieterse — among several out of town drivers down in preparation for Killarney’s 11 August national — were next up ahead of Aiden Hughes and troubled trio Jason Coetzee, Jarryd Evans, and Sebastian Boyd. Gary Lennon was best of the hometown Masters finishers ahead of Roy Gruer and Conor Hughes.

Jason Coetzee however had no trouble in the top chain drive Senior Max class, storming off an emphatic pole position to a clean sweep of three wins over Andrew Rackstraw, who managed second each time in spite of a 5-second race 1 penalty for a dislodged nose cone. Storm Lanfear meanwhile kept Reece Oellermann off the podium and class madalas Andrew Thomas and Mario Ras closed off the top six.

Troy Dolinschek scored an upset under-15 high school Rotax Junior Max win for the day as he overcame the usually dominant Joseph Oelz to win the second and third races, after Oelz came from behind to snatch the first heat win. Kai van Zijl was a close third from Charl Visser, while fifth-placed Simon Simpson-Heath was likely kicking himself after a 5-second race 3 nose cone penalty likely cost him a podium, so close was the racing; and Tate Bishop rounded off the top six.

In primary school action, there was another surprise as Denis Joubert stepped back from Junior Max to put it on pole position, but it was championship leader Kyle Visser who emerged victorious with a couple of race wins ahead of Joubert and race 3 winner Joaquin de Oliveira. Upcountry drivers Joshua de Paiva and Muhammad Wally ran interference in fourth and fifth ahead of Andre Le Riche and Mikhail Fernandez, whose day may well have ended well up on the podium were in not for a 5-second nose cone penalty in each of the three races, but he still managed to hold off another weekend visitor, Liam de Beer.

Kyle Visser made it a double on the day as he bounced back from a first heat under-14 Mini Rok disaster to win races 2 and 3 to take the day from race 1 winner Lucas Royston. Jason Macbeath pipped Paul Malcolm for the honour of standing on that third podium step ahead of Conner Rensburg and Joshua Smit.

Under 11 Rotax Micro Max proved to be one of the races of the day as pole man Reza Levy sneaked the overall win despite not winning a race on the day to keep Jozi visitor Joshua de Paiva, who also somehow failed to take a heat win in second. Another upcountry visitor, Muhammad Wally however broke the lap record as he sped to the race 1 win en route to third overall ahead of local lads Joshua Smit, Ethan Deacon and race 3 winner Reese Koorzen, who broke Moerat’s lap record in the process. The wild second heat comprised two parts after the red flag flew following a Mika Abrams and Kent Swart in a race won by another uptown visitor Troy Snyman.

Ian Joubert and a delighted maiden race 2 winner Luan Mostert shared the karting kindergaden Cadet race wins ahead of an improving Rayan Karriem, Matthew Smit and a troubled Eric Norman, while on the other side of the age spectrum, Mario Ras made no mistakes as he won all three Cape Clubmans races from veteran Johan Hamman and Andre Steenkamp, with Michael Jordan and Robert Peche tied for fourth ahead of Harry Georgiou.

The Killarney Kart Track now remains closed for the two weeks leading up to the 11 August third round South African Rotax Max Challenge championship, when all of the country’s top karters head to the Cape for what promises to be an epic karting weekend. Regional karting will return to Killarney two weeks after that on 25 August.

ENDS

Issued on behalf of WPMC Kart Club

What:Western Province Karting Round 5 report
Where:Killarney Kart Track, Cape Town
When:Saturday 28 July 2018
Community:Cape Town, Western Province.

For further information please contact secretary@wpmckarting.co.za

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