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Durbanville, Cape kart star Charl Visser is the 2019 South African Rotax Senior Max champion after an utterly dominant performance at the Rotax Max Challenge Finals at Zwartkops in Pretoria over the weekend. Younger brother and reigning SA Mini Max champion Kyle meanwhile emerged the top rookie in fourth in the Junior Max title chase on Saturday.

Charl adds the Senior title to his 2018 Junior Max championship to see him return to the Rotax Max Grand Final to represent South Africa in Italy in October. “We had a perfect weekend at Zwartkops,” Charl admitted. “We set the kart up for race pace, so I only qualified fourth, but I was ahead by lap 3 of the first race and except for a couple of laps at the beginning of the final. 

“I led every other lap of the four races over the weekend and not many people have won back-to-back Junior and Senior Max titles, so I am proud of those achievements and now I can concentrate on the upcoming Grand Finals and one or two other international races this season. “Thanks to my dad and Ricky Perdigao for all the effort and to the team for another great season!”

Kyle qualified third for the Junior Max opening race before dicing hard to second. He then led most of race 2 until the last lap, where a reshuffle saw him end fourth and then bided his time to end third in race 3, only to lose a place to a 5-second penalty after his nose cone was dislodged and then he ended seventh after a race long battle in the final to earn him third overall and fourth and best rookie in the championship.

“It’s been a learning year in Junior Max and now we are ready to chase for the championship in 2020,” Kyle promised. “The last time I was best rookie, we followed that up with the title the following year so bring it on — Charl can’t be the only Junior Max champion in the family! “I have to thank our special team for all the effort — especially our mechanics Zefrey and Bigshow for all the work — it’s been a very good year!”