Summarize

It was a day of karting surprises both at Zwartkops and Killarney’s regional championship Rotax Max kart racing meetings. The respective Gauteng and Western Cape rounds however delivered more surprise results than form book outcomes to stir up several of the class championship chases in both regions.

 

Starting with the direct-drive 2-speed DD2 action in Gauteng, Wayland Wyman enjoyed an impressive return to form to deliver the first upset at Zwartkops. He overcame opening race winner Nick Verheul two races to 1 to take the day with Nicolas Spanoyannis third from final race second man Ian Allnutt, Eugene Brittz and last race winner, Brandon Smith. Divan Braak was next up as Verheul took Masters from Brittz, Erwin Sterne Philippe Chapat and Tinahe Ncube. 

 

Jason Coetzee was in fine fettle as he also took advantage of first race winner Joseph Oelz and third man, SA champion Sebastian Boyd’s contretemps to win the second and third heats to likewise return to Cape DD2 form and take the day. Behind them a delighted Andrew Thomas took his maiden DD2 Masters win from Conor Hughes, Jared Jordan, Marco Viegas and Ernst Viljoen. An impressive 27 DD2s took to the track in both centres over the weekend.

 

There was another turn-up for the books in the upcountry Senior Max races when Tyrone Sterne beat Kian Grottis two races to one with Olerato Sekudu nicking second in the final. Kyle Pienaar was fourth from Andrew Hill and Roshaan Goodman. SA champion Tate Bishop made short work of the Cape Senior races with a triple win over Formula 1600 leader Andrew Rackstraw, Kyle Le Riche and returning duo Tristan de Nobrega and GTC star Julian vd Watt.

 

Under-15 high school Junior Max was all about SA champion Muhammad Wally at Zwartkops. He romped to an easy three heat victory over recent national sensation Jayden Goosen, Karabo Malemela, Nicolaos Vostanis, Moosa Kajee and Ricardo Tebbutt. Reza Levy meanwhile sped to Cape Junior honours ahead of Matthew Wadeley, Jaden Jacobs, Joshua Smit, Oliver Roach and Joaquin de Oliveira.

 

Wian Boshoff was untroubled en route to a triple under-13 Mini Max victory at Zwartkops over Erich Heystek and Caleb Odendaal, with Kent Swartz next up from Tjaden Tromp, Kutlwano Malumane, Keon Ramaphakela and Amani Kinyua. Boshoff’s national arch rival Joaquin de Oliveira was likewise in imperious form at Killarney where he left Joshua Smit and Jordon Wadeley to fight it out for third ahead of Oliver Roach, Sabelo Ntuli and Jude Stuart.

 

Another surprise was Rafael da Silva’s dominant Gauteng under-11 Micro Max win over regular frontrunners, Spice Mailula, Kegan Martin and Mattao Mason, with Johan Nolte next up from Cristian Verheul, Emma Rose Dowling and Ruald Hartzenberg. Down in the Cape, it was the Beaumont brothers up front as Keagan took the opening two races and Aiden, who set a new lap record, the final from third lad for the day, Dale Hobbs. Matthew Chiwara was fourth from Matthew Roach and Liam Koekemoer.

 

A splendid field of 15 baby Bambino karts saw Matthew Shuttleworth come from mid pack to win a frantic opening heat over Maddox Mason. Mason and Shuttleworth then enjoyed a brilliant scrap in race 2 before Mason came from behind to beat Shuttleworth in the final to take the day by winning those second and three heats. Logan Billau took third from Shayaan Mohamed, Kayde Cornofsky, Rafael De Sousa, Tyron Kinghorn, Santi Frade, Noah Cronje and Diego Antunes.

 

In the Cape Bambinos, Michael Danks took the day with a two race to one victory over Siyabonga Ntuli, with Liam Wharton next up from Ruan Lewis, Zac Boshoff and Aiden Beaumont.    

 

In other action at Zwartkops, Deon Auby took FK Shifters honours from Rob Bakewell,  Andreas Kyriacou, Marius Swanepoel, Jaco Nel and David Hollis. Avinesh Francis beat Kearn Francis, opening and final race winner Robert Fulton, Chad Francis, Michael Hawcroft and Kurt Schultz in Clubmans. And it was a family affair as Andre le Riche took Cape Clubmans honours over Sean le Riche, Guy and Storm Lanfear, Marco Viegas and Kyle le Riche.

 

Next up on the Rotax Max Challenge calendar is a KZN regional at iDube in two weeks time with the next Gauteng races on 5 June and the following Cape round a week after.