Summarize

Saturday 21 June may well be the shortest day of 2025, but that won’t prevent it from being the biggest thrill of the season when the midyear Extreme Festival presented by Coca-Cola goes down at Zwartkops. Highlighted by the beginning of a South African single seater era with three new Investchem MSA4 races on the day, there’s a game of catch up going on in the South African Touring Cars and can anyone stop the runaway leaders in SATC SupaCup and Astron Energy Polo Cup? It’s uber close-in the Volkswagen Rookie Cup, but can short, sharp Zwartkops shake up the SunBet ZX10 Masters and Gazoo Toyota Cup classes?

Perhaps the biggest news at Zwartkops this weekend is the start of a new era for South African single seater racing. A pack of new safer, stronger, more contemporary, and more advanced turbo VW-powered proudly, made in South Africa Investchem MSA4 machines take to the track in anger for the first time. How that pans out is anyone’s guess. Watch for old Formula 1600 rivals KC Ensor-Smith, Karabo Malemela, Alex Vos, Shrien Naidoo, Ewan Holtzhausen, Renzo Ribeiro, and Mikel Bezuidenhout. Or will newcomers, Adriaan Nel, Kian Spies, Simphiwe Mohlahlo or lady racers Hannah Lee Daniel and Anastasia Gerasis surprise?

There’s a game of catch-up going down in the South African Touring Cars. Neither championship leader, veteran Michael van Rooyen and his Toyota Corolla, nor rookie Jagger Robertson have won a race so far this season. But late starters, Keegan Campos’ BMW 128tc and another Toyota Corolla lad, Saood Variawa have shared out the last four race wins between them as they whittle away at their title deficit. Expect Julian van der Watt’s VW Golf GTI, Andrew Schofield’s BMW 128tc and two more Toyota late starters, Nathi Msimanga, and rookie Siyabonga Mankonkwana to be right in there too. 

Cape kid Tate Bishop has checked out and buzzed off in the lead of the SATC SupaCup chase with five wins to one over champion Jonathan Mogotsi’s similar VW SuperPolo. Charl Visser remains a significant factor ahead of a battle of the rookies between Nicolaos Vostanis and Dawie van der Merwe’s solo Toyota SupaStarlet, Polo Cup champion Jason Loosemore, Muhammad Wally, Zimbabwean lad Dylan Pragji and racing lass Karah Hill all in the mix.

Mo Karodia may well be the man to beat at Zwartkops in Astron Energy Polo Cup, but all his rivals also know their way around there very well too. So expect teammate Ethan Coetzee, Rory Atkinson, racing lass Tyler Robinson, Durban lad Shiren Rajpaul and Rookie Cup champion Judd Bertholdt to all be on point at Big Z. Hannes Scheepers, Charl Smalberger, Roshaan Goodman, rookie Dhivyen Naidoo and Kyle Visser are also all capable of an upset. Wayne Masters is ahead in the Astron Energy Polo Masters but he has John Kruger, Derick Smalberger, Mike Barbaglia, and the rest chasing him down. 

The Extreme Supercars driven by Dunlop also make a return at Zwartkops where Bradley Liebenberg has been the form guy in the recent past in his Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO. Rest assured that young gun Ryan Naicker and his Mercedes-AMG GT3, veterans like  Jonathan du Toit’s Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO and Charl Arangies’ Porsche 911 GT3 R will be out to get him. Also watch for Damian Hammond’s Lamborghini Super Trofeo, Kris Budnik’s Dodge Viper and Audi R8 LMS GT3 duo Paul Hill and Marius Jackson. Or will Marius be out in his new Porsche? Time will tell.

It's super-close in the Volkswagen Rookie Cup, where sophomore Uzair Khan leads the way with the likes of Christopher Tait, Josh Moore, Luke Hill, Mauro Da Luz, and Giovanni Fiorotto snapping at his heels. But it’s been one way traffic in the SunBet ZX10 Masters motorcycles where champion Clinton Seller even seems to win with one hand tied behind his back. Damion Purificati, Graeme van Breda, Jayson Lamb, David Enticott and the rest will do their best to stop him. It's also all about beating Nabil Abdool in the GR Yaris Media Cup, Jason Coetzee in the GR86 Rookie Cup and Mario de Sousa in the Corolla Dealer Cup.

So, the shortest day of the year will also be among the busiest at Zwartkops Raceway come Saturday 21 June with a full national race program set to race from the latest sunrise to the earliest sunset of 2025. Catch the action live on streaming via the various Extreme Festival powered by Coca-Cola social media platforms. Better still, see you at Zwartkops!