South African top karters ready to race as lockdown eases
The South African Rotax Max Karting Challenge is raring to race once again following its second lockdown laps in two seasons. Club racing already re-starts this coming weekend before the various regional series picks up again through August and then a revised national calendar will resume in September.
“Rotax WOMZA karting is up and running again!” Rotax Max Challenge South Africa chief Ed Murray confirmed. “We start with a few Club races over the coming weeks, before the various Regional championships resume and then it’s into our Rotax Max Nationals culminating with our blockbuster Final and the African Open weekend early in October. “It’s been a tricky job to get our calendar to fit in with the remainder of the SA national racing championships and we’d like to thank our friends at Rok karting for working with us to make it all happen.”
The action commences with a club meet at Port Elizabeth’s Celso Scribante Kart Raceway this Saturday 31 July. National championship Masters leader and multiple SA racing champion Michael Stephen is the man to beat in Rotax DD2 there, where Byron Teengs and James Moore will be in hot pursuit. Lincoln Randall and Tyler Stephen will fight it out in Mini Max; Joshua and Jack Moore take Caleb Moss on in Micro Max and another EP national championship leader, Jack Moore will take on Bambino rivals Arabelle Krause and Dylan Bezuidenhout.
The action moves to Pretoria 7 August for a Zwartkops RKC Club meet. Brandon and Jamie Smith and Nicolas Spanoyannis will be the men to beat in top class DD2, and Nicholas Verheul and Eugene Brittz in Masters. Kian Grottis and Olerato Sekudu are the top Senior Max guns. National leader Muhammad Wally takes Jayden Goosen, KC Ensor Smith and Moosa Kajee on in Gauteng high school Junior Max and Wian Boshoff, and Caleb Odendaal resume under-13 Mini Max battle. Spice Mailula continues his under-11 Micro Max spat with Mattao Mason and Matthew Shuttleworth and Maddox Mason should be up front in the baby Bambinos.
KZN Regional then returns at iDube near ‘Maritzburg on 15 August, where a strong upcountry contingent should turn out for that pre-national. Visitors will have their hands full with Robert Whiting and his Masters rivals, Jonathan Pieterse and Alistair Mingay in DD2. Riley Horner and Jack Rowe will defend local Senior Max and Troy Snyman and Corban Spies Junior honour. Travis Mingay and Dylan Watkins are KZN’s top Mini kids, Harry Rowe and Kyle Spies its Micro Max front runners and Troy Pieterse and Kayden Pistauer the top Zuliland Bambino babies.
The focus then shifts to Killarney for the delayed next Cape Rotax Max Regional round on 21 August. Joseph Oelz will pick up his epic WP DD2 battle with national championship leader Sebastian Boyd and Jason Coetzee, while Conor Hughes, Andrew Thomas and Jared Jordan lead the Masters charge. Another National leader Tate Bishop, Andrew Rackstraw and Storm Lanfear will duke it out in Senior Max, and Reza Levy and Matthew Wadeley in Junior. Joaquin de Oliveira and Sabelo Ntuli fight it out in WP Mini Max, brothers Keagan and Aiden Beaumont take on Dale Hobbs in Micro Max and Siyabonga Ntuli, Michael Danks and Liam Wharton will do Bambino battle.
Then the action really gets hot when all of the above come together as South African National Championship Rotax WOMZA karting picks up with round 3 at iDube on Saturday 4 September. The fourth and final round follows in a special double header at Pretoria’s Zwartkops International Raceway a month later. That weekend will comprise the National Final on Saturday 2 October and the continental Rotax Max African Open on Sunday 3 October.
That weekend will also set the South African team to take on the best Rotax Max karters from around the world as the champions and runners up in each class gather for the ‘Olympics of Karting’ Rotax Max Grand Finals in Bahrain from 3 to 11 December 2021. Bring it on!