KILLARNEY WELCOMES AFRICA’S BEST KARTERS

RMC National and Continental Karting in the Cape this weekend

Rotax Karting is all set for the all-important opening round of the RMC South African Kart Championships, and wildcard RMC African Open at Killarney in Cape Town on Saturday 23 March. With karters converging on the Cape from all corners of the country and the African continent, plus incredible action in the regional Rotax races so far, it can only be a case of excellent racing over the weekend.

The Nationals roadshow must continue through KZN and up to Gauteng for its following rounds to decide its respective champions to represent the country at the Italian Grand Finals in October. The second part of the Killarney doubleheader, the 2024 RMC African Open, will hand the winner of those wildcard races a ticket straight into that Neapolitan ‘Olympics of Karting’. So Saturday’s fourth and Final heat is an even bigger deal!

DD2 & DD2 MASTERS – 23 ENTRIES

The action will be explosive from top to tail, starting with the premier direct drive 2-speed DD2s, where home crew, SA champion Sebastian Boyd, Joseph Oelz, Jason Coetzee, Ethan Stier and Matthew Wadeley take on the upcountry best. They include multiple SA DD2 champion Bradley Liebenberg, Nic Vostanis, Olerato Sekudu, Dusan Radojevic and Karabo Malemela. Cape Town DD2 Masters heroes, Jared and Michael Jordan, Conor Hughes and Roy Gruer have KZN hero Jono Pieterse, upcountry raiders Bjorn Roos and Grant Veenstra and Angolan Cristian Bouche to deal with the over-32 class.

SENIOR MAX – 27 ENTRIES

Moving on to Senior Max, which boasts one of the biggest grids seen in the past decade at 27 will see Jozi lot, Kent Swartz, Kian Spies Ethan Bostander, Jonno Wilson and the wily Muhammad Wally have local gang, SA Polo Cup champion Charl Visser, SupaCup racer Tate Bishop, Luca Wehrli, Storm Lanfear, Ethan Deacon and Jude Stuart. KZN firepower comes in the form of F1600 Race winner Shrien Naidoo, Travis Mingay and Shrien’s younger brother Dhivyen Naiddo along with a few skillful African continent drivers to deal with.

JUNIOR MAX – 22 ENTRIES

Junior Max is set to blow fans away with 22 talented entries of its own. It’s Jozi’s Kegan Martin, Georgia Lenaerts, Gianna Pascoal, Emma Dowling, Luke Hill, Spice Mailula, Cristian Verheul and Rafael Da Silva up against Cape stars Keagan Beaumont, Jordon Wadeley, Nick Lennox, Sebastiano Human and James Nash. Add to that a talented bunch of Eastern Cape drivers in Caleb Moss and the Moore brothers, Josh and Jack, and you have the recipe for one epic showdown.

MINI MAX – 25 ENTRIES

Brodi Dowling comes to the Cape with an under-13 Mini Max point to prove alongside 24 other drivers including Gauteng compatriots Ronaldo Koen, who won at the last Killarney regional, Durelle Goodman, Tshepang Shisinwana, Rafael De Sousa, and Callum du Toit. They first need to deal with hometown drivers Michael Danks, Aiden Beaumont and Ruan Lewis and don’t count out the Kaiyamo brothers, Nande and Mandume from Nambia or the travelling Mozambicans, Eduardo Campos and Andre Bettencourt.

MICRO MAX – 16 ENTRIES

Cape Town’s Micro Max crows Liam Wharton, Michael O’Mahoney, Jayden van der Merwe, Slater Smith, Zac Boshoff and Mia Hermanus will have a strong travelling party including Matthew Shuttleworth, Adriaan Steyn, Luke du Toit and Luhan de Wet to keep them busy.

BAMBINO – 10 ENTRIES

Last but not least, the baby Bambinos will see Jozi visitors Sebastian Shuttleworth, Alonzo De Oliveira, Aston Verheul, and Kiaan Pillay out to prove a point against local knowledge. Radhi Harris, Yaqeen Gamieldien, Caleb Lingeveldt and Ebrahim Khalpey will use that to their best advantage!

Most classes also include drivers from Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique, Angola, and other African countries to add to the intrigue. All of which means Killarney is the place to be for explosive Rotax Max International karting action all day Saturday. Failing that, log on to www.kart.co.za for live timing, results and streaming.