MAX Champions Crowned, SA Team Set

2021 South African Kart Championships season comes to a sensational climax.

The South African Kart Championships crowned their South African and African Open Champions in spectacular style at the Zwartkops International Kart Raceway over the weekend past. A record entry of over 200 karts across the two days and an electric atmosphere at the Zwartkops International Kart Track made for some of the best kart racing seen in SA in a long while.

Saturday’s SA Kart Championships Final was backed up by Sunday’s RTX African Open as visitors from Namibia, Mozambique and Angola added international flavour to the continent’s biggest karting event. The weekend also set the South African National Team to fly the flag at the 2021 ‘Olympics of Karting’, the Rotax Max Grand Finals at the Bahrain International Karting Circuit, 11-18 December.

Joseph Oelz, Nicholas Verheul, Tate Bishop, Troy Snyman, Wian Boshoff, Reagile ‘Spice’ Mailula and Maddox Mason were crowned South African Champions in spectacular style on Saturday. Bradley Liebenberg, Eugene Brittz, Kian Grottis, Muhammad Wally, Joaquin de Oliveira, Keagan Martin and Mason won Sunday’s Rotax African Open races. That will see Oelz, runner up Sebastian Boyd and Liebenberg racing for SA in DD2, Verheul in DD2 Masters, and Bishop and Grottis in Senior Max.

The South African Junior Rotax Max Grand Finals team will comprise of Junior Max duo Snyman and Wally, Boshoff and de Oliveira in Mini and Mailula in Micro Max. African Open DD2 Masters winner Eugene Brittz and Kegan Martin in Micro Max as well as Bambino runner up Shuttleworth meanwhile earned a ticket to support the team at the Bahrain Grand Finals.

In Saturday’s National action, Cape BirelART driver Joseph Oelz wrapped up a comfortable premier Gearbox class DD2 title over similarly mounted compatriot Sebastian Boyd and Gauteng lad Brandon Smith on a Ricciardo kart in dramatic style. Oelz conceded the first race win to Boyd on a nose cone penalty, before both were excluded on technicalities. So Smith won from wildcards, former multiple DD2 champion Bradley Liebenberg and SA W Series star Tasmin Pepper.

Liebenberg then led most of the second race, only to falter on the last lap and hand Smith another win from Pepper, Bloem wildcard Justin Allison, Liebenberg and Oelz. Oelz then went on to dominate the third and fourth races from Boyd both times as Smith and Liebenberg shared out the seconds. So Smith took the day from Liebenberg, Pepper, Whiting and Allison.

Local CRG hero Nicholas Verheul made no mistakes as he steamed to four over-32 DD2 Masters wins out of four to narrowly steal that title from KZN driver Jonathan Pieterse and Eugene Brittz. Pieterse edged Intrepid man Brittz, who scored three seconds, and retired once. Shane Foley and Cape lad Andrew Thomas’ CRG were next up. Verheul took the Masters title by four points from Pieterse with Brittz third.

Another Cape lad, Tate Bishop steered his Kosmic to victory and the title in Senior Max. Bishop had easy wins in the opening and third races but had to fight off Kian Grottis and Riley Horner in race 2. Horner then beat Bishop and Charl Visser in the final. Bishop took the day from Grottis and KZN’s Shrien Naidoo as Horner faded. Bishop ultimately took an easy third national title from a most impressive Grottis, who only started karting last year, and Horner.

KZN Exprit Kart star Troy Snyman won two of the day’s races enroute to narrowly clinch a dramatic under-15 high school Junior Max title. Gauteng lad Jayden Goosen won the day, despite not winning a race. Jozi wildcard KC Ensor-Smith took the hard-fought opener from Goosen and Snyman, who beat Goosen to heat 2. But only after first home Muhammad Wally was docked 5 seconds on a nose cone penalty and Ensor-Smith took a 10 second penalty.

Wally made no mistakes to take the third heat from Goosen after Snyman took his turn at a 10-second penalty and Wally then came home first in the final. But a 5 second nose cone penalty saw him drop to fourth behind Ensor-Smith, Snyman and Goosen. This was enough to see Snyman sneak through to take the title by all of two points from Wally, with Goosen a close third.

Gauteng CRG driver Wian Boshoff dominated Saturday’s under-13 Mini Max races to clinch the title with nine wins out of the ten races that count to the title. It could have been ten out of ten, had Boshoff not incurred a startline penalty in race 2 to hand that win to compatriot Kent Swartz’s Parolin. Third in the title chase, Swartz was second on the day from second in the championship, Cape kid Joaquin de Oliveira’s Parolin, followed by Jordon Wadeley, Erich Heystek and Travis Mingay.

Gauteng Tony Kart lad Rafael da Silva won four hard races but just missed out on the under-11 Micro Max crown. Praga mounted compatriot Spice Mailula did just enough to hold on to the title despite a tough day at the office. Maliula and da Silva both won six races through the season. Cape kid Keagan Beaumont’s Parolin was second on the day enroute to the title third as Kegan Martin, Mattao Mason, Harry Rowe and Durelle Goodman rounded off the Zwartkops Micro top six.

Gauteng duo Maddox Mason and Matthew Shuttleworth tied for the Bambino win as each won two and ended second in the other two baby Bambino races. So Mason held on to take the title by all of four points. Mason dominated the second and fourth races as Shuttleworth overcame Mason and Jack Moore to take last lap race 2 win race long duel. Moore was third on the day from Santiago Frade, Brodi Dowling and Logan Billau, en route to third in the title.

With the South African championships provisionally settled but subject to WOMSA ratification, attention turned to Sunday’s winner takes all African Open races, where Liebenberg claimed that DD2 ticket, Eugene Brittz picked up the Masters win and relative novice Kian Grottis stunned a star studded field to the Senior Max win. Muhammad Wally took the Junior open, Joaquin de Oliveira Mini Max and Keagan Martin upset in Micro Max, while Maddox Mason took the Bambino win.

“Vanessa Wood and the RKC team put on a great event and professional contingent of officials ensured fair play and maintained a firm but friendly atmosphere over another epic Rotax Max weekend,” Series organiser Jennifer Verheul concluded: “Despite the usual allegations, several in depth technical checks revealed a clean bill of health to ensure that fairness is always the name of the Rotax Max game!”

Rotax Max regionals continue at Killarney in the Cape and at iDube in KZN this coming weekend to help those who have qualified to focus on their preparations for the ‘Olympics of Karting’ Grand Finals in Bahrain 11-18 December.