5 new champs crowned in Rotax final

Published Oct 8, 2012

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The Zwartkops International Kart Raceway on Saturday 6 October saw the final round of the 2012 South African Rotax Max Challenge being held.

The racing was tense and highly competitive and when the last ultra-reliable Rotax karting engine had been switched off, four new Rotax Champions had their names in the record books, as well as a new champion in the pre-teen Maxterino class.

Adding spice to the event was internationally acclaimed karting commentator Ken Walker.

The ultra-fair rules of the Rotax Max Challenge take into account a number of regional races held throughout the year, as well as four national championship rounds held in the Western Province, the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu Natal and Gauteng. The points system also allows drivers to drop their four least-flattering results in the Nationals, so right up until the final race at Zwartkops, many of the championships were still in doubt.

TAKING ON THE WORLD

Top of mind as far as the Rotax championship contenders were concerned was winning a place in the 13th Rotax Grand Finals, effectively the World Championship of the Rotax Karting Series, which is the most competitive karting series in the world. To date over 80 000 Rotax karting engines have been sold world-wide.

For the four-day event, run this year in Portimao in the Algarve, Portugal from November 28 to December 1, some 276 drivers will take part. To qualify, drivers have to win championships in their national series, or win in a number of regional series held throughout the world.

This year drivers from over 60 countries will take part in this series, which to date has seen South African drivers win 10 World Championship titles, since the series was inaugurated in 1999.

DD2 GEARBOX

This class is the fastest Rotax class and also one of the most competitive, with close to 40 drivers contesting the championship this season.

At Zwartkops in the final round there was a huge fight between Nick Verheul from Gauteng, Luca Canderle from KZN, Justin Allison from the Free State and Eugene Britz from Gauteng.

Canderle ended up winning three of the four races on Saturday and finishing second in the other, to put his seal on a remarkable 2012 that also saw him win the African Open Championship in KZN in August. He beat out Verheul to the overall title, with Britz, last year’s champion, third and Allison fourth.

As Canderle’s place in Portugal 2012 is already confirmed, he is allowed by the rules to seed his place to the second driver in the national championship. Thus Nick Verheul will be representing South Africa in Portugal too.

DD2 MASTERS

In this class for drivers aged 32 year and older, Cris Morgado from Durban is the reigning World Champion. He made sure of his place in the team to defend his 2011 title by winning this year’s African Open event in KZN in August, and he followed this up with a fine win at Zwartkops which won him the National title too.

John van Wyk was second in the Masters category, and as Morgado’s place in the grand Finals is already secure, Van Wyk will represent South Africa in Portugal.

SENIOR MAX

This is the quickest of the non-gearbox karting classes in the Rotax series, and all year long the man to beat has been Gauteng’s Chad MacIver. However, following an indifferent run at the African Open in August at the infamous Idube circuit in the Natal Midlands, he has been under lots of pressure from KZN’s super professional Mathew Swanepoel.

Swanepoel gave it his best shot at Zwartkops on October 6, , winning three out of the four races. However, he was a bit too desperate in one or two of his late-braking passing manoeuvres, raising the eyebrows of the officials, and in the second race a tangle saw him drop to the back of the field, and effectively end his chances of a championship this year.

David Perel of Western province was third on the day, and ended third in the overall championship.

Thus MacIver, who last won a national title as a pre-teen junior, will take his place in the Grand Finals 2013, representing his country. He will be joined in the Senior Max class by Mitchell Licen, who won the African Open on his home track at Idube in August.

JUNIOR MAX

This class, for drivers aged between 13 and 16 years, has produced some wonderfully close racing this season, and initially it looked as though young Keagan Masters from Gauteng would sew up the championship.

However, a couple of tangles in two of the races in Round Four saw him lose vital points and end up a disappointing eighth for the day, and just missing out on the title. He is still a youngster in this class and definitely a talent for the future.

As it turned out, the consistent SA Kart Racing Academy driver Eugene Denyssen from the Western Province managed to win a race and stay out of trouble in the other three Zwartkops rounds to clinch the title.

This smooth-driving Capetonian will join African Open winner Bradley Liebenberg in Portugal in late November. Gauteng’s Liebenberg was arguably the class of the field at Zwartkops in Round Four, putting together fine two race wins, although he struck trouble in the final race.

MAXTERINO

The Maxterino Class for drivers between eight and 13 attracted 36 entrants this season, the class enjoying full National Championship status. The 2012 series has been dominated by KZN’s Clinton Bezuidenhout this year, and the young driver in fact chose to miss the final round as he was competing overseas.

He nevertheless won the championship with an amazingly dominant score sheet that saw him record no less than 11 wins in the 12 National Championship races counting towards the title.

At Zwartkops, it initially looked as if Gauteng’s Dillon van Vuuren would dominate, but in fact he was made to work very hard for his overall victory on the day, which saw him end in second place in the 2012 series. Chayse Augustus from the KZN was third, followed by young WP driver Aidan Strydom, the diminutive girl driver Neha Harpal from Gauteng, and Shane Vosloo.

The 2012 Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals to be held at the Kartodromo International do Algarve from November 28 to December 1, is a unique event in world motorsport, in that it is the only event where the organisers provide brand new engines and chassis absolutely free to competitors!

Not only this, but participants also get free tyres, fuel, a complete set of tools and a kart trolley to enable them to compete on an equal basis when they arrive at the Grand Finals. All they have to do is pack their helmets, and buy a plane ticket!

This tradition has been upheld since the amazingly successful Rotax series was first held in late 1999, when it carried the title of the 2 000 Rotax Max Challenge World Championship in Peurto Rico.

Famously, that inaugural event was won by a South African, Gavin Cronje, the first of 10 Grand Final titles to go to South Africans since then. Amongst the better known Rotax World Champions who have made their mark in competition since then are Mark Cronje and Leeroy Poulter, widely regarded as our two most talented rally drivers in SA at present.

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