Pietermaritzburg - South Africa has four new Karting Champions following a dramatic weekend's action at a hot and steamy iDube Raceway near Pietermaritzburg.
Altan Bouw stole a dramatic last heat Vortex Mini Rok title, Stuart White emerged an easy Junior Rok champion, Chassen Bright took back-to-back Super Rok championships and Nathan Parkins won the inaugural SA IAME X30 shifter title.
The weekend also saw the third round of the Rotax Max championship with those four classes now set for an equally dramatic finale at Zwartkops end-September
SURPRISE OF THE DAY
Perhaps the biggest upset of the day saw Johannesburg lad Altan Bow (Bat Zanardi) score a second and two vital primary school age Mini Rok 60cc wins to draw even on points with reigning champion JP Hamman (RKT Kosmic) from Worcester and steal the title by virtue of having one more win through the year.
It was a bruising day in Mini Rok with fraught action throughout as Bouw stole both his wins on the last laps of the second and third heats to take the day from PE lightie Joshua Coertze, Jayden Els and Hamman and see Bouw take the title from Hamman, Els and Visser.
Stepping up a class to high school 125cc Junior Rok, all Bloemfontein lad Stuart White (RKT Kosmic) had to do to take the title was maintain a watching brief. And that's precisely what he did as teammate Jason Coetzee drove to a pair of wins and Johannesburg driver Luca Munaretto (FA) took the third heat. That saw to Coetzee taking the day from White, Jordan North and Munaretto as White clinched the title from Coetzee, North and Stuart's sister, Andrea White.
BRIGHT LEADS AGAIN
Not even a most difficult weekend and an overall win for principal rival Keagan Masters (Performance Masters FA) could keep PE driver Chassen Bright (Zanardi) from a back-to-back open class 125cc Super Rok title. Bright won the first race but kart trouble saw him end fifth in race 2 while Masters beat him to race 3 to take the day with Bright second from Keagan Blackensee (Performance Masters TonyKart), Jason Smith, Bryn High and Henry Bam, as Bright took that title from Masters, Smith and High.
Bouw, White and Bright's titles see each driver into the Vortex Rok World Finals to fly the SA flag high in Lonato, Italy end-October.
NO STOPPING PARKINS
There was nothing stopping Pretoria's Nathan Parkins (RKT Kosmic) from taking the inaugural South African IAME X30 shifter kart title as he stormed to a trio of victories to take the day from Cape Town kid Kohen Bam (SAKRA FA), Keagan Masters (Performance Masters FA), multiple SA Production Car champion Michael Stephen and Ewan Taylor, who scrapped for the lower podium steps all weekend as Parkins drove away. That saw Parkins to a dominant title from Stephen and Cape lad Luke Herring and book Parkins his place in the IAME World Finals later in the year.
With the Rotax titles all still on the line, Cape Town's Jonathan Aberdein once again stole the Max headlines to consolidate his championship leads in both DD2 and Max Challenge.
It was a more difficult job for Aberdein (Tony Kart) in the monster 28-kart DD2 gearbox races with a fraught finale won by Bradley Liebenberg (Birel) who crashed out of race 2 only bringing seventh after fight back through the field following. Aberdein had finished second behind local KZN hero Benjamin Habig (Tony) in race 1, but that was enough for him to take the day from local lad Mitchell Licen (Intrepid), Eugene Brittz, Jurie Swart and Masters class winner Cristiano Morgado (TonyKart), with Kashen Naicker sixth.
MAX CHALLENGE
Max Challenge was an easier win for Aberdein (TonyKart) and despite having to fight back to third in the opening race behind local hero Jordan Sherratt (Birel) and the lovely Fabienne Lanz (Formula K) from Johannesburg, following an early incident, Jonathan trotted off to two solid wins to cement the day from Sherratt, Lanz, Luca Canderle, Robert Whiting and another SA karting heroine, Ivana Cetinich.
Benoni lad Delon Thompson (Birel) made no mistake as he consolidated his high school 125cc Junior Max title charge with three race wins, but not without a fight from Cape Town lad Dino Stermin (Kosmic) each time. Jason Coetzee (Kosmic) was third from local kid Dominic Lincoln, Delano Fowler and Daniel Duminy.
Another heroic drive from a local saw Tristan Losch (Craftsmen Flandria) score a surprise Maxterino win with a solid third, a second and a win in the three heats, to edge out Cape Town kid Charl Visser (Topkart) and Jozi's Cameron O'Conner Kwanda Mokoena, Joseph Oelz and Saood Variawa were next up in a bruising primary school 60cc affair.
SO WHAT'S NEXT?
With the Rok and X30 titles decided and all those champions booked for their respective World Final berths, all eyes now shift to Zwartkops end September to see which of the Max drivers wrap up their titles to fly the flag in those World Finals.