At least four new South African karting champions will be crowned at the fourth round of the SA National Karting Championships at the iDube Kart Circuit in the rolling hills of the KZN Midlands this Saturday.
iDube sees the Vortex Rok and IAME X30 championships come to a head in their respective SA season finales, while the Rotax Max classes fight out their third rounds at the same meeting.
THE SCHEDULE
The iDube action starts with practice Wednesday and Thursday before qualifying midday Friday, followed by the first heats mid-afternoon. The second and third races go down on Saturday with at least five champions to be crowned before the day is done.
HOW TO GET THERE
The iDube circuit is situated on the R103 close to Off-ramp 61 near Camperdown on the N3 heading toward Pietermaritzburg in KZN. This undulating, challenging and dramatic kart track makes for one of the favourite races in SA Karting, so if you're in the area, don't miss the action…
NATIONAL TITLE UP FOR GRABS
The focus will no doubt be on Rok and X30 this weekend and perhaps even more so on the six-speed X30 shifter class, which was only last week upgraded to full national championship from its expected national challenge prominence following an MSA decree. All of which means that this tight championship fight has shot up in significance with a surprise national title now up for grabs.
And that X30 championship chase could not be closer or more exciting with karting prodigy, Pretoria lad Nathan Parkins (RKT Kosmic) and the similarly-mounted PE-based triple SA Production Car champion Michael Stephen split by just three points at the head of the table to set up a title shootout of note.
Their Cape based teammate Luke Herring is a further 15 points adrift and a similar distance ahead of Jozi duo, former GP3 racer Roman de Beer and Keagan Masters with Cape trio Julian van der Watt, Kohen Bam and Aston Hare all within a ten point spread. May the best man win!
VORTEX JUNIOR ROK
Things are a little more clear cut in the high school age 125cc Vortex Junior Rok, where Bloemfontein lightie Stuart White (RKT Kosmic) holds a 26-point advantage over his RKT Kosmic team-mates, Cape Town kid Jason Coetzee and Sandton lad Jordan North with the likes of Joshua Dias, Luke Hill and Luca Munaretto all well in the running having missed a round and not needing to drop three races - something that the lads up front and Stuart's sister, Andrea White will have to keep well in mind as the weekend progresses…
SUPER ROK
The Super Rok class in not a national championship this year and PE driver Chassen Bright (Zanardi) may seem to have all but wrapped that national challenge up. Don't let that deceive you though, as Keagan Masters (Performance Masters FA) has no points to drop having not raced the first round and seems set to sneak to an unexpected title, while Keagan Blackensee is another driver who could emerge as a title contender out of the blue, with Bryn High, Jason Smith and Luke Hill also in the running.
ROTAX MAX
Although not likely, among the Rotax Max champions could also be crowned on the weekend, but with most of those classes being so closely fought out and their final rounds a month later at Zwartkops, those champions' tickets to the Max world finals will likely only be booked then.
The closest Rotax fight is the hugely competitive 125cc high school Junior Max, where Vereeneging teenager Joshua Dias (Selepe Bearings Birel) holds a slender four-point advantage over Cape Town duo Dino Stermin (Designer Trims Kosmic) and Delano Fowler (Suprocom Tony) with Benoni lad Delon Thompson (A&L Birel) a further five points adrift. But never ignore Cape Junior trio Jason Coetzee (Kosmic), Sebastian Boyd (Kosmic) and Giordano Lupini (AutoWeek CRG), Jozi lad Dillon van Heerden or KZN home trio Daniel Duminy, Dominic Lincoln and Clinton Bezuidenhout in particular, who needs not drop any more races this year when the rest will.
MAX CHALLENGE
Moving up to the open class Max Challenge 125cc class it's a far more straightforward state of affairs with Cape Town charger Jonathan Aberdein in a comfortable 29-point championship lead in his TonyKart over KZN home duo Richard Upton (CRG and Robert Whiting (TonyKart) and Ivana Cetinich (Birel next up. There however remain a few dark horses in Challenge with the luckless but super-quick Fabienne Lanz, Luca Canderle and Jordan Sherratt all there to be reckoned with and regulars Tylan Swartbooi, Shannon Jackson and Juandre Swanson racking up vital points every race.