What Astron Energy Polo Cup Round 5 Report
Where East London Grand Prix Circuit
When Saturday 19 July 2025
Community South Africa National
Brad came, saw, and conquered at dramatic East London
Former champion Bradley Liebenberg made a triumphant return to the Astron Energy Polo Cup when he won the only race at a dramatic Extreme Festival powered by Coca-Cola off pole position on Saturday. It was also a good day for championship leader Mo Karodia, who consolidated his advantage with second from VW Rookie Judd Bertholdt. He bounced back to third on a day he will not soon forget. Astron Energy Polo Masters champion Wayne Masters meanwhile laid a hand on a back to back title with another over-50s win.
2019 champion Liebenberg and his Sparco Polo turned the Astron Energy Polo Cup pecking order on its head when he stole pole position from log leader Karodia’s Fast 5 Motorsport LTR machine. Volkswagen Rookie Cup champion Judd Berthold continued his impressive form in third alongside the equally inspiring Tyler Robinson in her AF Fans Team Red version. Title challengers Rory Atkinson’s Industry Petroleum and Ethan Coetzee’s ECR LTR Polo rounded off the top six.
Bradley Liebenberg then maintained his momentum over Karodia and Bertholdt in Superpole, as Atkinson found a little extra speed to pip Robinson and Coetzee to line up in that order. Behind them, big brother Bjorn Bertholdt’s Sizani Polo started seventh from Durban Dubcorp lad Dhivyen Naidoo, Charl Smalberger’s Sabertek car and Dainfern Dental doctor Hannes Scheepers in tenth.
Shiren Rajpaul followed from Nirav Singh’s Kyalami Exhausts car, CPS man Bevin Masters, Team Red duo Roshaan Goodman and Milan Emslie and FSS International driver Pierluigi Muzzulini. Qualifying on their own, Habot man John Kruger edged championship leader Wayne Masters’ Performance Masters car for the Astron Energy Polo Masters pole position ahead of Derick Smalberger’s Sabertek car, PABAR man Mike Barbaglia and Elio Muzzulini’s FSS machine.
The skies opened overnight before heavy morning rain delayed the start of the opening race. With streams still flowing over the track and a literal dam across from the pits, the experienced Liebenberg made no mistake to move ahead on his comeback Astron Energy Polo Cup return. But there was drama behind as the Bertholdt brothers tangled in the pack leaving Judd stranded in that dam and Bjorn digging himself out of the mud. The red flags stopped the race as the whole field except Rajpaul lined up a while later.
Liebenberg made another great getaway to move ahead despite Karodia’s best efforts down to Copabana. Karodia tucked in behind Liebenberg and harried him all the way to the flag with a growing gap behind them to the recovered Judd Bertholdt. He did a fine job to hold Atkinson, Robinson, Coetzee, Scheepers and Smalberger off in their delightful fight for third. Naidoo beat Goodman to tenth ahead of Bjorn Bertholdt, Bevin Masters, Emslie Pierluigi Muzzulini and Singh.
Wayne Masters beat Derick Smalberger to another Astron Energy Masters victory ahead of Kruger, who was later docked ten seconds for a jumped start. That allowed Barbaglia up to third from Elio Muzzulini.
With light fading fast, Brad Liebenberg jumped Mo Karodia to lead the way from a fast starting Ethan Coetzee, but two sizeable crashes in quick succession for title challengers Rory Atkinson and Tyler Robertson saw the second race red flagged and then abandoned as darkness fell.
The upshot is that while comeback kid Bradley Liebenberg won the only race of the day off pole position, Mo Karodia’s second ahead of Astron Energy Polo Cup title rivals Judd Bertholdt in third and Rory Atkinson fourth, allowed Mo to extend his advantage. Wayne Masters meantime marches on to his eponymous second Masters title on the trot.
Astron Energy Polo Cup now takes a winter break before heading to its penultimate next round of the national Extreme Festival powered by Coca-Cola at the Killarney International Raceway in Cape Town on Saturday 13 September.
*Volkswagen Motorsport salutes its Polo Cup partners, naming rights sponsor Astron Energy, Dunlop, Pabar and Ferodo.
Issued on behalf of Volkswagen Motorsport
MSA Publishes media releases from a host of different sources on our website as a service to the sport. It is not practically possible to vet/approve every release that is published. Some news items and articles are written by correspondents and do not necessarily represent MSA’s views.