Regional action promises National karting spectacle
What Rotax Max Challenge South African Championship Preview
Where iDube Kart Raceway, Camperdown, KZN
When Saturday 4 March 2023
Community South Africa National
Three spectacular regional season openers over the past three weeks have laid the gauntlet down to what promises to be yet another stunning season of MSA South African National Rotax Max Challenge karting, starting at iDube in KZN this Saturday 4 March.
Drivers from around the country head to the KZN Midlands kart track to embark on campaigns focussed towards winning the national championship in their class. The various Motorsport South Africa RMC champions also earn a seat in the national team for the annual ‘Olympics of Karting’ RMC International Grand Finals in December. If the various regional races over the past three weeks are anything to go by, the action will be extreme.
Rotax Max’s premier DD2 direct drive gearbox class is for drivers of 15 years and older. This one should be epic considering the regional pace of Cape kids Joseph Oelz, Jason Coetzee and SA champion Sebastian Boyd. They face Gauteng crew Nikki Vostanis, Wayland Wyman, Dusan Radojevic and Kian Grottis. DD2 Masters is for drivers 32 years and older. Jozi men Kyle Lawrence and Llewellyn Sutherland, Conor Hughes from the Cape and others will have their work cut out to beat KZN local hero Jonathan Pieterse and his compatriots at home.
The next four classes all race 125 cc water cooled 2-stroke engines with chain drive and rear axle braking. Senior Max races full sized chassis, where Cape kids once again appear to be the ones to beat. SA champion Charl Visser, Ethan Stier and Matthew Wadeley are ready to take on Gauteng’s finest including Junior champion KC Ensor-Smith, Olerato Sekudu and Ethan Bostander. All of them must however first beat KZN’s local flyer Troy Snyman.
High school Junior Max is for drivers younger than 15 on similar chassis to Senior. That’s where upcountry lads, Wian Boshoff, Kent Swartz, Jonno Wilson Amani Kinyua, and racing lasses Georgia Lenaerts and Gianna Pascoal, must deal with Cape gang Reese Koorzen, Jordon Wadeley, William Marshall, Matthew Chiwara, Ethan Deacon and Keagan Beaumont. Local chargers Jonno Wilson and Travis Mingay will be out to defend KZN home honour.
Expect a huge field in the ever-popular Mini Max for kids between 9 and 13 racing junior chassis. Local lad Kyle Spies showed great pace in the recent KZN regional and he should start as favourite. However, never overlook SA champion Caleb Odendaal, Spice Mailula, Kegan Martin, quick karting girl Emma Dowling and the rest of the Jozi gang. Or Cape brothers Aiden and Keagan Beaumont, and local kids Sebastian Geldenhuys and Troy Pieterse, among others.
Micro Max is for kids between seven and eleven racing on Junior chassis. SA champion Rafael Da Silva leads a strong Gauteng attack including Kayde Cornofsky, Johan Nolte, Matthew Shuttleworth, Cristian Verheul, Logan Billau and Raf De Souza to iDube. But there’s just as strong a gang heading up from the Cape, including the on form Michael Danks, Aiden Beaumont, Liam Wharton, Kiyaan Reddi, Michael O’Mahoney, Carter Cedras and Jayden van der Merwe. And will SA Bambino champion Noah Cronje arrive to race Micro at iDube?
Talking of Bambino, the kindergarten of motor racing caters for kids between 5 and 9 years old racing 50 cc Comer powered baby karts. This north versus south affair will see Gauteng kids Luhan De Wet, Adriaan Steyn, Ronald Venter, Caleb Rogers and Sebastien Shuttleworth, among others, taking on Cape lighties the likes of Michael O’Mahoney, Radhi Harris, Jacques Lewis, Caleb Lingeveldt, Slater Smith and Jake Steyn.
The Saturday 4 March iDube opener is the first of four RMC Nationals. It will be followed by Formula K in Benoni 29 April, at Killarney in Cape Town 1 July and Zwartkops, Pretoria on 26 August 2023. Drivers’ 10 best of 13 national results, plus a percentage of four designated results out of their eight regional races, comprise their national score. There’s one last chance for drivers to qualify for the ‘Olympics of Karting’ Grand Finals in December, at the wildcard RMC African Open Zwartkops on 1 October.
Issued on behalf of Rotax Max Challenge
Photography by: Andre Laubsher
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