Huge entry proves popularity of karting series

This huge entry should be no surprise, as the winners in the four Rotax Max classes each earn an entry into the Rotax Max Grand Finals in Portugal in November. This is the most closely-fought karting series in the world with close to 300 drivers from 60 countries competing, and all of them are top-class drivers as they are champions from their various countries.

No less than 23 DD2 gearbox karts took to the track in the country’s premier karting class, while the Maxterino primary school class for drivers aged between eight and 13, had 22 entries. And notable through most of the events, was the number of different winners in the 16 races that all counted towards championship points.

Maxterino
This class for drivers aged between eight and 13 years old has produced the best racing of the season in the series, and the final round at Zwartkops was no exception. It is not unusual to see the lead change a number of times per lap on every lap, and the race on September 26 again provided plenty of thrills without the spills.

In the final item of the day the championship fight came down to Cameron O’Connor of Gauteng and Aidan Strydom of Cape Town. In the end, O’Connor finished just 1,2 seconds ahead of Strydom in that final race to take the title by just one and a half points. Cape Town’s Charl Visser ended up winning the day’s racing ahead of O’Connor, Strydom and Jayden Els, who won two of the four races, with the very quick Kwanda Mokoena fifth and the equally talented Jospeh Oelz sixth.

Junior Max
A strong field of 17 entries saw the racing frenetic in this class for drivers aged 12 to 16 years old. And in Race One it seemed to go all wrong for Cape Town’s Dino Stermin as he was punted out, not once, but twice to DNF in the first race. This looked to put Delon Thompson in pole position to take the title, and two second places at Zwartkops seemed to wrap things up for him. However, a poor finish in eighth place in the final saw Thompson just pipped to the title, as Stermin finished the day with two convincing race wins. The day’s racing saw Jason Coetzee, another very strong competitor from Cape Town, run out the winner on points garnered ahead of Thompson, new champion Stermin, Joshua Dias, Blaine Rademeyer and Daniel Duminy.

Senior Max
The biggest news going into the fourth and final round at Zwartkops was that Cape Town’s Jonathan Aberdein, who had previously led both the Senior Max and DD2 championship, was concentrating solely on the Senior Max title. This proved to be a wise decision as Jonathan, dominated Senior Max, winning all four races.

Thus Aberdein’s first National title was well deserved, and he will be a worthy competitor for South Africa at the Grand Finals in southern Portugal in November.

DD2 Gearbox
With 23 entries, the field for the DD2 event was most impressive, and made more so as there were some wild-card entries in the form of past Euro-Cup champion Arnold Neveling from Vereeniging and Nathan Parkins, a champion from the X30 series.

With championship leader Aberdein withdrawing from the title race, the way was left clear for Bradley Liebenberg from Lonehill to score his second DD2 title (he won the 2014 championship) ahead of past champion Eugene Brittz, who found himself leading the title chase after Aberdein’s withdrawal.

Super-cool Arnold Neveling won the day’s racing with three wins out of four, with Liebenberg fighting all the way, swapping the lead with Neveling and winning race three.

DD2 Masters
In the DD2 Masters category, with drivers aged 32 years old and older competing alongside their younger (and lighter) rivals in the DD2 class, Ronnie Baptista from Potchefstroom won the 2015 title and his first berth in the Grand Finals. The man he beat to the championship was Cristiano Morgado, a multiple SA and World DD2 Masters champion, who was looking good for yet another championship but fell out of the final race at Zwartkops.