Local racer pulled on a great show at Zwartkops Raceway

Sharonlea-based racer Michael Kernick pulled off miracles in his first-ever Zwartkops Raceway Top of the Hill event, in his Tasman 95 Formula Vee (FV).

The day began with an open practice in the morning. Followed by the 10 slowest cars from practice being sent out for three qualifying runs, until all the competitors had qualified. The process was then repeated for the class finals, with practice and then qualifying, after which the 10 cars with the fastest times of the day competed in the Top of the Hill final.

Kernick explained that they went there with the Tasman 95 FV thinking they definitely wouldn’t end up in the top 10, due to cars with bigger engines having been entered, but they thought they’d simply give it the best go they could.

After the three practice runs, they ended up being the sixth fastest overall out of 33 cars. Among them were the V8s, turbo cars, and Porsches, which was not what they expected with the 1400cc golf engine.

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“It was qualifying next, and I managed seventh overall, but having improved my time. We were happy; it was great to be so high up overall. The aim was to do the best we [could] in the class finals. We looked at which cars we were against, and we didn’t think we could get into the final, due to the bigger engine cars going faster as the track warmed up.”
In the class shootout, Kernick was in the single-seater class. On the first run, he did a decent lap, but on the last run, he messed up one corner by trying too hard.

He explained that he came back to the pits disappointed. “I got out of the car and said to my dad and my girlfriend, ‘Sorry, I messed up’, but they told me I had gone the quickest I had done all day by 1.5 seconds. Then we were really happy and laughed about how I thought I messed up. Turned out I was seventh fastest of all the classes.”

The improved time also gave him third place in the single-seater class.

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“We really couldn’t believe we were in the top 10 final. This was far beyond our expectations for the day.”

In the Top of the Hilltop 10 shootout, it was only the 10 fastest cars/times of the whole day, and they were only getting one run for glory.

“When the flag dropped, I went for it. I had a good start and a good first turn, but then I messed up two corners in the run and threw time away, so, I returned to the pits gutted and frustrated with myself. We estimated a 6th place.”

In the end, Kernick finished the shootout in fourth place overall, with a 1400cc car.

“We were overjoyed with this result. This is like a win for us. If you said we would end up there, in the whole Top of the Hill event, none of us would’ve believed it.”

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