Sharonlea-based motorsports racer Michael Kernick made a memorable impact at the recent Historic Formula Vee class hosted by the Historic Single Seaters Association South Africa.

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He raced in the same class alongside his father Alan, who was in the Rally Wax Tasman 88, and his brother Steven in the Mistral 1984 Formula Vee. Michael was driving the Capital, his grandfather’s car, and shared a track with the famous Basil Mann in his 1970 Alexis Formula Ford.

Mann is a highly accomplished racing driver from the 1980s; he was the most successful South African racing driver for many years. He raced overseas in the Formula Ford 2000 class and won many championships and races.

In the qualifying, Michael managed to get second in class and missed out on pole by 0.1 of a second to Tony Beecher. He said that he was happy with the results and that it was unexpected.

“I expected to start last as the Capital had some issues before the weekend,” he said. “I managed to get a really good lap in, and I thought that was a good lap, but then I lost brake pedal pressure, so every lap after that was slower as I was managing the brakes. So, I am happy with second place.”

His brother finished fourth, and Alan got sixth place; unfortunately, his car had issues. They spent Friday night attending to it.

After a very early Saturday morning, race 1 came around, and Michael had a fine start, dropping behind Beecher. They had a close battle for position side by side through various corners. Unfortunately, due to an incident at turn four, the race was red-flagged. After the restart, Michael won the race by four seconds.

Reflecting on race 1, Michael said, “I was really happy with that; it just worked out so well. My dad and Steven continued their battle and finished 5th and 7th in class, respectively.”

In race 2, Michael managed to get a good start and got ahead and from then on, he was able to open a small gap and maintain it for the race. After another long battle with Tony, he managed to clinch a victory by two seconds.

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Unfortunately, Steven and Alan ended their races with two laps left. Michael said that it was a decent weekend of racing.
“It was good from my side with the wins. I was so happy to win in my grandfather’s car, the oldest car in the whole field. It was such a privilege to be involved with Basil Mann.”

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