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Cold and wet conditions at Zwartkops Kart Raceway near Pretoria failed to dampen the on-track action in Round Three of the 2016 Northern Regions Karting Championship on May 14. There was hot action in a number of classes, but rain unfortunately saw some of the categories only being able to run two races instead of the standard three races per category, as the circuit was deemed un-drivable when the rain bucketed down later in the day.  ROTAX DD2 GEARBOX. This top category in South African karting saw Justin Allison build on good results earlier in the season to end up winner for the day, after two wins and a second place. He was pushed hard all the way by Masters-category driver Nicholas Verheul, who won Race Two and followed this up with two fine second places. Another Masters driver, Eugene Gous, was third, followed by an impressive Rachelle du Plessis, while favourite Bradley Liebenberg, the current DD2 National champ, had poor finishes in the first two races but fought his way back to second in the final race and ended up fifth. Rounding out the top six was Jaco Venter. ROTAX DD2 MASTERS. NicVerheul was the un-challenged winner in the DD2 Masters category, for drivers aged 32 and over, followed by Eugene Gous, Philippe Chapat and first-round winner MarouanSelmi, who was having a troubled outing. Pascal Acquaah , who also enjoyed a strong opening round, had to be content with fifth overall for the day. ROTAX JUNIOR MAX. Cameron O’Connor and Blaine Rademeyer fought out the top positions for the day in Junior Max. O’Connor won the first two races and placed second in the third race, with Rademeyer picking up a brace of seconds and a third. Surprise winner in Race three was Tiago Rebelo, who thus ended third for the day. Filling out the top six were Oliver Gunner, Wyman Waylan and Zachary Dufty. ROTAX SENIOR MAX. The Rotax Senior Max Challenge class saw Delon Thompson built on his early season form by scoring two race wins to end up overall winner for the day. Unfortunately the weather saw the final race in this category being cancelled. Thompson was followed home by Joshua Dias, the impressive woman driver Ivana Cetinich, Jason Smith, and two more female drivers, Fabienne Lanz and Shannon Jackson. Lanz’s result was disappointing as she had dominated the opening round here back in February. MAXTERINO. The Maxterino class for drivers aged eight to 13-years-old was another category that only had two races run as the weather closed in. Zaeem Goolam followed his second place in Race One to win Race Two and end up winner for the day. He was followed in second overall by Muhammed Wally, the first race winner, the consistent Mathew Morrell, Joshua de Paiva, JurgenPommersheim and Jordan Brooks. JUNIOR ROK-SENIOR ROK. The combined Junior Rok-Senior Rok race drew a marginal entry with only seven starters in total. Junior Rok was won by Michael Pringle, followed by Kwanda Mokoena and Dylan Seely. Senior Rok saw Keagan Masters winning, followed by Jason Smith, Luke Hill and Jason Hill. Mini Rok. Joshua Coertze has been enjoying an excellent season in Mini Rok and followed up his recent National Championship second-round success in Port Elizabeth with a win and two second places at this regional championship round at Zwartkops, to finish as top scorer . The other race wins were shared by Jayden Els, who finished second for the day, and Danielle Patrizi, who finished third. Leyton Fourie, Cameron Dias and Kwanda Mokoena rounded out the top six. Mokeona, interestingly, competed in three classes at this regional event, the other two being Junior Rok and Maxterino. 125GP. The highly popular 125 GP class for six-speed gearbox-engined karts saw a very strong entry. Miguel Dias and Scott Falconer were again the class of the field, with Dias building on his second place in Race One to win the final two races and ending up winner for the day. First race winner Falconer was second overall, followed by Ryan Cooper, Clint Jones, Laurance Jones and Ian Basson. Laurance Jones won the Masters category in this event, followed by Mauro Munari and Garry Rogers. Cadets. Mohammed Moerat has been dominant in the Cadet class for very young drivers aged five to eight-years-old in 2016 and he made no mistake at Zwartkops in Round Three of the Regional Championship, winning all three races. He was followed home by the impressive Judd Bertholdt, Simile Zamxaka (who was an impressive second in Race Three), Kyle Beukes, MoosaKajee and LuviweMdlalose. |
