Killarney’s Kart Track awoke to perfect, flowery Cape pre-spring’s day for the sixth round of the WP championship, but the racing was far from flowery as it delivered drama, upsets and dominant performances and then some.
South African championship runner-up, Camps Bay lad Sebastian Boyd (Boyd Boss Freight Kosmic) put paid to Cape championship leader Jason Coetzee (RKT Kosmic) from Durbanville’s recent winning streak as Boyd won the the high school Junior Max 125cc class by two to one over Coetzee to take the day. Boyd was slowed by an overheating engine in the first heat but still managed to follow Coetzee home in second place, before clearing off to win the second and third races.
Sebastian’s cause was aided by wild action behind that, which allowed Worcester farm kid JP Hamman (Hammanshof Kosmic) into second from Coetzee in race 2 and from Cape karting’s Banana boy Daniel Duminy (SMG Kosmic) who recovered from a difficult day to take third in race 3. That after Coetzee and Dario Busi (Automan CRG) tangled earlier in the race, all of which saw Boyd take the day from Hamman and Coetzee with Andrew Rackstraw (TonyKart) picking up the pieces to steal fourth from an on form Simon Simpson-Heath and Storm Lanfear.
Coetzee’s championship march was largely unaffected by his travails thanks to his dropping his bad heat points, but Boyd moved back into second over Busi in the chase.
The Max Challenge 125 races likewise produced scintillating action that saw each of the top trio drop a race through the day, but Stellenbosch lad Delano Fowler (Suprocom WOrr FA) bounced back from a race 1 retirement to win both following races and take the day from SA champion and WP championship leader Dino Stermin (Designer Trims RKT Kosmic) by a solitary point. Race 1 winner Umpie Swart (CRG) and Marco Joos (SAKRA Kosmic) shared third overall a short head behind.
The returning Joos was delighted to score a second and a third on the day, while Welgemoed lad Stermin and Swart from Philadelphia were delayed by a race 2 coming together, none of which made very much difference to Stermin’s stranglehold on top of the title table with two meetings left to run.
Jonathan Thomas (Partners Hair CRG) meanwhile consolidated his slender lead over Julian van der Watt (RKT Kosmic) in the DD2 gearbox class as Thomas defeated van der Watt two-to-one over the three races of the day. Tristan de Nobrega (Race Driver SA CRG) took a second, a third and a fourth to place third overall from Chad Daniel and Christopher Vrettos. All of this after the first man over the line in races 1 and 3, Umpie Swart, who was handed a kart to race at the last minute to make up numbers, only to be excluded for the day only when the loan kart was deemed illegal!
Troy Dolinschek (Makita Kosmic) was on top form as he sped to a trio of primary school Maxterino 60cc wins over Cape Town’s other 2016 South African karting champion, Charl Visser (Battery Energy RKT Kosmic). But Visser’s kart was excluded on a technicality and the rest of the results and the championship order remain in abeyance as the result of an appeal. Provisionally Kai Van Zijl (CRG) ended second from Joseph Oelz (Zanardi), Tate Bishop (Kosmic) and Zanardi trio Nicholas Sage (SAKRA), Jason MacBeath and Kyle Visser.
Charl Visser (Zanardi) banished any of that Maxterino disappointment with a dominant performance in the resurgent under-14 Mini Max senior-primary school 125cc class that runs detuned liquid-cooled 125cc engines. Visser won all three races to beat Tate Bishop, who overcame Kai van Zyl two second-places to one to clinch the runner up slot, with Troy Dolinschek, Sibo Solomon and Luke Oellerman next up.
The Vissers’ cup flowed over when kid brother Kyle drove his Zanardi to an equally dominant triple-victory in the new Micro Max class that runs even further detuned 125cc engines for under-10-year old junior primary school kids. Kyle beat Reza Levy to second from Joaquin de Oliveira, Ethan Stier and Mishca Williams.
Joaquin de Oliveira struck back to beat Paul Malcolm (FastOil/Charl Electric) two races to one to snatch the baby WP under-8 Cadet class title lead from Malcolm. Reese Koorzen was third from Reza Levy (Jive), Joshua Smit and Ethan Deacon.
Class A man Jody Van Rensburg drove to a fine trio of Cape Clubmans wins, but second placed Class B pilot Andrew Thomas improved steadily through the day to end up but a tenth of a second adrift in the final race. Marchant Bellingan took Class C honours from Terry Watt, Charles Matthewson and Tristan Reppert
The Cape’s karters now take a mini break until they return to Killarney for the seventh and penultimate round of the Western Province Karting Championship in October.