MAX CHALLENGE FRONT RUNNERS GET THEIR MOJOS WORKING
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Smooth driving and keeping a clean nose paid off for the major contenders in the third National Championship Round of the 2010 SA Rotax Max Challenge, held in Port Elizabeth over the weekend.
The track surface of the tight Celso Scribante kart circuit near Walmer was described as “a cheese grater” especially by those who battled to get their chassis set-up spot on. The race weekend was also the toughest test yet for the Mojo tyres used for the first time this season in the SARMC, with all competitors being limited to just one set for both qualifying and the four-race program in all classes. But the Mojos came through with flying colors, although looking after them proved to be critical in making them deliver grip all the way through to the Finals on the Saturday.
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Sean Frost
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A man who knows all about the smooth-flowing approach is Sean Frost. The Birel driver topped the fastest class in South African karting, the DD2 twin-speed gearbox class by taking two wins and two third places ahead of fellow Birel driver Ian Young. The fastest driver of all was CRG’s Marc Murray, who ran away and hid in the first pre-final. But loose hub-bolts saw him pit from the lead and from then it was catch up for Murray, although he came through from the back to win the second pre-final and the final and place third for the day.
Frost’s win was his first in DD2, while Eugene Britz finished fourth to score the highest place to date for an Intrepid chassis. CRG’s Nic Verheul, a contender for the title this year, battled to hit “the sweet spot” in set-up and battled with no grip all weekend.
In DD2 Masters, Gary Marais and John van Wyk fought tooth and nail for supremacy, with Van Wyk falling foul of traffic in the second Final, thus handing the overall victory to Marais. The other major contender for Masters honors, George dos Ramos, ran foul of mechanical problems all weekend.
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Gary Marais
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The Max Challenge class, the most potent of the non-gearbox Rotax classes, was a resounding victory for Caleb Williams in a CRG. “Caleb had his race-face on this weekend,” said one competitor, nothing that with four-straight wins in the pre-finals and finals, he has staked his claim for the overall title when the fourth and final round of the nationals is held at Zwartkops in October.
Ryan Frost kept cool to place second, ahead of Luca Canderle, while there was a stirring battle all weekend between Sebastian Mafuna (Birel) and his brother Shau in a CRG. Sebastian ended up fourth for the day, ahead of Jarryd Evans and previous championship round winner Aidan de Nobrega, who like many others battled to find the right set-up in PE.
Junior Max Challenge saw a dominant performance from Birel’s Kelvin van der Linde, ahead of Matthew Swanepoel, who lacked the pace of his previous two Nationals. Luke Herring placed third ahead of Chad Maciver, Shayer Harpal and Aston Hare, another favorite who was off the pace. A similar fate befell Raoul Hyman, who was quick in qualifying but didn’t deliver the race results.
Mini Max saw the second van der Linde command performance in PE, with young
Sheldon van der Linde staying out of trouble to head up the points table, despite not being the ultimate quickest in this National Championship class. Drivers who looked to be in for a win were Aedan van Vuuren, who suffered from poor starts, but picked up one Final win and Eugene Denyssen who battled with set-up. Marco Busi placed fourth after a few mid-race tangles.
The increasingly-popular Maxterino class, a South African Challenge series for pre-teen karters, saw some great racing, particularly between the Bam brothers from Cape Town, Kohen and Henry. Henry Bam took the win in all four races, with Chadley Swartz a fine second, and usual front-runner Clinton Bezuidenhout having to be content with third, ahead of Henry Bam. The final Maxterino race of the day saw just three-tenths of a second separate the first three drivers across the line! These were Kohen Bam, Chadley Swartz and Henry Bam.
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