Kelvin van der Linde in line for two national karting titles
author: Andries van der Walt
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A picture by Motorpics.co.za
Kelvin van der Linde
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Former Mini Max national karting champion Kelvin van der Linde (Vanderlinde Developments Birel) faces two consecutive weekends of national championship kart racing that could see him add two more titles to the one he won in 2008 at the age of 12.
The 14-year-old third generation Van der Linde South African motor sport champion (following grandfather Hennie, father Shaun and uncle Etienne) travels to Vereeniging’s Bridgestone Adrenaline Raceway this weekend for the final three races in the Engen SA Karting Championship lying third in the Junior Rok class. The following weekend, at Zwartkops Raceway near Pretoria, he will be attempting to win his second Rotax Max karting title, this time in the Junior Max class where he currently lies second, just 1,3 points behind the leader.
Despite scoring more points than his closest rivals in the three Rok rounds and nine races held so far, he trails championship leader Matthew Swanepoel by just four points and Raoul Hyman by a single point thanks to the requirement that drivers drop their two worst scores of the season. Van der Linde’s two worst scores are a fifth and a sixth, while Swanepoel’s are a 12th and a 19th and Hyman’s are an 11th and a 16th. Van der LInde, the form driver this season, has yet to finish lower than seventh.
Between them the three youngsters have won six of the previous nine races. Swanepoel leads the title chase with 221 points after deduction of his two worst scores, followed by Hyman with 218 points and Van der Linde with 217. Also in with a chance of talking the title are fourth-placed Chad Maciver (211 points), Jordan Pepper (205) and Mitchel Licen (202).
“The winner is going to be the driver who puts together three good race results. I’ve been the most consistent so far this season and I’m going to have to do it again, but this time score more points than my rivals, preferably with wins,” said Van der Linde.
Younger brother Sheldon, 11, will make his Rok debut in the recently introduced Mini Rok challenge class, which does not score points. He will be giving the new Birel Mini Rok chassis its first outing. Sheldon will also be in action the following weekend, attempting to win his second karting title, in the Mini Max class, after his 2008 championship win in the GP Junior class when he was only nine.
The two Van der Linde brothers made history in 2008 when they each won their first national championship to make it three generations of champions in the Van der Linde family. They will be doing their best to repeat the feat over the next two weekends.
Shaun van der Linde won five titles in Formula GTi, touring cars and production cars between 1992 and 2004, brother Etienne is a former single seater star, who won national championships in karting, Formula Vee and Formula GTi in South Africa between 1994 and 1995 and in Formula Opel Euroseries in Europe (1998), while family patriarch Hennie won three national saloon car championships in 1984, 1985 and 1986.
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