Summarize

Killarney delivers stunning karting action

A typically blistering Cape February day chilled very slightly by a gentle south easter breeze played host to the opening round of the WP regional karting championship on Saturday, where the action can only be described as hotter than the searing conditions…

Luke Herring (RKT Kosmic) delivered a karting master class to win the brilliant Senior Max class overall, with two classic wins in the opening races as he beat a surprised class debutant Andrew Rackstraw (CRG) to second. Andrew kept his nose clean through a fraught second race to come home second as race 3 winner Umpie Swart (EMR CRG), Jason Coetzee (RKT Kosmic) and Dino Stermin clashed in last corner.

That saw to Coetzee ending third overall from Swart, Reece Oellermann and champion Stermin, who endured a torrid day after nabbing second in the first race, before being eliminated in that race 2 fracas and impressively having to control his throttle by hand after the cable snapped early in the finale.

Umpie Swart(EMR CRG) however made no mistakes as he drove to a triple victory in the DD2 class over Julian van der Watt (Zanardi), who raced with Jonathan Thomas’ borrowed spare engine, to take a couple of seconds and a third and seal second overall ahead of Andrew Rackstraw (Kosmic), who impressed again in his debut in this class.

Tristan de Nobrega (RDSA CRG) and Jonathan Thomas (Partners Hair CRG) were next up, both of whom had torrid race days, although Thomas managed a second in race 2, while Ernst Viljoen (CRG) took Masters honours on his karting return in fifth ahead of Christopher Vrettos and Fernando Rueda.

WP Junior Max champion Jason Coetzee (RKT Kosmic) was another to make no mistakes as he trotted home to a trio of wins over Sebastian Boyd (Boyd Boss Freight RKT Kosmic) to open his 2017 high school title chase in fine style.

The impressive Simon Simpson-Heath (S-H QS/SAKRA Kosmic) overcame fellow class debutant Charl Visser (Charl Electrical Engineering Kosmic) to take third by a single point, when he beat Charl to second in the finale after Boyd’s chain snapped. Tyler Croy was fifth from Gabi Lanfear, Dario Busi who endured a very difficult day and Jade Lanfear.

Joseph Oelz (Kosmic) beat Tate Bishop (TPB Kosmic) two races to one to take under-13 Mini Max honours, with Kai Van Zyl (SAKRA Kosmic) third from
Sibo Solomon, Thaqib Meyer, Andre Le Riche and Luke Oellerman.

Tate Bishop (TPB Kosmic) drove three splendid races to dispose of Troy Dolinschek (RKT Kosmic) en route to under-12 Maxterino 60cc honours, with Denis Joubert – son of Deon and grandson of his namesake – making a huge impression en route to third overall and best of the SAKRA class kids on the day.

Dolinschek and Kyle Visser (Charl Electrical Engineering Kosmic) clashed on the last corner of the finale to drop Visser to fourth ahead of SAKRA driver Dylan Snell, Jason MacBeath. SAKRA quartet; Lucas Royston, Paul Malcolm, Mikhail Fernandez and Luca Wehrli were next up – the new SAKRA class sees competing karts running standard specification engines drawn from a hat each meeting.

There were three different winners in under-11 Mini Max as Reza Levy (Jive/Levy Racing CRG), Julius Schwager (Kosmic) and Valentino Hoffman (GP Energy FA Kart) took turns at winning, but Levy emerged on top to take his first overall win in his short karting career from Schweiger, Joaquin De Oliveira (ESA Zanardi) and Hoffman, with karting lass Mischa Williams fifth.

Reese Koorzen took a dominant three-win overall victory in the under-8 Cadets, but he had to work for the final win after Joshua Smit fought back after hitting trouble in the first heat to end second for the day from Ethan Deacon and rookies Luan Mostert and Eric Norman.

Kian van der Merwe drove to a trio of wins to take Clubman honours from Jody Van Rensburg, who took two seconds and a third to beat Terry Watt, Kyle Poulter and Andrew Thomas, who was second in the finale. Charles Matthewson and Wayne Abegglen rounded out the top six.

The Cape karters will be back in action at Killarney for the second round of the WPMC championship Saturday 11 March.


ENDS

Issued on behalf of WPMC Kart Club

What:WP Karting Round 1 Report
Where:Killarney Kart Track
When:11 February 2017
Community:

For further information please contact secretary@wpmckarting.co.za

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