Summarize

If the national kart acton between local karters was anything to go by two weeks back, Saturday 25 August’s Killarney regional karting action promises to be just as intense when the sixth round of the Western Province Karting Championships goes down with the focus fully on a number of critical title battles in most classes.  

That starts in the fastest direct-drive open-age Rotax DD2 gearbox class, where a close tussle is going down between teammates Umpie Swart and Jason Coetzee and just 11 points between them.  Jonathan Thomas, Sebastian Boyd and Jarryd Evans are close behind too and it remains to be seen if  Dino Stermin, who also starred at the SAs will make a wildcard appearance to stir things up. Gary Lennon and Roy Gruer are in a close over-31 Masters fight with Ernst Viljoen and Connor Hughes ready to run interference too.

There’s an even closer fight in the top chain drive open class WP Senior Max title chase, where Jason Coetzee is once again a major factor, with six points still separating him and Andrew Rackstraw. They maintain a fair advantage over the rest, but Reece Oellerman, Storm Lanfear and Andrew Thomas are enjoying a tight title fight for third and karting lass Jade Lanfear is in close attendance too. 

Joseph Oelz holds a 25-point under-15 high school WP Junior Max championship lead, but his national battle with Troy Dolinschek will see the duo the centre of attraction at Killarney. Kai van Zijl, Tate Bishop, Simon Simpson-Heath and Sibo Solomon are fighting it out for third, while Luca Wehrli, Tristan Galp and Storm Lanfear will all be factors and SA championship leader Charl Visser may not be a title factor at home, but he’s out to upset the WP applecart, considering his national form.

Not only did under-13 Mini Max championship leader Kyle Visser consolidate his title lead last time out, but his dominant national pace must be ominous to rivals the likes of Mikhail Fernandez and Joaquin de Oliveira, while Denis Joubert has been another major factor since switching to the class recently. Also watch brothers Andre and Kyle le Riche, Lucas Royston and Luke Oellerman among this primary school wrought.

Kyle Visser also finds himself in a comfortable under-13 Mini Rok championship lead over Lucas Royston and Jason MacBeath, while Joaquin de Oliveira, Mischa Williams and Joshua Smit are in close attendance there.

Reese Koorzen and Reza Levy will continue their WP under-11 Micro Max championship fight, while Joshua Smit, Ethan Stier, Paul Malcolm and Mischa Williams are involved in a huge spat for third and Ethan Deacon, Conner Rensburg, Ethan Lennon and Julian Booysen are all keeping them all honest too. That’s another one clearly well worth watching.

Ian Joubert opened up a handy title advantage over Eric Norman in Killarney’s under-8-year old Bambino class last time out, which was recently rebranded from Cadets to align it better with the same class overseas. Luan Mostert is close behind them in third place with Rayan Karriem, Matthew Smit and Aaron Gallietti also in mix in Cape Town’s the creche of karting mix. 

On the other end of the Cape karting scale, Worcester farmer Johan Hamman is in charge of the WP Clubmans class, where Harry Georgiou, Robert Peche and Andre Steenkamp are his nearest competition, while just three points split brothers Jared and Michael Jordan, with Mario Ras charging back into contentioon behind following a clean sweep of wins last time out after he missed a few races.

Killarney karting certainly is worth a raceday visit - diarise 24 August for a trip to the Kart Track is at the end of the circuit’s southern entrance road off Potsdam Road in Milnerton. Good food is available at the Kart Café in the clubhouse in the pits with entertaining and informative commentary all in a cool atmosphere — see you there!