Summarize

Jayden Els may just be 12 years old and competing against much older kids in the high school Junior Max karting class, but that does not at all faze South Africa’s Mini Max world champion. Jayden was however frustrated in spite of a strong haul of points aboard his Electro Thread Tony Kart at Monday’s first round SA National Karting Championship races at Vereeniging.

“I am quite young to be racing in Junior Max, but that does not worry me - I’m quite up to it,” Jayden admitted. “We are however facing a challenge by my being so small on the full-sized kart — especially when the track rubbers up and it gets so sticky like it was on Monday, but that’s just something we need to work through to find the best set-up.

“We are carrying quite a bit of ballast and that’s making it difficult to find the best balance in the kart, we are pretty close to the front pace - about half a second. “That’s still five-tenths too much and we are on a mission to turn it around. “I am growing quickly too, so we will find our way soon and then they will have something to think about up front!” 

Fighting talk, but from a world champion that’s a fair warning of things to come…