Summarize

A crisp Pretoria mid-winter’s morning greeted the Zwartkops Raceway as Gauteng’s karters gathered for a cracking day’s Northern Regions Championship races on Saturday, where several drivers progressed their title aspirations with a full house of wins on the day.

Three-time South African DD2 champion and Mini GTC racer Bradley Liebenberg made no mistakes as he trotted to triple victory to wrap up the gearbox class for the day from Bloemfontein lad Justin Allison, who took second on a count-back to third places over Brandon Smith. Ivana Cetinich ended fourth ahead of a quick but troubled Cameron O’Connor and Dayne Van Rensburg. Andrea Furci took DD2 Masters honours two-races-to-one over Pascal Acquaah, with Philippe Chapat third.

Scott Falconer likewise took a triple victory en route to old school 125 GP honours over Richard Fuller and Jimmy Auby, who shared second and third places in the races too. Miguel Dias beat Kurt Bakewell and Clint Jones to fourth, while Rob Bakewell took the second and third Vets races to clinch overall honours over Laurance Jones, Mike Venske and race 1 winner Mauro Munari. Trent Williams took the Superkart overall win after race 1 and 2 winner, Connor Rogers hit trouble, but salvaged second from Dylan Seely.

Joshua Dias kept his nose clean to take power valve-equipped 125cc open class Senior Max honours with a couple of second places and a final win after race 1 and 2 winner and second-placed man overall Cameron O’Connor hit trouble in the final. East London lass Shannon Jackson ended up on the podium in third ahead of the ever-improving Oliver Gunner, Tiago Rebelo and regular frontrunner Daniel Duminy, who struggled with power in the races.

South Africa’s 2016 Mini Max world champion Jayden Els delivered an emphatic maiden high school Junior Max victory by taking all three wins on the day over karting lass Cameron Dias, who took two second places to one to secure the second step of that podium over Wayland Wyman. Zachary Dufty was fourth from Kwanda Mokoena and Shrien Naidoo in that quick, full-cream 125cc class.

In the primary school classes, Leyton Fourie was another driver to score a clean sweep of heat wins to secure under-13 Mini Max honours over Daniel de Paiva and Jarrod Waberski, who shared out the second and third places in the heats in the power-restricted water-cooled 125cc class. Ethan Coetzee beat Aqil Alibhai and Alessio Angelucci to fourth. 

Jarrod Waberski defeated Leyton Fourie two races to one to score overall victory in the rival under-13 Mini Rok, which uses a 60cc air-cooled engine. Daniele Patrizi ended third overall, while Nikolas Roos, Ethan Coetzee and Elam Modiba delivered an entertaining dice through the day en route to fourth, fifth and sixth places.

Aqil Alibhai was another driver to go unbeaten on his way to under-12 Maxterino victory, leaving Jordan Brooks and Joshua de Paiva to share out second places in the 60cc air-cooled class. Muhammad Wally, Bjorn Bertholdt and Josh Le Roux fought hard to resolve fourth, fifth and sixth positions overall, in that order.

Muhammad Wally was another driver to take a dominant victory by winning all three of his races in Micro Max, which caters for under-11 year old kids driving restricted-power water-cooled 125cc machines. Mandla Mlangeni was second in two of the races to edge out Joshua de Paiva who was runner up in the middle heat, while Jayden Goosen, Mohammed Moerat and Dhivyen Naidoo fought it out for fourth fifth and sixth.

Wian Boshoff broke Luke Hill’s recent run of under-8 year old 50cc Cadet wins, when he beat his rival two races to one to take to stand on top of the kindergarten karting class podium for the day. Anthon Lombard ended up third from Rayn Asmal, Tshepang Shisinwana and Mzwandile Mjodi.

Karting returns to Zwartkops for the third round of the SA Rok Cup and MSA Academy races this coming 10 June weekend, with the next round of the Northern Regions championship happening in Vereeniging 5 August, a month after the 8 July iDube, KZN National championship round.

Open DD2: 1: Bradley Liebenberg, 2: Justin Allison, 3: Brandon Smith. DD2 Masters: Andrea Furci

Open Senior Max: 1, Joshua Dias, 2: Cameron O’Connor, 3: Shannon Jackson

Open 125 GP: 1: Scott Falconer, 2: Richard Fuller, 3: Jimmy Auby. Vets: Rob Bakewell

Open Superkarts: 1: Trent Williams, 2: Connor Rogers, 3: Dylan Seely

U-15 Junior Max: 1: Jayden Els, 2: Cameron Dias, 3: Wayland Wyman

U-13 Mini Max: Leyton Fourie, 2: Daniel de Paiva, 3: Jarrod Waberski

U-13 Mini Rok: Jarrod Waberski, 2: Leyton Fourie, 3: Daniele Patrizi

U-12 Maxterino: 1: Aqil Alibhai, 2: Jordan Brooks, 3: Joshua de Paiva

U-11 Micro Max: 1 Muhammad Wally, 2: Mandla Mlangeni, 3: Joshua de Paiva

U-8 Cadet: 1: Wian Boshoff, 2: Luke Hill, 3: Anthon Lombard