Summarize

Race drivers will tell you that racing in the wet is the great equaliser, that a slippery track negates often hard to beat equipment advantages and that a talented driver will always show up well when the rain falls. Saturday’s cold, wet and changeable conditions at Killarney’s sixth-round Western Province Karting Championship certainly did serve to shake things up a little as a few unexpected drivers turned up fighting in front as the rain fell and the chilly wind blew out of the north-west.   

Jurie Swart starred in the challenging conditions as he took a trio of premier DD2 race wins, dicing teammate Jason Coetzee in the opening race before Dino Stermin joined in the scrap in race 2, but Swart then drove to dominant final race win to take the day from Coetzee and Stermin. Masters driver Jacques De Bruyn made a thoroughly impressive return to karting taking third overall in the wet opening heat en route to fourth for the day and the Masters win over madala rival Roy Gruer, Jarryd Evans, third placed Master Gary Lennon and a struggling Jonathan Thomas.

Pole man Jason Coetzee ultimately took an easy open class Senior Max overall win, but he was made to work by Andrew Rackstraw, who drove to a fine wet race 1 win, passing Coetzee for the lead on lap 3 and making off into the distance. Coetzee bounced back to score a pair of lights to flags wins in drier conditions as he beat Rackstraw to overall honours, while Tristan De Nobrega held Harry Georgiou off for third ahead of Reece Oellermann, Andrew Thomas and Ziyaad Ibrahim.

Pole lad Troy Dolinschek scored a couple of dominant opening under-15 Junior Max race wins over the usually dominant Joseph Oelz in the wet after. Pole man Charl Visser hit trouble on the opening lap of race 2 to drop back, but he made amends with a powerful win over Tate Bishop in the drier final to take second for the day behind Dolinchek, with Bishop third from Oelz, who seemed to be clutching for his usual pace in fourth overall, ahead of Kai van Zijl, Sibo Solomon, newcomer Mikaeel Moolla, Luca Wehrli and Tristan Galp.

Kyle Visser dominated the first and third under-13 Mini Max races, but he inherited the second race win after Joaquin de Oliveira led from lights to flag only to lose the win to a 5-place jump start penalty. Third placed Mikhail Fernandez similarly lost third to a jumped start in that heat, leaving Visser to take the day at a canter from de Oliveira and Fernandez, with Jason MacBeath fourth from brothers Kyle and Andre Le Riche.

Jason MacBeath made best of a hard-fought under-13 Mini Rok dice to take the day from pole man Lucas Royston, who dropped down the order early in race 1 before fighting back to third behind MacBeath and Kyle Visser. MacBeath beat Visser and Royston to race 2,, before Royston took the final from MacBeath and Visser to secure second for the day ahead of Visser, Mikhail Fernandez, Paul Malcolm and Joshua Smit.

Reza Levy may have enjoyed a clean sweep to beat impressive karting lass Mischa Williams to under-11 Mini Max victory, but each race was hard fought after Reese Koorzen lost his race 1 win to a 5-place jumped start penalty and then lost second in race 2 to a technical infringement before finally salvaging third in the final. Ethan Stier came back from a race 1 retirement to take a couple of seconds as he diced with Levy throughout the final to claim third overall from Ethan Lennon, Ethan Deacon, Joshua Smit and Julian Booysen.

Luan Mostert was another driver to shine in the challenging conditions as he bounced back from a difficult first under-8 Bambino race to win the second and third races and take the day on a win count-back over pole man and a fraught race 1 winner Ian Joubert. Eric Norman scored a second and a couple of third places to stand on the third podium step ahead of Rayan Karriem and Matthew Smit.