Summarize

Rotax Max Challenge heads to iDube

The Rotax Max Challenge karting national championship series is headed for iDube near Camperdown in the KZN Midlands for its crucial third round SA national championship races. Seismic action will be the order of the day as SA’s top karters not only chase those championships, but they also covet the prize seats those titles bring at the end of the year’s Rotax Max Grand Finals in Italy.
 
The action will be fraught across all classes, not least in the premier DD2 gearbox karts, where KZN local Benjamin Habig arrives in a slender title lead over Cape challenger Dino Stermin after each of them won one of the two opening rounds. Vastly experienced Cape trio Sebastian Boyd, Jonathan Thomas and Jason Coetzee will fend off local racers Jordan Sherratt, Robert Whiting and Sharad Bhanto but expect multiple SA champion Brad Liebenberg to fight back too.
 
Things appear a little more settled in the over-30s DD2 Masters, where PE multiple SA racing champion Michael Stephen sits in a comfortable championship lead, but the battle behind him is fraught between PE compatriot Brett Brito, Cape driver Conor Hughes, Jonathan Pieterse, KZN local Alistair Mingay and Ernst Viljoen.
 
It's a matter of experience versus the experience of youth in the open class Senior Max championship chase, where KZN veteran Luca Canderle leads youthful Cape trio, SA Junior Max champion Charl Visser, Kai van Zijl and Simon Simpson-Heath with KZN lad Connor Donovan next up, but do not ignore iDube home hero and PE winner Shrien Naidoo at his home circuit.
 
The new Rotax Max 175 class for older and bigger-boned lads sees KZN driver Jono Pieterse leading the way to his home race ahead of Edenvale lad Nicholas Verheul, with Erwin Sterne and Geoff Stephen next up. Local las Bev van Heerde is lady to watch among the 175s too, as is her husband Richard van Heerde.
 
In schoolboy action, it's all about the Cape in the super-tight under-15 Junior Max championship chase, where Troy Dolinschek leads home rivals Joseph Oelz and Tate Bishop, with Jozi kid Aqil Alibhai next up and only four points splitting the lot of them. Multiple SA primary school champions, Cape kid Kyle Visser and Kwanda Mokoena are next up among this testosterone fired field.
 
Under-13 Mini Max is proving another national championship showdown with Troy Snyman fighting off Muhammad Wally up front and an epic battle for third behind them as Matthew Morrell, Jason MacBeath and Ethan Stier fight it out in the senior primary school class.
 
Under-11 Micro Max is also proving a close-run chase as Cape lads Reza Levy and Reese Koorzen fight it out with KZN home hero Dhivyen Naidoo at the top of that championship table. Gauteng chargers Mohammed Moerat, Luviwe Sambudla and Caleb Cotterell will however be keen to make good at the spectacular hillside iDube track.
 
It’s also super close among the Bambinos, who are fighting it out to become the first ever South African baby karting champion now that this class enjoys national status too. Gauteng’s championship leader Tshepang Shisinwana has double trouble from the Cape, with Rayan Karriem and Luan Mostert in close contention, with Caleb Odendaal, Jordon Wadeley, Rhoderick Simpson all not far behind at all.
 
So there you have it, the karting nationals are about to bring the KZN hills alive at the spectacular iDube Raceway not far from Pietermaritzburg in KZN, where SA’s finest not only chase championship glory, but also continue in their bids for that hallowed Italian Rotax Grand Final seat at the end of the season...
ENDS

Issued on behalf of Rotax Max Challenge

What:SA Rotax Max Challenge Kart National 3 Preview
Where:iDube, KZN
When:Saturday 10 August 2019
Community:South Africa National

For further information please contact jennifer@kart.co.za

Click on thumbnails to Download images