Summarize

The rain may have threatened, but it en main stayed away to allow Killarney to deliver a brilliant 2025 South African Rotax Max National Karting Championship season opener in Cape Town on Saturday.

Friday qualifying however failed to escape the rain as home hero Jason Coetzee took a wet Rotax DD2 pole position, Durban legend Cristiano Morgado claimed the top slot in DD2 Masters and William Marshall was the Rotax Senior Max pole lad. In the schoolboy classes, Caleb Odendaal took the Junior Max pole, Max Boshoff Mini Max, Logan Roehrig Micro Max, and Sebastien Shuttleworth was on the Bambino pole position.

The senior classes were all about local drivers in Saturday’s races. Jason Coetzee beat fellow Cape Town veteran, champion Sebastian Boyd two races to one to take Rotax DD2 gearbox glory. Another Cape driver, National DD2 rookie Anwill April impressed en route to third from another Cape lad, Matthew Wadeley. They were followed by best of the upcountry racers Bradley Liebenberg and yet another local youngster, Ethan Stier.

It was another Cape rout in Rotax DD2 Masters, but only after KZN multiple Rotax Max world champion Cristiano Morgado’s day went west. Morgado took the opening heat, Justin Rogers heat 2 and KZN Cape convert Jonathan Pieterse the final. Pieterse led Cape compatriots Jared Jordan, Neville Chapman and Morgado overall, with Conor Hughes fifth from Mozambican Cristian Bouché. Frontrunners Rogers and Jimmy Auby both suffered exclusions from heats through the day.

A superb 22-kart Rotax Senior Max grid proved another Cape Town 1-2-3 as Charl Visser made a surprise return to beat Junior champion William Marshall two wins to one with Jordon Wadeley third off a consistent run through the day. Best of the Gauteng drivers, Roshaan Goodman came back from a tough opening race to claim fourth from two more Cape drivers, Jude Stuart and Joshua Smit.

High school Rotax Junior Max had a more cosmopolitan outcome with three different winners in the three races. First heat winner, Jozi lass Emma Dowling however put one over her Cape rivals and all the boys and girls to take the day. Dowling beat local second race winner Sebastiano Human, Eastern Cape lad Caleb Moss and third race 3 winner Jack Moore from Gauteng to take the day ahead of Nicolas Lennox and Manelisi Nkomo.

Another record field of 25 karts lined up to race under-13 Rotax Mini Max, but it was local lad Max Boshoff who came out on top. He took a two race to one overall victory over upcountry rivals Renaldo Koen, Brody Dowling, Rafael de Souza, Declan Jurgens, and local final race winner Liam Wharton.

Dominant Luhan de Wet was another upcountry driver to upset the local formbook with three straight heat wins in under 11 Rotax Micro Max. Local lad Michael O’Mahoney, Luke du Toit from Pretoria, home heroes Yaqeen Gamieldien and Slater Smith, and Jozi visitor Adriaan Steyn picked up those pieces.

Local lad Divaaj Govender stormed to two of the three baby Bambino race wins to take the day from Gauteng visitors Alonzo de Oliveira and second heat winner Sebastien Shuttleworth. Rofhiwa Ndwambi was a fine fourth from Mozambican lass Teresa Bettencourt and Gauteng youngster Yerhu Malabi to close off an epic day of Rotax Max National Kart Racing.

“Killarney was the perfect start to the 2025 Rotax Max National karting season,” Rotax SA CEO Ed Murray concluded. “We had record entries; Killarney played the perfect host and the rain even held off to allow some of the best racing we have seen for a while. Congratulations to the winners and to everyone else who contributed to a super competitive start to the Rotax Max National season.”

The 2025 Rotax Max National Karting championship makes a return to the Vereeniging Kart Track on Saturday 26 April for its second of four rounds that will crown this year’s champions. The champions will also form the basis of the South African team to travel to the annual Rotax Max Grand Finals ‘Olympics of Karting.’