Summarize

Killarney’s National Extreme Festival presented by Coca-Cola crowned South Africa’s first National racing champions of 2025 on Saturday. Local heroes, Tate Bishop tied up the SATC SupaCup title and Jason Coetzee the GR 86 Rookie Cup, while upcountry men Nabil Abdool is the 2025 Gazoo Racing Yaris Media champion and veteran Mario da Souza the GR Corolla Dealer champion. The rest of the titles, all of which race exclusively on Dunlop tyres, go down to the wire at Zwartkops in October.

“Dunlop was delighted to crown our first National Extreme Festival presented by Coca-Cola champions for 2025 at Killarney,” Dunlop Marketing Manager Joanne de Freitas confirmed. “Congratulations to Tate, Jason, Nabil, and Mario on their 2025 titles won on Dunlop tyres. You have done us proud. The rest of the 2025 championships will now go down to Zwartkops on 25 October, where among them look set to go down to the last turn of the final lap!”

The weekend kicked off with a maiden Dunlop Pole Position award for Jagger Robertson’s Volkswagen Golf in the South African Touring Cars, while Tate Bishop did it again in SATC SupaCup. Robertson went on to win the first race before he hit trouble in the second, where Keegan Campos came back from a first race issue to deliver a lights to flag win in his BMW 128 ti. Second in both races, championship leader Michael van Rooyen and his Toyota Corolla consolidated his advantage as he put a firm hand on that 2025 title. A solid first race finish will wrap it up at Zwartkops.

Pole man Tate Bisop chose discretion over valour as he left his Volkswagen Motorsport rivals to take victory in the SATC SupaCup races. Jason Loosemore fought his way to the front to take his maiden SupaCup race win in the opening heat. All Bishop needed do to wrap the title up at his home race, was follow Jonathan Mogotsi and Loosemore home in the second heat, which he did to the delight of the fans.

The Dunlop-shod Astron Energy Polo Cup will however go down to the wire at Zwartkops after Killarney delivered three winners in three races. Hannes Scheepers opened the betting with a maiden Dunlop Pole Position Award before taking a solid opening race lead. But his car stopped on the final lap to release title contender Rory Atkinson to the win. Ethan Coetzee took a lights to flag second race win before Scheepers finally came right for his maiden Polo Cup win. With Atkinson second while title rival Mo Karodia struggled, Rory leads Mo to Zwartkops by all of six points.

Pole man Derick Smalberger shared two Polo Masters wins to one with John Kruger. Which means that championship leader Wayne Masters must wait for Zwartkops for that second title. In the other Masters action, Andre Bexuidenhout has all but wrapped up the SATC SupaCup over-50s championship despite home hero David Franco defeating him at Killarney over the weekend.

Mikel Bezuidenhout came, saw and conquered Investchem MSA4 with pole position and a couple of wins to close crop leader KC Ensor-Smith’s title advantage back to just a handful of points after Killarney. Late starter MSA4 however has an additional catch-up championship round at the Red Star raceway near Delmas on 4 October, so that one is all still to play for with four races left to run. 

The Dunlop-shod Volkswagen Rookie Cup certain to go all the way to the final flag after Christopher Tait left Killarney all but a point clear of title rival Josh Moore. Do not ignore Uzair Khan and Mario da Luz, both of whom are still in with a shout. It may be all said and done in the Toyota Gazoo Racing Cup, but there were upsets at Killarney when all three new champions were defeated along the way. Kent Swartz put one over 86 Rookie champion Jason Coetzee, Kyle Kock took two wins off Yaris Media king Nabil Abdool and Devon Scott shared Corolla Dealer wins with champion Mario da Souza.

The Extreme Supercars driven by Dunlop rejoined the Extreme Festival at Killarney. Charl Arangies’ Mercedes-Benz AMG GT3 and pole man Jonathan du Toit’s Lamborghini Huracan EVO shared out the overall and GT3 wins two to one. But Ricky Giannoccaro’s recent pace in his Class A  Mercedes-Benz AMG GT3 and Paul Hill’s similar progress in his Audi R8 LMS GT3 however see them challenging du Toit and Class A Dodge Viper man Kris Budnick in the overall championship chase, with late starter Arangies now also putting in a title trot.

With the exception of Investchem MSA4, which adds that race at Red Star before, the Dunlop-shod Extreme Festival presented by Coca-Cola heads to Zwartkops where the rest of its champions will be crowned on Saturday 25 October. Sounds like a spectacle not to be missed!