Summarize

Mozambican karter, 2020 South African Rotax Mini Max champion Ghazi Motlekar enjoyed a great weekend as he returned to familiar territory to compete in the South African Rotax Junior Max Finals and African Open at Zwartkops.

“It really was good to see and race against my old friends and rivals on familiar territory once again,” Ghazi admitted. “It was a tough weekend with good, hard racing throughout and I had some great fun. “Both the National Finals and the African Open were wild — it’s quite different competing in Africa after a year away racing in Europe and it took a little getting used to everything that goes down here again!"

Ghazi qualified seventh and fought his way up to fourth on the first lap of the opening heat of the National Finals, before enjoying a good scrap, only to retire with a lap left to race. He clawed back to seventh in heat 2, but was caught up in a first lap drama that saw him drop to the back in the third heat. Ghazi then mounted another impressive fight back to fifth, before putting on a good effort to end seventh in the Final to finish up in a three-way tie for seventh overall for the day.

Sunday's African Open was another abundant day of crazy Junior Max action. Ghazi qualified fifth and ran fourth in the first heat, before becoming embroiled in a tussle that saw him drop back to eighth. He was punted off on the opening lap of the second heat before yet again clawing his way back to tenth. Ghazi then had a great run to keep out of trouble as he drove back to fourth in a dramatic African Open Junior Max Final.

“Coming back home to race was great fun,” Ghazi concluded. “But to be honest, much of what we saw on and off the track this weekend left us scratching our heads. “It’s such a pity that it’s so toxic here — there's little respect amongst some teams and drivers, at least in my class, and they don’t seem to care for the rules, which is so detrimental to Motorsport. 

"We would like to thank the organisers and promoters for a great event though — the politics is not their fault, but sadly it always ruins a great weekend. “It is so much more fun to race and fight just as hard in Europe, without any politics or having to watch your back throughout every weekend and I can’t wait to get back to normality there.”