2014 SA KARTING CHAMPIONS CROWNED Brilliant Zwartkops Max finals wrap up the national karting year The 2014 South African Karting Championships were wrapped up on Saturday when the Rotax Max classes came to a head at a brilliant day’s racing at Zwartkops, with Jason Coetzee, Jordan Sherratt, Luke Herring, Bradley Liebenberg and Cristiano Morgado crowned as champions to join Rok class champions JP Hamman, Kashen Naicker and Chassen Bright crowned the week before at Vereeneging. Four of the five Max classes were balanced on a knife’s edge throughout the weekend, not least of which was the 60cc primary school age group Maxterinos, where Jason Coetzee (Zanardi) delivered three brilliant race wins to see him, JP Hamman (Hammanshof RKT Kosmic) and Charl Visser (Battery Energy RKT Kosmic) start the season finale separated by just two points. Coetzee however delivered another faultless drive in the final, beating Hamman and Visser to steal the championship from under their noses and secure a brilliant championship 1-2-3 for Cape Town drivers. Dillon van Vuuren (RKT Kosmic) was the best of the Gauteng drivers in fourth for the day, even on points with Visser, but he scored well enough to pip Kwanda Mokoena (Topkart) at the post to fourth in the championship race. One step up to the high school Junior Max 125s saw Durban lad Jordan Sherratt (Birel) make no mistakes taking the flag first three times en route to back-to-back SA championships from fellow Natalian Clinton Bezuidenhout (Flandria). Sherratt was however docked five places for passing under yellow flags in the final, letting wildcard Delon Thompson (Birel) in for the win and claim second for the day from Bezuidenhout, Joshua Dias, Delano Fowler and Luca Munaretto, after Kohen Bam (SAKRA RKT Kosmic) was excluded from a first race win on a technical issue and then again from the second for starting in the wrong grid position to see him tumble out of championship contention. Sherratt’s championship win means that he will now represent South Africa in Junior Max in the forthcoming Rotax Max World Finals in Jerez Spain, alongside Africa Open winner Bam Cape Town driver Luke Herring (RKT Kosmic) scraped to his second open age group Senior Max 125cc SA championship on the trot with third overall as fellow Capetonians Julian van der Watt (Zanardi) took three races and Eugene Deneyssen one to both close right up on Herring in the championship race. A fourth Cape driver Jonathan Aberdein (TonyKart) endured a difficult day to end up sixth behind upcountry rivals Fabienne Lanz and Michael Buccholz as he slipped out of title contention, although he did see to it that Cape drivers dominated that championship with four divers in the top four places. Herring and African Open winner Deneyssen will represent SA in the Rotax Max Challenge World Finals. Gauteng driver Bradley Liebenberg (Birel) won three of the day’s four quickest Rotax DD2 races to overhaul Natalian Benjamin Habig (TonyKart) and win the 2014 SA championship in that class after Habig had a difficult day despite winning the third heat. Vaal driver Arnold Neveling (RKT Kosmic) was second on the day en route to pipping Ewan Taylor to fourth in the title race, while Eugene Brittz did enough by finishing third on the day and in the title race. Liebenberg and Habig will represent SA in the Rotax Max DD2 World Finals in Spain. Durbanite Cristiano Morgado (TonyKart) meanwhile wrapped up the 2014 SA Rotax DD2 Masters championship for older drivers riding heavier karts with four wins en route to sixth overall while Erwin Sterne won an epic duel with archrival Richard van Heerde to wrest second in the championship and claim his ticket to Jerez alongside Morgado, who had already won the African Open to book his place to fight for his fifth world title in Jerez. Coetzee, Sherratt, Herring, Liebenberg and Morgado now join Mini Rok champion JP Hamman, Junior Rok champion Kashen and Super Rok champ Chassen Bright as South Africa’s latest karting champions, while Cape kid Troy Dolinschek took the club championship under-8 Cadet title run across SA to cap an epic season’s racing and a successful transition to a single, blockbuster national championship. Pic: Jason Coetzee - image: Jared Van Bergen
Posted on: Sun, 05 Oct 2014 12:07:44 +0000
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