Karters shift into gear at 1st KZN regional round

A NEW year, a new season, new pits and lots of new karters – that was the scene at the first round of the 2018 Karting Championship season opener at Idube Raceway in Camperdown last Sunday.

It was the first opportunity for some of the rookies to compete in a race, karters who have changed to higher classes and made the move to different chassis, and the welcome return of some previous competitors that have been sorely missed at Idube.

During the off-season, a lot of maintenance was done on the track, new pits built and Idube will also host the first round of the SA National Championship at the end of March.

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The Micro Max class was contested by some enthusiastic and promising young talent, with Troy Snyman and Dhivyen Naidoo putting in some super fast laps continuing with Iuvine Sambudla upsetting the apple cart. So it was a great dice between the three youngsters each taking a win.

Race 1 went to Snyman with Naidoo in second and Sambudla in third. Race 2 was unlucky for Snyman who only finished two laps, Dhivyen bagged the win and Sambudla was second with Uzair Khan in third. Sambudla clinched victory in Race 3, Naidoo was second with Snyman in third.

Overall for the day, first place was secured by Naidoo with Sambudla in second and Snyman taking the last spot on the podium. Uzair Khan finished fourth and rounding off the top five was Travis Mingay.

Mandla Mdlangeni took the honours in the Mini Max class with Troy Snyman having to settle for second place.

Junior and Senior Max saw some changes with Dominic Lincoln moving up from Junior Max to Senior Max but also changing from Tonykart to BirelArt.

The change obviously suited Lincoln as he performed well, taking second place behind Jonathan. Shrien Naidoo was third, Rile Horner in fourth place and Robert Whiting doing double duty in DD2 and Senior Max finished fifth overall for the day.

This category produced some good battles with Pieterse taking all three overall wins (another man that did duty in more than one class), with Linacoln finishing second in Races 1 and 3, and Shrien Naidoo clinching second in Race 2 with two third places. Riley Horner and Brent Walden were also on form and provided good entertainment for the spectators. Andrew Bremner took 1st place in the Junior Max Classification with the 427 kart of Nicholas Wuite in second.

Interesting racing

A strong field of competitors lined up for the popular Max 180 class and this ‘mature’ class had 17 karts on the start.

Richard van Heerde clinched the overall win for the day, followed by Clinton Gauld, Mohammed Bhabha, Allan John Rice and James Stewart.

Van Heerde won all three races of the day, but it Gauld and Bhabha that jostled places for second and third with Allan John Rice sneaking into third place in Race 2. James Stewart was consistently in the top 5, and making up that top ten was Alan Johnston, Dean Rice, Stan Whiting, Richard Horner and Jonathan Pieterse.

The biggest class of the day was the hotly contested DD2/DD2 Masters Class.

With 20 entries and the return to the track of multiple world champion Cristiano Morgado, and northern regions visitor Daniel Duminy, and 2017 DD2 KZN Champion Benjamin Habig and DD2 Masters Champion Jonathan Pieterse, the scene was set for some interesting racing. This premier class is a favourite among spectators. Habig was back behind a TonyKart.

ALSO READ: Richard gears up for road to victory

Habig qualified on pole and won all three races convincing, setting a blistering pace, leaving Pieterse, Morgado, Whiting and Duminy to battle for the remaining podium positions. Jonathan Pieterse secured second place in races 2 and 3, with Morgado finishing second in Heat 2. Robert Whiting took a well-deserved third in the 1st heat and two fourth places. Duminy didn’t have the day he had been looking forward to, and had to settle for two fourth places and a fifth.

Benjamin Habig bagged some valuable points by taking first place in the DD2 class, followed by Robert Whiting – the two TUKS students literally finishing their races and heading back to Pretoria.

In third spot was Daniel Duminy followed by Justin Wilde and Cody Sherratt. Pieterse got off to a good start defending his DD2 Masters title by securing the top step of the podium ahead of Cristiano Morgardo with Richard van Heerde in third, Alister Mingay in fourth and Dane Temlett in fifth.

The next round will take place on 18 March, two weeks before the Nationals.

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