In a day split between hard-fought battles and domination, the local contingent was joined by a few out-of-town challengers as Rotax Max limbered up for its opening South African National Championship round, back at Killarney in two weeks’ time.
Perhaps the race of the day went down in Junior Max to predict a stunning national prospect for that under-15 challenge class. Gauteng kid and SA Junior Champion Muhammad Wally and KZN charger and SA Mini Max champion Troy Snyman visited the scene to hone their preparations for the nationals.
But it was local star Reza Levy who won the first race before taking a couple of seconds behind Snyman and Wally respectively, to take the day in a splendid display of racing between the three as each took a race win. Ethan Stier, Matthew Wadeley, Joshua Smit and Jaden Jacobs were next up; that battle up front promised a supreme national show in the high school class.
In open class action, Andrew Rackstraw struck back to keep the Cape Senior Max title fight wide open as he beat SA Senior Champion Tate Bishop two races to one with Kyle Visser running interference and Storm Lanfear also in close attendance. This Cape crew will prove hard to beat come the nationals on March 27.
Another class where the Cape kids appear to be the ones to beat is premier DD2, where Joseph Oelz continued his unbeaten run in the Cape championship this year in spite of compatriot and SA champion Sebastian Boyd’s best efforts. Those two are also looking good for their home national. Connor Hughes meanwhile drove home to an easy over-30 DD2 Masters win over Jared and Michael Jordan, Andrew Thomas, Steven Beaumont and Gil Simoes.
Domination was the order of the day in the primary school classes, where Cape lad Joaquin de Oliveira sounded a stern warning to his upcountry under-13 Mini Max rivals ahead of his home national with another rampant three-heat victory. Joshua Smit chased him home each time, while Sabelo Ntuli and Jordan Wadeley shared out the thirds ahead of Oliver Roach.
It was a similar state of affairs in under-11 Micro Max, where Keagan Beaumont proved unstoppable as he romped to a three-heat rout while
Kegan Martin and Aiden Beaumont scrapped over the seconds and thirds. Matthew Chiwara, Matthew Roach and Siyabonga Ntuli enjoyed a hard-fought battle behind, while Rafael da Silva’s day was spoiled by a second race issue.
Last, but not least, Michael Danks was another dominant force as he rushed to a triple-win in the baby Bambinos to set himself up for a tilt at national glory in two weeks’ time. Behind him, Siyabonga Ntuli took a trio of seconds while Liam Wharton and Kayde Cornofsky shared out the seconds and thirds ahead of Zach McAuley, Arabelle Krause and Ruan Lewis.
The next race is that opening round Rotax Max National back at Killarney in two weeks’ time, before the second Max National up at Formula K in Benoni. The WP Rotax gang then returns to Killarney for the third round Cape races on May 15.
Source: Motorsport Media
Photos: Corné van Zyl
