PART ARTICLE AND PHOTO ISSUED BY:  STEVE WICKS
Picture:  Mikey Taylor

Round 3 – Idube – 09 July

Idube sizzler
Round three of the Engen SupaKart championships took place at the rollercoaster hillside Idube circuit just outside Pietermaritzberg on Saturday (9-July).

Once again it was the Super Rok class that claimed the headlines and the controversy and a spectacular accident will be talked about for years to come.
The opening race was characterised by a lot of pushing and shoving and eventually won by local ace Mathew Swanepoel aboard a CRG as the three drivers behind him, Ian Young (Birel), Simon Moss (Dixon

Batteries/Southern Sun TonyKart) and Chassen Bright (Protec Cranes/Go Wax/RKT/Zanardi) were all handed five place penalties for their driving conduct. Despite a spectacular spin in the final, Swanepoel still managed to scoop the overall win with a three-point advantage over Ayrton Good (TonyKart) who was the same margin ahead of Moss. Former junior champion Mitchell Licen made a return to the sport with a borrowed TonyKart and did well to take fourth ahead of Bright and Tecno mounted Philip Viljoen.

The big news in Junior Rok honours was that runaway championship leader Luke Herring did not win. Instead the big trophy went home to Pretoria with RKT/Zanardi’s new signing Michael Taylor who put in an ace performance to win heat two after only qualifying 10th fastest. Birel driver Nathan Parkin won two of the three heats but a frightening crash in race two cost him an almost certain overall win and he was forced to settle for the runner-up trophy. Castrol Toyota’s Birel driver Morgan McColl had a superb day and broke his Idube jinx with a well deserved third place. Fourth went the way of TonyKart’s Benjamin Habig as Sheldon van der Linde (Ferodo/Autoquip Birel) was fifth ahead of Jonathan Wing as Herring was seventh.

The Cadet class had the biggest turnout for the series so far and invitational national challenge leader Mikeel Pitamber was again unstoppable on race day, after letting the competition believe they might have a chance at topping him the weekend during practice the Friday. The No 2 to No 5 spots were hotly contested with two pairs competitors ending tied for the event. Local star Gregory Cook took second followed by Algoa Kart Club's Joshua Coertze (Protec Cranes/Fuchs Lubricants) in third place.

After a day of close racing, controversial decisions and upset results the titles in all four are wide open and the scene has been set for an exciting grand final at Vereeniging in August.