Ken Wallker - International
Kart Commentator
Hi everyone from Ken Walker here in the
UK. We are at last beginning to see signs of summer in
these parts, not that our summers can compare with an
African one. It’s nearly a couple of years since
I was last in South Africa for a kart meeting –
your National Finals at Zwartkops in October 2004. I remain
ever so grateful to Ed Murray and Dave McLeod that I was
allowed to be a guest commentator at the event.
Fortunately I am able to stay in close
touch with the South African Karting scene through your
continuing strong showing in both the Rotax Max World
Challenge and the Rotax Euro Challenge. Also I do get
e-mails from some of you from time to time. They’re
very welcome and indeed any time you want an e-chat, try
me at zak123@supanet.com
.
It was great to see Ed Murray at the
South Garda circuit in Italy for a Euro Challenge Round
in May, and I must confess that good as it was to see
him, I felt a momentary pang of guilt as he, and Jennifer,
had said that I was welcome to write a few words for the
website any time I cared to do so, but had not done so
for some time.
We can still have some Brits in the World
Challenge if they qualify through the Euro Challenge.
We have some putting up a good showing. Martin Pierce
in Senior Max, Jack Hawksworth and David Sutton in Junior
Max and Colin Davis in the Masters are all going well.
Of course their task would be a lot easier if there weren’t
so many good South Africans around!
Talking of which the last Round of the
Euro Challenge in Italy had not only most of the usual
SA regulars but newcomers to the series David Perel, Matthew
Hodges and the vastly experienced Leeroy Poulter. They
all went well, though I gained the ominous feeling that
if they get the experience of a few more European Rounds,
there’s a lot more to come from all of them.
Arnold Neveling continues to impress
but I was sorry that Ralph Odendaal was unable to come
over because of his injured ribs. His Mum told me that
he can keep reliving the incident as it gets repeated
on TV over there. It was great to see Claudio Piazza Musso
again. He was racing Karts for the first time in over
a year. He’s still highly competitive. I also love
chatting to his Dad Giovanni, and in Italy his Mum was
there as well.
The first ever Rotax Euro Challenge Round
was in Pomposa Italy in March 2004. Despite English being
the international language of Motor Sport, all the officials
spoke only Italian. I remember Claudio stepping forward
to translate at Drivers Briefing. I don’t know what
we would have done without him.
Cristiano Morgado has made a big impact
in Formula 3 here in the UK. The general feeling in the
motorsport press is that he has what it takes, and is
one of the best of the bunch. It seems only a matter of
weeks ago that the British motorsport press was extolling
the virtues of Jennifer Murray after her podium showing
at Rockingham International Motor Speedway, Britain’s
only One Mile Oval Race Circuit. There you are. As I said
earlier, there’s too many good South African drivers
around!!
I am due to fly to the Czech Republic
tomorrow. It’s Rounds 3 and 4 of the European Superkart
Championship and I’m the Series Commentator. Divison
One Superkarts are the 250cc Twin Cylinder 6 speed gearbox
machines capable of incredible speeds – 250kph in
the right conditions would you believe. Divison Two Superkarts
are the Single Cylinder version but still very swift.
The defending champion is John Riley
of England. He drives an Anderson chassis with a Rotax
motor. This is despite the fact that the Rotax 256 motor
hasn’t been manufactured for more than a decade.
It now has a much modified bottom end from the original
factory outshopped version. But after all these years
it is still competitive against the modern 21st century
FPE, SGM and BRC motors.
Can I close by saying that I greatly
value my friendship with the South African karting family,
and especially appreciate the warm welcome you gave me
when I came to your country in 2004. If you have the slightest
inclination to e-mail me about anything at all, please
do so.
Ken Walker
International Kart Commentator
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