SA ROTAX Max Challenge National Final,
Cape Town »results
10.09.2007
EIGHTH SA ROTAX MAX CHALLENGE SERIES
FINAL 2007 KILLARNEY, CAPE TOWN 7 – 8 September
2007
Many of South Africa’s top karters
made the long haul to the fairest Cape for this year’s
MAX Final. A closely contested series with the sponsored
drives to the 8th ROTAX Grand Final and other prizes up
for grabs was coming to a head.
In the ROTAX DD2 class Ralph Odendaal
was no doubt the favorite to win with Kyle Lawrence, Justin
Allison snapping at his heals. Adding spice to this was
multiple world champion, Wesleigh Orr brought in to replace
Arnold Neveling (now racing in Europe for Kombikart).
Race one saw Orr snatch the lead with Odendaal hounding
him lap after lap. A few skirmishes in front saw Lawrence
join the party and nearly take the win. Race two was an
easy win for Odendaal, Orr having left the circuit in
style at Hoals Hoek. Final One was lead by Odendaal with
Orr and Lawrence in close attendance until a spark plug
failure forced Odendaal to the back of the field. At this
stage Lawrence was now the leader by five points as they
went into the final race. Odendaal lead from start to
finish with Orr trying everything he knew to catch him.
Kyle Lawrence took the Series and the sponsored RMGF 2007
drive.
In the ROTAX MAX Challenge class the
series favorites were David Perel, Ralph Odendaal, Kevin
de Wit, Devin Robertson and James Ryan. Leeroy Poulter
replaced Matthew Hodges and Cape Town’s Matthew
Symonds also a potential winner. In the racing Odendaal
took the first race, Poulter the next three races with
Perel, Symonds and Odendaal hot on his heels. Although
Poulter wins the day, David Perel is the Series winner
and will fly the South African flag in Al Ain, UAE end
November 2007.
The fourteen entry Junior MAX field looked
stronger than it has for some time with very close racing
and times separated by 100th of a second. Many different
drivers lead the races with more position changing than
normally seen in karting. At the end of the day Caleb
Williams stamped his authority on the event by winning
three of the four races. Trent Williams, Richard Napier,
Axle Jeffries, James Temple and Aiden de Nobrega all ran
in the front at times and all looked like potential winners.
Andrew Gatland finished fourth for the day and his excellent
performance in regionals gave him second place in the
Series. He will join Caleb Williams at the RMGF as a guest
of ROTAX and their co-sponsors.
The Mini MAX field was disappointingly
small, some of the older competitors not participating
because of the reduced age limit in the series rules,
etc. What the class lacked in size it made up for in entertainment!
The six karts were nose to tail for many laps in most
heats with GP Junior overtaking maneuvers being the order
of the day. Tom Lautenbach won the day with Raoul Owens
second and Sean Frost third. Raoul Owens is the winner
of the Mini MAX Series and won the air ticket to spectate
in Al Ain.
The exciting GP Junior class saw excellent
racing in the 12 kart field. Close racing saw Hare, Herring,
Busi, Daniel and Du Plessis fighting it out for the lead.
Aston Hare, Luke Herring and Marco Busi each won a race.
Hare took the day and narrowly won the series from Herring
too, taking the ROTAX Mini MAX engine as the 2007 Series
prize.
The popular MAX 175 class provided more
accidents and incidents than the rest and eventual winner
Steve Taylor did the most frightening gymnastic display
with his flying kart. Fortunately he survived this incident
without injuries and carried on racing. Johan Hamman,
Eugene van Zyl, Gary Owens all enjoyed their local knowledge
of the circuit but Gary Marais, Cyril Atkinson and Dean
Mollet improved with every race. Steve Taylor won all
the heats making sure that his air ticket was secure to
spectate in Al Ain.
The ROTAX DD2 Master class was dominated
by last year’s winner, George dos Ramos who won
each race. Gary Marais and Rocky Gush mixed it for second
and third with Garry finally taking second. George dos
Ramos will join Kyle Lawrence in the DD2 class at the
RMGF as no doubt will Leeroy Poulter given his fantastic
performance in the Euro Challenge this year.
The Series organizers, Max Challenge
Promotions, would like to congratulate all series participants
and wish the winners every success at the RMGF 2007.
We would like to express our sincere
thanks to Western Province Motor Club – Karting
Section for a fantastic event, enjoyable dinner and prize
giving.
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