SA ROTAX MAX CHALLENGE KICKS OFF WITH THE FIRST 2010 NATIONAL IN CAPE TOWN ON APRIL 3
By Stuart Johnston
Caleb Williams DD2 World Champion
pic by Ken Johnson |
When the country’s best Rotax Max Challenge karters arrive in Cape Town over the Easter weekend in April, they’ll be going into the first National meet of the year with little idea about who’s who in the competitive zoo.
With so many driver line-up changes in the various classes and no championship points-scoring regionals to establish a pecking order so far this year, the first of the three National rounds is bound to throw up some surprises.
Essentially, the biggest factor will be to see how the various drivers who have moved up to more senior categories this year shape up against established competitors, while there will be intense interest, too in the new Maxterino class, which replaces the previous GP Junior category in the Rotax series.
Sean Frost DD2 moved up from Senior Max
pic by Robert Gush |
Virtually all the way through the five major categories, there will be new driver line-ups amongst the top-flight drivers with realistic chances of South African RMC titles this year. And with the new Maxterino series boasting South African Challenge status, and a very strong line-up of Cape-based drivers in the field at the Killarney kart track, the interest in this new feeder-formula will be intense.
Nick Verheul leads Eugene Britz
pic by Robert Gush |
Biggest news of all, perhaps, is that Sean Frost, a front-runner in the 2009 Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals in Egypt last year, has moved to the DD2 Gearbox class for his South African campaign in 2010. Having won the senior Max Challenge title in South Africa and proved himself to be ultra-quick against the world’s best in Egypt, it was obvious that Sean wanted a new challenge, and saw the more difficult-to-drive DD2 formula as a way to explore new facets of his driving skill. But he will have his work cut out to stay ahead of the ever-improving Nic Verheul, Eugene Britz and Jarryd du Preez.
Shau Mafuna
pic by Robert Gush |
While the super-quick DD2 class has been gaining in field quality and status over the past few seasons, the top non-gearbox Senior Max class remains the cutting edge of South African karting, and the action at Killarney should reflect this, with a field of well over 20 drivers.
Cape Town’s Aidan de Nobrega must go int the first round of the championship as one of the favourites. Although this will be his first year in Max Challenge, having graduated from a strong Junior Max season in 2009, his local circuit knowledge will see him be right amongst the front-runners from Gauteng. Also strong from Cape Town in Max Challenge will be Tom Lautenbach
While Sean Frost decided to move to DD2, the current world DD2 hotshot, Caleb Williams has moved to Max Challenge for 2010, and there must be few doubts that he is the overwhelming favourite to take not just the National win in Cape Town, but the overall title this year. Williams’ calm driving style simply exudes authority whenever he takes to the track, although the likes of the Mafuna brothers Shau and Sebastian, Jason Georgiou and Ryan Frost ( a cousin of Sean Frost) will be aiming to rattle his cage.
Junior Max promises exciting racing
pic by Robert Gush |
In the Junior Max class, expect the times on Cape Town’s tricky circuit to be within striking distance of the senior Max Challenge class. The mix of a long back straight and tight infield makes set-up and gearing tricky on this coastal circuit, while the fact that the slightly less-powerful Junior Max runners enjoy a 20 kg weight advantage over the top class sees Junior Max speeds right in there with the fastest karts.
The keen interest here will be whether Kelvin Van der Linde can mix it with the likes of current champion Aston Hare and former Mini-Max champion Raoul Hyman. However Cape Town local Luke Herring will have home-ground advantage, and Natal’s Mathew Swanepoel is known to adapt to away circuits extremely quickly.
A number of drivers have made the big power-jump from GP Juniors to Mini Max this year, and all eyes will be on young Sheldon van der Linde, of the famous Van der Linde racing clan, to see if he can continue his dominance. Other potential winners here are Bradley Liebenberg, Aeden van Vuuren and Wesley Vosloo, while strong Cape Town runners are Chad Daniels and Eugene Denysen. And look for Durban’s Mark Swanepoel to be bullish (or should that be shark-ish?) here too.
Keagan Masters Maxterino
pic
by Robert Gush |
In the new Maxterino class, there a number of new challengers and much tighter fields are expected than were run in the previous GP Junior formula, where engine tuning was much more of a factor. But the front runners should still be Keegan Masters and Daygin Prscott, although there are a bunch of quick Cape Town drivers in this category too.
The Killarney track is situated north of Cape Town, between Table View and
The N7 freeway, just beyond the Caltex oil refinery. Practise gets underway on Friday, April 2, with the finals on Saturday, April 3.
Panel 1. The New Maxterino Mill
The new Maxterino engines replace the GP Junior machines in the SARMC series this year. Much more modern than the Comer chain-saw-based engines used for many years in GP Junior, the new Maxetrino motors are expected to give excellent reliability for the youngsters competing in this feeder formula.
They are simple piston-port two stroke motors of 60cc, and are fitted with a fixed-jet carburettor, non-adjustable electronic ignition and an electric starter. These less-complex characteristics make the Maxerino an ideal formula for drivers cutting their karting teeth.
Maxterino importers Ed Murray Racing of Pretoria report that the new engine formula is already proving to be a runaway success, with much closer racing and reliable running a feature of the initial races run so far.
Panel Two. GET YOUR MOJOS WORKING
Another new tweak to the Rotax Max Challenge series for this year is the switch to Mojo tyres for all the Max Challenge classes. These are the tyres used by Max Challenge runners in 50 countries throughout the world, and it made sense to switch to this German brand for the South African series.
The Mojo rubber is priced at R1 500 per set of four, much the same as the rubber used last season, but lasts several times longer with much more consistency over its life-span.
A unique new bar-coding system also enables officials to police the use of rubber, where generally one set of tyres is permitted to be used over a race meeting for qualifying and all the race heats.
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