Strocam / Daily Sun Maponya Mall Kart Festival
27 June 2009

The Northern Regions Kart Club in association with Loxion Events, organisers of the 2nd Loxion Motorshow, will host the first ever official Karting event in Soweto.

Karting is regarded as the stepping stone to an international career in motorsport and there isn’t a Formula One driver without a karting history behind his name.

A full field of karts is expected to line up in 8 different classes racing on a professionally designed 1km circuit within the confines of Maponya Mall on Saturday 27th June 2009.

“This will be a landmark event as never before has there been a kart, or any other motorsport race meeting in Soweto that has been sanctioned by Motorsport South Africa, this is truly taking history in the making,” says Phillip Hill, Chairman of the Northern Regions Kart Club.

A full field of seven classes will be competing with drivers ranging from six years old in the Cadet class right through to adults who have made karting a career.

The 60cc GP Junior class for drivers between 8-12 yrs is always well supported and full of action and the next step up the karting ladder is the Junior 125 classes where drivers race full size karts. Next is Senior 125 where upcoming stars compete directly against established drivers and some of the top names in South African motorsport.

Experts predict that honours for fastest lap will be disputed between the six-speed 125cc Grand Prix karts and the more nimble 2-speed Rotax powered DD2 karts. An affordable entry into kart racing is the 100cc Stocks class where direct drive engines of 100cc are used.

Among the entrants is Naomi Schiff, who was the first black female to win races at national championship level. She was runner-up in last year’s highly competitive Rotax Junior Max national championship which qualified her for the Rotax Grand Finals in Italy.

Also in the Junior Max class is Shau Mafuna and his brother Sebastien who race for the CRG team and have competed, and achieved good results overseas in the European Rotax Max Challenge.

The Mini-Max class is where Castrol Toyota Development team driver Morgan McColl competes. He travels from Klerksdorp for each race and has driven his Birel to victory at every event he’s contested so far this season. The Cadet class is the entry to karting and this is where Castrol Toyota has identified Lehlohonolo (Lucky) Ramogale as a future star.

This event has attracted some of the country’s top kart racers, even top names like Birel driver Sean Frost who will be challenged by Fabienne Lanz while Sheldon van der Linde, Dino Claro, Raoul Hyman and Chad Maciver will all be competing for top honours in various classes at the Strocam / Daily Sun Maponya Mall Festival brought to the people of Soweto by Loxion.

Located on Old Potch Road, not far away from Soweto’s best known landmark, the colourful Orlando Power Station and dam, Maponya Mall has over 60 000m² of retail space and is Soweto's first mega-regional upmarket shopping centre.

Coinciding with the Loxion Motorshow, entrance to the kart racing is free of charge which makes Maponya Mall the place to be for Sowetan motoring enthusiasts.