Birel drivers impress

The impressive Cape Town karting circuit hosted round one of the Rotax max challenge national championship event. Birel drivers once again showed what they were made of by upsetting many of the favourite drivers in these categories.

In the junior max category, it was very consistent drive by Aston Hare (Head 2 Head Birel) that gave him overall victory for the day. Hare did not put a foot wrong to show that he is very serious about defending his 2009 title. Chad Maciver (Birel) managed third overall for the day after constantly fighting with the lead bunch. He has started his 2010 season off in style, showing that he too wants the 2010 title. Kelvin Van Der Linde was the next best Birel behind Maciver. A heat one crash saw him fighting his way through the field to take a well deserved fourth position. Dewald Brummer (Midstream Harcourt Birel) rounded out the top six with an inspiring drive in the last final . A very good start to the series for all Birel drivers in this category.
In the mini max class, local hero Marco Busi put in a strong performance for the Birel brand, taking a heat win and getting second overall for the day. Youngster Sheldon Van Der Linde was also extremely competitive in his Birel, but unfortunately an out of spec barrel saw his exclusion from the event. A rather sad day for this category as the barrel was supplied like this to him. Youngster Bradley Liebenberg had a day to forget after crashing out of the heat race.

Rotax max challenge produced some excellent racing, with new comer to the class , Ryan Frost (Birel) upsetting the favourites by taking second overall behind local specialist Aiden De Nobrega. Frost was definitely the fastest driver on track, but contact in the last final saw him pushed right down the order, however he recovered to take second. One more lap would have seen him taking victory. Never the less a strong start to his championship campaign. Kade Tame (Olivewood Birel) and Jason Lowe (Birel) all went through steep learning curves learning the very technical Cape Town circuit.

In the dd2 category, Sean Frost (Olivewood Birel) showed why he is the 2009 Max Challenge champion by just being very patient whilst everyone crashed around him. He managed second overall for the day. Crowd pleaser – Ian Young – was always in the running for victory but over ambitious driving by Murray in heat one ended his challenge for the weekend. Eugene Brits (Birel) put one of his strongest away performances together by finishing fifth overall for the day. Devon Tame (Olivewood Birel) showed he too will be a championship contender soon by improving over the weekend.

In the dd2 masters category there was a dominating display of driving by George Dos Ramos (City Office Birel) to take the win ahead of fellow Birel driver John Van Wyk.

In the new Maxterino class, The Kart Shoppe team member Clinton Bezuidenhout showed some very good race craft to win the day.

A good start to the season for all Birel pilots.