ZWARTKOPS MAX REGIONAL 6 MARCH 2010

Birel drivers continue in top form

A fun day of racing was had by all at the first round of the Northern Regions Championship held at Zwartkops on 6 March 2010. This was the first round of the Max Northern Region Championship, and all drivers were rearing to go after the long off season.

Mini max produced some spectacular racing with new comers to the class Sheldon Van Der Linde (Van Der Linde Developments Birel) and Bradley Liebenberg (Forsa Racing Birel) dominating proceedings in all three heats. Van Der Linde narrowly edged out Liebenberg to take the heat wins and victory for the day. It was quite amazing to see how two Junior GP graduates could be so competitive in their first mini max race.

A lot of hype surrounded the Junior Max Class, as it seemed that racing in this class might turn out to be a real spectacle. No one was disappointed. New Birel recruit, Kelvin Van Der Linde took pole ahead of Aston Hare who had just returned back to Birel. Raoul Hyman, Dewald Brummer (Harcourt’s-midstream Birel) and Nathan Parkins (Forsa Racing Birel) also showed they are becoming forces to be reckoned with by setting competitive qualifying times. Van Der Linde just defended his pole in heat one by taking victory, with a charging Hare very close behind. Brummer finished in a respectable 5th in his first Junior Max race whilst Parkins had a heat to forget after contact on the track.

In heat two the tables were turned when defending 2009 Junior Max champion, Aston Hare produced a very consistent drive to take the win, ahead of a charging Van Der Linde. Parkins had a good drive up to fourth whilst Brummer remained consistent to take 6th. The days overall victor would be decided in heat three. Some over ambitious driving by Hyman ended Van Der Linde’s challenge in turn 2. Hare romped away to take a very fast victory and claimed round one honours.   Parkins finished in third whilst Brummer produced another determined drive to take fourth. Overall it was a brilliant day for Birel Junior Max drivers. Hare took the overall win, third went to Van Der Linde, fourth to Brummer and sixth to Parkins.

In the max challenge category there was a surprise for everyone as 2009 DD2 World Champion Caleb Williams appeared on the list. Ryan Frost (Birel), a new comer to the max challenge class was not too worried and chased Caleb Williams down the whole day- a brilliant start to his max challenge campaign. New comer to Birel, Jason Lowe also had a very consistent first drive in his new Birel R30S2, taking third in heat 3 and fourth for the day. An on track altercation in heat two prevented Kade Tame (Maverick Development Birel) from stepping on to the podium, but he still managed to salvage fifth for the day. Adon Fairweather (Honey-B Birel) had a consistent performance to finish seventh for the day. A challenge has been laid down to the Birel youngsters in the max challenge class, and we are sure they will rise to the challenge and hunt down World Champion Caleb Williams.

DD2 started off perfectly for Birel Drivers with Eugene Brits (Birel) and Sean Frost (Birel) locking out the front row in qualifying.  Devon Tame (Maverick Developments Birel) showed he will become a challenging force in the class by taking sixth position in qualifying, just off the pace. Heat one was not meant to be a Birel victory as front row starters Brits and Frost collided, erasing any chance of Birel victory in the opening two heats. Brits and Frost made their way back through the field in heat 2 until Frost retired with a technical problem. Heat three was a different affair, with Brits pressuring Verheul all the way to line. Frost produced another aggressive drive by finishing third. Tame was going through a steep learning curve in his first dd2 outing. We look forward to more positive results in the upcoming SARMC in Cape Town.

Lucky Ramagole took his first ever victory in the Cadette Class. This is very important to The Kart Shoppe as Lucky Ramagole is a new recruit to the Castrol Toyota Development team. It is great to see that another young talent has been found to follow in the footsteps of current Castrol Toyota development driver Morgan McColl and graduates Axcil Jefferies and Tasmin Pepper. We thank Castrol and Toyota for their continued support in developing young South African drivers.
All in all, once again it was a very good day for Birel drivers. Attention now will be placed on continuing this form at the next round of the max championships to be held in Cape Town over Easter Weekend. See you there

The Kart Shoppe Team.