14 Nov Race Report by Hayley – ACTION AND AMBITION: THE FINAL ROUND OF REGIONAL KARTING 2024 – 09 Nov 2024

ACTION AND AMBITION: THE FINAL ROUND OF REGIONAL KARTING 2024
The eighth and final round of Killarney’s Regional Karting series on Saturday 9 November got underway with a smooth free practice session – not a scratch on any of the karts. Minor hiccups in Qualifying saw some karts penalised for underweight but the session was otherwise incident-free.
Race 1 of the OKJ category saw William Mashall, Rayaan Kariem and Onwabile Mcinga locked in a wheel-to-wheel battle inside the 180s for the top three spaces. Mcinga unfortunately received a nose cone penalty dropping his result to fifth place while Marshall scored an impressive win, with Aleksander Praizovic second and Karriem third. Praizovic recorded the best lap time of 40.887sec.
Mini Rok’s first race of the day saw Radhi Harris unable to complete the usual 12 laps due to a loose exhaust pipe that started to break off his kart. Harris stopped on lap eight and was classified last while Zac Boshoff took the win with Max Boshoff second and Ebrahim Khalpey third. Max Boshoff scored the best lap time with 46.013sec.
The Senior and Junior Max category’s Race 1 started off with a spin as Sebastiano Human completed a 360 coming out of the pitlane before crossing the starting line for his warmup lap. On the last lap Human and Jordon Wadely exited Golf Club side by side in a do-or-die last-lap duel, until their karts tangled and both karts spun off track. Human recovered to finish ninth, with Wadely 11th while Charl Visser, Luca Wehrli and Ethan Deacon took the top three spots.
Another incident occurred during Race 1 of the DD2 category between Neville Chapman and Conor Hughes, causing Chapman to spin off onto the runoff area and lose his exhaust before entering pit lane. Hughes had been reportedly involved in another racing incident inside the 180s along with Jared Jordan where Jordan had to retire early and came to a stop inside turn three with 11 laps to go.
Hughes finished fourth place while Chapman and Jordan both DNF’ed. Jason Coetzee took the win with Matthew Wadely second and Ethan Stier third. Matthew Wadely got the best lap time of the race with 40.970sec.
The Clubmans category had an interesting start to their first race of the day as Alex Lapelley spun off exiting the 180s by himself causing him to retire early just before Matthew Carter spun exiting the last corner on the main straight and nearly took out a few karts. Andre le Riche completed the race in first place with Kyle Visser in second and Ghaniem Slamet in third. Best lap time went to Le Riche with a time of +42.656 seconds.
During the day’s lunch break, a minute of silence had been held for Karting’s Technical Controller – Emile Mcgregor — who had succumbed from his long going strife of Leukaemia on 1 November. Mcgregor was known by all and loved by plenty and will be deeply missed within the karting community. Our thoughts go out to his family and friends, may he rest in peace.
Following the minute of silence, the start of the Bambinos race brought the action as Emelee Adriaans and Lehan Fourie slightly collided on the first lap in the 180s and quickly composed themselves to continue. Later, Ashlyn Beaumont managed to overtake both Divaaj Govender and Lehan Fourie swiftly, retaining fourth place, but unfortunately lost her position as she got pushed of the track entering Golf Club on the last lap dropping her to last place.
Radhi Harris finished first with Caleb Lingeveldt second and Aleena Doutie third; Harris took the best lap with a time of 58.266sec.
The first lap of the OKJ category’s second race had an interesting start as Onwabile Mcinga and Aleksander Praizovic collided; Mcinga lost his exhaust pipe after running wide while Praizovic losing the racing line and wound up on the run-off area
William Marshall, Rayaan Kariem and Manelisi Nkomo made up the top three with Marshall taking the best lap time of 41.138sec.
Race 2 of the DD2 Category had Conor Hughes and Jared Jordan involved in a racing incident again where one of the karts did not leave enough racing space for the other going into the 180s. Jason Coetzee came home first with Matthew Wadely second and Shayur Hapul third; the best lap time was that of Jason Coetzee with 41.094sec.
The Clubmans had a series of unfortunate events unfold when pit lane starter – Gabi Lanfear – went out in front of the rest of the field causing them to reform and then start without her. Another two reforms had been given whereby many karts collided and spun off the track at different intervals.
As many say, third time’s the charm and so it was as Andre le Riche took the chequered flag in first, with Kyle Visser second and Ghaniem Slamet third. Visser recorded the best lap with a time of 42.863sec
During Senior and Junior Max’s third race of the day, entering the Esses there was no space for both competitors to get through side by side and Luca Wehrli decided to go over the grass and dangerously re-entered the track causing a commotion leading Wehrli to collide with Cole Hewetson and Tate Bishop.
Charl Visser won the race with Ethan Deacon second and Tate Bishop third, while Jordon Wadely scored a best lap time of 41.109 seconds.
And with the wave of a chequered flag the final round of Regional Karting for 2024 was done and dusted; a big Thank you to all the competitors, officials and marshals for making this year a success. See you next year!
Photo and Text by Hayley Zaayman