26 May RACE REPORT BY HAYLEY – IT’S MAY’HEM AT ROUND 4 OF REGIONAL KARTING – 24 MAY 2025
Round 4 of Regional Karting on Saturday, 24 May got off to a chaotic start. Competitor sign on’s were late – although half were completed the Friday before – transponders ran out, making the timekeeper run to the Castrol Tower to collect more, Senior and Junior Max were racing together with a few rookie competitors, and on top of everything the scale at parc ferme was faulty, delaying racing by an hour as we waited for repairs!
Warm Up and Qualifying, however, were completed with very few problems other than the occasional spin – but just before Bambino’s Race 1 the Club’s power went out, which meant the PA system, Live Timing and Wi-Fi went down. Commentary was stopped and results could not be sent out to the various teams.
During Bambino Race 1 things started heating up as Ashlyn Beaumont and Aleena Doutie fought for second, with Doutie in front when it mattered. Divaaj Govender took the win from Doutie and Beaumont, only for Beaumont to be handed a 10 second penalty for jumping the start, demoting her to fourth and handing third to Emelee Adriaans.
Jean de Villiers led home the first OKN/OKJ outing, followed by Zimvo Majova in second and Aleksander Praizovic in third.
The Senior Max field got off to an excellent start in their second race, although Charl Visser was shown a black and white warning flag halfway through, due to unsportsmanlike behaviour.
Nevertheless, Visser took the win with a best lap of 40.882 seconds, ahead of William Marshall (40.812 seconds) and Keagan Beaumont (40.997 seconds).
Beaumont, however, was handed a five second penalty due to a nose cone infringement, dropping him third to seventh and promoting Jesse Swart into third.
Mini Max hotshot Zac Hindley spun out just before the oval of the 180s in Race 2 – the only mishap in an otherwise smooth race. Max Boshoff (43.909 seconds) came home first with Ruhan Victor (44.017 seconds) second and Liam Wharton (43.906 seconds) third.
Brothers Max and Zac Boshoff had an interesting Race 3 in the Mini Rok category as the two were right up against each other – bumper to bumper – leaving no gap between the karts. At first it seemed as though the two were helping each other out until, with five laps to go, Max nudged Zac into the tyre barrier entering the 180s, dropping Zac from first to last in a matter of seconds.
Was the altercation an unintentional racing incident or competitor rivalry? We may never know.
Max took the flag in first place with a best lap time of 46.371 seconds, Logan Roehrig (46.513 seconds) was second and Jose Slamet (46.801 seconds) third.
A double yellow was called for at the start of Micro Max Race 3 due to an unknown obstruction on the circuit while, just like Visser, Ebrahim Khalpey was shown a black and white flag for unsportsmanlike behaviour.
Yaqeen Gamieldien took the win with a best lap time of 45.049 seconds, closely followed by Slater Smith (45.118 seconds) and Roehrig (45.118 sec) in third.
The only unfortunate incident in the third DD2/ Master’s Race was Conor Hughes getting a little too close for comfort to his competitors on the first lap, jumbling them all up.
This knot dropped Hughes one position, from ninth to tenth. Jason Coetzee crossed the finish line first with a best lap time of 40.366 seconds, while Sebastian Boyd (40.404 seconds) tracked closely behind in second, ahead of Joseph Oelz (40.418 seconds) in third.
See you at Killarney for more intense, closely fought kart racing at Round 5 on Saturday, 19 July.
TEXT AND IMAGE BY HAYLEY ZAAYMAN