Six nations compete at Rotax African Open

Cameron O' Connor has been having a great 2017 season in Senior Max

Prizes include entries and tickets to the Rotax Grand Finals in Portugal on 4-11 November 2017, where drivers from 60 countries will compete for the World Championship of Rotax karting.

“What is exciting is the depth and breadth of entries we have received for this year’s event,” says Rotax organiser Jennifer Verheul. “The visitors will have their work cut out to beat our local drivers on August 20. However, making their lives easier will be the running of a Northern Regions championship meeting at Zwartkops the day before on August 19, a Saturday, and the visitors are entering this meeting too, as a chance to learn the Zwartkops track and set their karts up for Pretoria’s unique conditions, which includes running at fairly high altitude.”

The visiting drivers are:

• Angola: Keoni Kiala (Micro Max) and Nuno Diogo (Junior Max)
  
• Kenya: Jevin Gohil (Senior Max)
  
• Mozambique: Carmo Novela (Mini Max), Jeffrey Novela (Junior Max) and Cristian Bouche (DD2)
  
• UAE: Yusuf Moola (Junior Max)
  
• Zimbabwe: Zachary Dufty (Junior Max)

Prizes

The prizes of this year’s category winners as follows:

• DD2: The winner of this top gearbox class gets an entry and a free brand-new kart chassis, engine, tyres and fuel to compete in the week-long Rotax Grand Finals in Portugal in November
  
• DD2 Masters: The winner gets the same prize as that of the DD2 class winner
  
• Senior Max: The winner of this class gets the same prize (kart, engine etc), and an entry to compete in the DD2 class (not the Senior Max class).
  
• Junior Max: The winner of this class gets the same prize and the chance to compete in the World Junior Max Grand Finals.
  
• Mini Max: The winner gets an air ticket for himself (or herself) and one parent to spectate at the Grand Finals.
  
• Micro Max: The winner here gets the same prize as the Mini Max winner (air tickets) to the Grand Finals in Algarve, Portugal.

“The prizes need some explanation,” says Ed Murray, Rotax importer for the Southern Africa region, who recently returned from meetings with the Rotax in Austria. “There are limited berths for each category at the Grand Finals, and at present we can only have one representative from South Africa in both Mini Max and Micro Max. In this case, our designated driver in each of these classes will be the winner of our yearlong National Rotax Championship series, which ends with our final Zwartkops on September 24.

“A similar situation applies to the Senior Max class, and so the organisers have very kindly offered our African Open winner in Senior Max a drive in the top DD2 category in Portugal, as there is less pressure for entries here from all 60 countries involved.”

For more information, go to www.kart.co.za.