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Chassen Bright, Kashen Naicker and JP Hamman each earned their seat to the 2104 Vortex Rok World Finals in Italy.
Super Rok
Chassen Bright (Zanardi) put the finishing touches to the Open class Super Rok 125cc championship by beating wild card Keagan Blackensee (Vortex) who put a kart between Bright and championship rival Keagan Masters (TonyKart) and another wild card in Kyle Lawrence (Flandria) in the opening race.
Masters did what he could to salvage championship glory by winning Race 2 from Blackensee and Bright with Lawrence fourth. The last race was running to much the same tune as Blackensee chased Masters home with champion elect Bright watching it all from a safe distance, only for Bright to dramatically drop down the order to 10th on the last lap.
But that last lap disappointment was not near enough to stop Bright from wrapping up a well deserved 2014 Super Rok karting championship, 24 points clear of Masters as he booked his flight to Italy for the Rok World Final.
Junior Rok
Naicker (Zanardi) likewise kept a watching brief in second as Delon Thompson (Birel) took the opening 125cc Junior Rok heat with championship contenders Jason Smith (TonyKart) and Stuart White (Kosmic) third and fourth for those two to draw level on points in second and ahead of Luca Munaretto, Neha Harpal and Sisa Ngebulana.
Naicker then followed Smith home in Race 2 with Thompson third from White but the champion elect turned on the style to lead from the get-go in the final with Thompson and Smith in close attendance before the latter duo swapped positions with two laps to run to leave Naicker to win his championship from the front ahead Smith, Thompson and White.
Naicker took the 2014 South African Junior Rok championship and the free entry to the Vortex Junior Rok World Final from Jason Smith, who nicked second from White in the end with Thompson fourth.
Mini Rok
The primary school Mini Rok 60cc championship was always going to be a humdinger with Cap lighties JP Hamman (Zanardi) and Charl Visser (Kosmic) coming to Vereeneging in the championship lead and second place; and local track experts Jordan North (Kosmic), Blaine Rademeyer (Zanardi), Altan Bouw (Kosmic) and Cameron O'Connor (TopKart) all snapping at their championship heels.
The local lads used that home track advantage to full effect with O’Connor taking the first race win from Rademeyer, North, Bouw and Daniele Patrizi (Zanardi) with Visser only managing sixth and Hamman seventh in Race 1, to see North slip ahead of Visser in the championship chase and Rademeyer just three points adrift in fourth, although Hamman still held a 15-point overall advantage.
The second Mini Rok race saw the order reshuffled as Bouw took the win from O’Connor, Rademeyer, Patrizi and Hamman whose fifth was good to open his title gap to North, who only managed seventh. Visser was a lowly tenth to unlock one of his earlier championship drops and see him fourth in the title race and within two points of second man North, but a point behind Bouw with one race to run.
10 POINTS CLEAR
The finale was dramatic with Visser eliminated on the first lap as North, Bouw and Rademeyer battled up front. Rademeyer then moved ahead on the penultimate lap at North’s expense as Jordan dropped back to 8th. Bouw then moved ahead of Rademeyer on the last lap to win with Jarrod Waberski (TopKart) third from O’Connor, LJ Mgingi and North seventh.
Hamman, who watched it all play out ahead of him as he cruised home in eighth to clinch the 2014 South African Mini Rok title and a drive in the World Final, ultimately 10 points clear of Bouw, Rademeyer and North, each a point apart and Visser fifth from O’Connor; pending any post-race shenanigans.
Two club championship support races saw wildcards Sa’aad Variawa take a trio of wins from Tyron Bouw, Josh de Pavia and Jordan Brooks respectively, but that was not enough to stop Cape lad Troy Dolinschek from driving away with the title in fifth overall in the first baby Cadet race for 'under 8s', while Nathan Parkins took all three X30 gearbox races, twice from Trent Varejes and once from Connor Rogers.
The balance of South Africa’s 2014 National karting champions will be crowned at the Rotax Max National Finals at Zwartkops this Saturday, October 4.
