SA kartracing Roks Port Elizabeth

PORT Elizabeth's Celso Scribante circuit hosted the opener of the new-look blockbuster South African Kart Championship Series which has the Rok and Rotax engine classes on the same bill.

Reigning Super Rok champion and Bay ace Simon Moss gave the new Energy chassis an encouraging debut as he started from pole position and won two races and the class ahead of second-heat winner Chassen Bright (Zanardi).

Three third places saw TonyKart-mounted Keagan Masters end the day with third place.

The well-supported Mini Rok class, with drivers aged between eight and 12, was a nail-biter and, at the end of the day, victory went to Cape Town's Charl Visser (Zanardi) who was placed third in the first race and second in race two before winning the final.

Runner-up was local star Joshua Coertze (Zanardi) who won the opening race.

Although he didn't win a race, fellow Zanardi driver Blaine Rademeyer was always in the hunt and took the third place trophy. Jordan North (Zanardi) won the second race, but a poor first heat result saw him end the day sixth. Benoni's Kashen Naicker scored the biggest win of his career by steering his Zanardi to victory in all three Junior Rok races.

There was a fascinating contest for runner-up and at the end of the day Jason Smith (TonyKart) and Delon Thompson (Birel) were tied on 91 points after each had second, third and fourth position finishes. The verdict eventually went to Smith thanks to being runner-up in the first race.

Maxterino, the other class for drivers between 8-12 years, was a resounding victory for Visser again, who won two races. The surprise of the day was Johannesburg's Kwanda Mokoena (Top Kart) who ended the day with two second places.

A second and two thirds gave Capetonian Dario Busi (TonyKart) third place.

Junior Max was controversial. The win went to Birel's Jordan Sherratt whose questionable driving tactics saw poleman Clinton Bezuidenhout (Zanardi) excluded.

That left Kohen Bam (Kosmic) second after finishing as runnerup in each race. Bloemfontein racer Stuart White was a safe third for Zanardi.

Max Challenge was a Western Cape whitewash as Eugene Denyssen (TonyKart) won race two to oust Kosmic's Luke Herring, who started from pole, but ended the day winless.

Zanardi's Julian van der Watt won the first and last races but a tangle in race two was his undoing and left him in third.

After some racing in the US, Pretoria-based Eugene Britz returned home brimful of confidence. He started the weekend by winning the opening DD2 race aboard his CRG, but an exhaust problem saw him lose pace in race two and finish second.

Victory in the final race assured him of the win ahead of KwaZulu-Natal's TonyKart-mounted Benjamin Habig.

Fellow KZN driver Mitchell Licen (Intrepid) was third ahead of second race winner Arnold Neveling (Zanardi). The invitation Cadet class for drivers under eight years was won by Troy Dolinschek who had two wins.

The other win was by Jordan Brooks who ended the day just one point clear of Joshua Garland.