It was an action packed weekend for Praga South Africa who travelled to Cape Town for the first round of the SA Rotax Max Championship.
In a team dominated by Gauteng drivers, the going was always going to be tough. Not only is Killarney notorious for favouring the local karters, but the recent resurface made it even tougher for the non-Capetonians to get to grips with the ever changing track conditions.
This was especially evident for Troy van der Laan. Despite his success at Killarney a few weeks ago, Troy found the going tough this weekend. He qualified 5th and had a good first race, taking the flag in 4th place. Things went awry in race two, however, with Troy down in 12th. He recovered back up to 9th in the final race.
Micro Max was filled bumper bashing action packed racing. Unfortunately, nose cone penalties was the determining factor in many of the results.
Mohammed Moerat put in a great performance, although his 2019 winning streak has come to an end. He qualified 5th and finished 4th in the first race. He finished 6th in race two and a masterful performance took him to 2nd in race three. He ended the day 3rd overall.
Caleb Cotterell spent race day defending and attacking in the mid-field mayhem. He qualified 8th and held this position in the first race. He finished 10th in both remaining heats and took 10th in the overall standings.
Kyle Beukes is an exciting driver to watch, unfortunately, his over exuberance has the tendency to work against him. Starting the first race in 9th place, left a mountain of work to do. Kyle made good progress in the field, only to receive a 5 second nose cone penalty, which dropped him back down to 10th. An amazing comeback saw Kyle take 4th in race two, but yet another nose cone infringement put him out of the running in race three. Kyle was left 9th overall for the day.
Erich Heystek didn’t have the best qualifying, only managing the 11th fastest time. A nose cone penalty dropped him down the race one results, but he recovered well in race two, claiming a 5th place finish. He finished 8th in the final heat and took 7th overall for the day.
Taya van der Laan had three action packed races and looked strong in Mini Max. She qualified 8th, but her race one performance was nullified by a nose cone penalty. She finish in 7th place in both remaining races and achieved 8th overall for the day. A good accomplishment given the level of competition in the class.
Nose cone is a swear word for Dane van Heerde, after he received penalties in two of the three Senior Max races. This pretty much put him out of contention with his best result being 9th in race two.
Carlo Olivier had a consistent run in DD2. He qualified 12th and finished 10th, 12th and 10th in each race respectively. It must be said, that finishing 11th overall in a field that consists of multiple South African Champions, as well as a World Champion is no small feat.
The racing was tough, but the team adapted well to the challenge and will no doubt turn the tables on the Capetonians when the Championship heads up to Gauteng.
Issued by: Motorsport Marketing Services