Praga South Africa put in a solid performance at the second round of the Northern Regions Rotax Max Championship, taking a number of podium positions and victories at Zwartkops Raceway on Saturday (2 March 2019).
Bambinos:
Troy van der Laan set the pace in Bambinos, qualifying on pole position. He had a race long battle at the front of the pack to finish 2nd in the first race. He took victory in race two and another 2nd place in the final race. This placed Troy 2nd overall for the day.
Micro Max:
Micro Max produced some thrilling racing, with Mohammed Moerat continuing his winning streak. The youngster seems unstoppable after taking pole position and winning all three races. He has now taken six out of six race wins this season!
The action was fairly intense between teammates Caleb Cotterell, Kyle Beukes and Erich Heystek.
Caleb qualified down in 7th, but had a good first race. He made up two positions and managed to avoid a turn one accident to take the flag in 5th place. He was nothing if not consistent and finished 5th in both of the remaining two heats, which placed him just outside the podium rankings in 4th place overall.
Kyle had a very eventful day. With less than a minute left in qualifying, he snuck into 5th place. He was having a good first race, but a small misjudgement saw him carrying too much speed during an overtaking manoeuvre into turn one and he spun. He managed to re-join the pack, but was left down in 8th position. He recovered well in race two, to take a podium finish and claimed 4th place in the final race of the day. This left him 5th overall in the class.
Erich is really starting to find his feet in the class. He was lying 5th for most of the qualifying session, but was piped at the last minute and had to settle for 6th on the grid. He lost a bit of time in the race one accident and took the flag in 6th place. He took 8th in race two, but it was in the final race of the day that he really shone. After a flawless drive, Erich finished 3rd in the heat and took 6th overall for the day.
Mini Max:
Taya van der Laan is a very quick Mini Max driver. She put in a good qualifying session to start on the third row of the grid. She put in a solid race one performance to claim 7th place. An off track excursion dropped her down to 10th place in race two, but she recovered well to fight her way back up to 7th in the final heat. It won’t be long before Taya grows in confidence and translates her fast lap times into podium finishes.
Junior Max:
Godfrey Malumane had a solid day and even picked up a challenge or two in Junior Max. He qualified 8th and finished 9th in the first race. He went on to claim two 7th place finishes in the remaining heats.
Senior Max:
Dane van Heerde had a fantastic outing in Senior Max. After qualifying on the front row of the grid, Dane put his head down and got himself into the race lead by the end of the first lap. He proceeded to take his first race win of the season. The second race was a bit more difficult. Dane was embroiled in a race long tussle which eventually resulted in a 3rd place finish. He finished 2nd in the final heat and took the silver spot for the day.
DD2:
Ian Allnut was the sole Praga driver in DD2. He qualified in 10th, but spent the first heat fighting a technical gremlin and finished 13th. He took the flag in 11th place in both remaining heats.