Kwanda shifts up a gear
2017 karting champ keeps foot on the pedal to continue fine form
It has been another superb year in karting for East London born junior karting talent Kwanda Mokoena who picked up a number of impressive wins and titles over the 2018 season.
Arguably, the 2017 South African national karting champion’s biggest victories were when he triumphed in the MSA RokCup National in the OKJ 125 series at Killarney and then followed that up with the Rotax Junior Max 125 national title in Cape Town earlier this year.
After the Cape Town success a thrilled Mokoena said: “I came here to do my best and I had promised my team I would win after winning this years MSA Academy RokCup National Championship in PE two weeks ago.”
This early success then set him up for an assault on karting’s biggest event, the RokCup World Finals that were taking place this year in South Garda, Italy.
Coming up against karters from 52 different countries is a daunting task in itself, but Mokoena showed his class to make it to the last 34 drivers for the A group final.
In the final, an accident pretty much put paid to any chances he had of taking the win. When it happened, he was in 11th place then dropped down to 16th, but despite the huge set-back Mokoena continued going, pushing his beaten and broken kart past challengers to finish in an impressive 10th place.
“I was in the air over another kart mid race,” explained Mokoena.
“It looked like it was all over, but I kept my foot down in the air, foot on full gas, bent axle, bent sprocket, water leak and still came from 16th to 10th."
In all it has been another year of growth for the young 14-year-old karter and he should be happy with his efforts.
A run-down of Mokoena's other triumphs over the last few years, include his first SA title last year.
In 2016 he was the Northern Regions Junior Rok champ and Maxterino African open champion and in 2015, he claimed wins in both the Northern Regions Mini Rok and Maxterino Championships.
This shows the impressive progression of the budding talent over the past few years.
Mokoena will be back in the place of his birth soon, as every year he heads down to Cove Rock for the December holidays where he spends time with his family and grandparents.
When chatting to the Dispatch a few years ago Mokoena admitted that he loved coming to East London, especially because it’s his home town.