Bright powers home in karting champs thriller
THE Engen Supa Kart championships were decided on a day of thrills, spills – and controversy at Vereeniging Kart Circuit last Saturday.
Port Elizabeth drivers brought back lots of silverware to the Friendly City from the final round of the karting championships.
In the Cadett 50cc invitation class, Liyen Mudaly and Kiesha Potgieter had their first visit to Vereeniging and finished eighth and 13th respectively and with this Liyen secured a third place overall in the championship while Kiesha obtained a credible sixth overall position for 2013.
In the Mini Rok class, young Josh Coertze (Protec/Zanardi) made his first appearance in national karting and excelled by finishing in a credible 13th place on the day, but his second overall in the Rookie class was an outstanding performance, let alone his seventh place overall in the championship against seasoned drivers up to the age of 13 years old.
In the Junior Rok class, PE only had Jeandre Marais brave enough to take on the challenge of the highly competitive High School class where he finished in 13th place on the day and that saw him finish 11th overall in the championship.
The Super Rok class will be talked about for many months to come.
The championship battle was between reign- ing champion Simon Moss (Tsogo Sun/Tony Kart), Nathan Parkins and Chassen Bright (Blue Label Telecoms/Zanardi/Luk/Protec).
Race 1 saw Bright lead from start to finish from Simon Moss with third going to Julian van der Watt (Blue Label Telecoms/Zanardi).
Moss won race two from Bright and Parkins was third which set up a nail-biting title deciding third race.
On lap one Parkins bumped Bright off and two laps into the race Parkins and Moss tangled and Moss was shuffled to the back of the field.
Bright made a strong comeback from the rear of the field to second place and then suffered engine overheating problems from the damage caused in the lap 1 shunt and dropped to fourth place, while Moss made a comeback to end seventh.
Luke Herring (Blue Label Telecoms/Zanardi) took the win, but then came the bombshell as Parkins was deemed to have been at fault and subsequently disqualified which saw Moss emerge as champion.
Bright’s consistent finishes saw him scoop the overall victory, at a track that has never been kind to him.
All in all it was a memorable season and the fact that the junior classes grew is an encouraging sign for motor sport in general.