Fireworks spark at Kart Sport Club Grand Finale
LAST weekend the curtain came down on an amazing inaugural season of racing for Kart Sport Club’s championship with the seventh and final round taking place at the National Sports Stadium’s Pole Position Karts track.
A full day of high-revving action at the club’s home track saw the well supported Championships being finalised and winners crowned for 2023.
Dominant performances were seen by 2023 ROK Cup Zimbabwe champion, TK Mapiro, fresh from his Rok World finals experience in Italy, and Kid ROK champion, Devin Van de Linde, both of whom went on to win overall on the day and bagging the Club championship titles as well.
In the Mini Rok Class, Mapiro made his intentions for the day clear by an excel-lent display of driving by qualifying on pole with the following pack covered by less than five seconds.
Seth Rukato and Tawana Shambare were locked in an intense battle all day and with Rukato enjoying a fabulous maiden win, they finished 2nd and 3rd respectively. Brilliant racing in the mid pack with different finishing positions in every race saw Matthew Mukori claim 4th overall, despite a long break from racing, closely followed by Yaseen Savania,
Eli Pilossof and Eshaan Savania and young Zack Staples in only his second outing in the Mini Rok class.
Amazingly, positions 2nd to 7th were only covered by 16 points showing just how competitive this class is.
Kid ROK competitor Devin Van de Linde had a successful day with a clean sweep of wins, finishing off an amazing year and whom graduates to the very fast Mini Rok class in 2024.
In close attendance throughout the day was young Elroy Shamu who finished in 2nd position and enjoyed some good racing with Zac Staples in 3rd who was racing in both this class and the Mini Rok class, which proved a hectic day for him.
Josh Phiri and Rayaan Savania both raced hard for overall points with Phiri just coming ahead in 4th by 3 points over Savania.
Manuel Mukori performed well during the day despite missing several races during the year.
In the 125 Max Class, a small grid affected by school academic requirements, saw Zaydaan Savania and Jaedon Masiyanise share the spoils with two wins and two seconds each after a hard fought day of racing.
Equal on points and finishing positions, the tie break had to go down to qualifying times which Masiyanise won by just 0.150 seconds which just proves how important qualifying is.
Savania claimed the championship in his rookie season and Masiyanise, who was affected during the year by a school rugby injury, looks forward to moving up a class in 2024.
The final race meeting brought to a close an exciting year for karting in Zimbabwe with a re-energised sport driven by a new club and a world class kart track.
Kart Sport Club Chairman, Victor Shambare, enthused what a brilliant first year for the club it has been.
“We are so grateful to all our members and Motorsport Zimbabwe for their support and so proud of our Karting community. Congratulations to all our winners and thanks so much to all our drivers, teams, parents, officials and supporters - we couldn’t do it without you. We can’t wait for next year!”
Rok Cup Zimbabwe promoter, Kevin Dufty, said: “It’s been exciting watching this club go from strength to strength, giving kart racers what they want — competitive, fun, and fair karting with a great atmosphere. It has been the most successful sea-son since the ROK Cup series was re-introduced to Zimbabwe in 2020.”
Dufty added: “We have learnt a lot this year and while we still have many improvements to make, I am confident we have the right balance in place to give our members an even more exciting 2024.”