All the top guns, from allover the world, were here at South Garda Karting Track in Lonato, Italy to compete for the Vortex Super Rok title. There were 68 competitors in the Super Rok category of which 6 of us were from South Africa.
We were quickest on Friday morning and were in the top 5 for the rest of the weekend. Qualifying is very important as we get split up into groups and go through elimination rounds. So a quick time is vital to be able to start in the front of the grid and to stay out of the mid pack crash zone. It started raining as it was our turn to go out for qualifying. I was in group 1. It was so slippery I thought I would be way down the field. To my huge relief, we qualified 5th in our group. It had started raining a lot after our qualifying, so group 2 was totally in the wet. So we qualified 5th overall out of 68 competitors. I felt so blessed and knew that I will be starting on the faster lane of the track and the races should be fine.
The first heat went well. The start was brilliant as I made my way through to 3rd position. I then found a good, comfortable pace and finished 4th. The start of the 2nd heat was also great as I made one position and another further down the lap into 3rd position. 2 laps from the end the engine cut out. This meant that I finished 30th and put me way back on the grid for the final.
So we fiddled with the wires to see if it was that. One team member in the camp said it might be the fuel pump, so we changed it and thereafter the engine ran fine, never cut out again.
At the last minute we decide to change a setting at the back of the kart as the track conditions have changed and some adjustments were necessary to stay on pace. I don’t think I prayed so much for anything else before…the one bolt which holds the engine in place was damaged from people who used it previously, which we did not see, stripped at this critical moment…
So we needed to change the engine mounting at about 3 or 4 minutes before our race… we were busy missing our last heat in order to qualify for the final, which was on Sunday of which only the top 34 best finishers of the 3 heats qualify to compete for the World Title. My class was on the grid and I prayed for a miracle and never gave up. We got the miracle as the race never started until we got there.
The time went so slow, my heart was pounding and finally I sat on the grid, overwhelmed, everyone looking. I want to say thanks to all the Italians from our tent who helped, the owner of PCR and all the fellow South Africans who helped as well. I am so grateful for them.
So for the 3rd time the start was good. This race felt so quick as so much was going through my mind. I was praying that my kart would stay together as the previous heat it did not. To my relief we finished the race in 5th position. I was so exhausted after that heat. Unfortunately the 2nd heat pushed us right to the back of the field, but that is racing I suppose, it happens.
So we started 21st out of the 34 competitors who have made it to the Final on the Sunday. My fellow South African Team mates started 17th (Ian Young), 22nd (Philip Viljoen), 23rd (Alex Jacovides), 27th (Shaun La Reservee) and 33rd (Ernie van der Walt). So we were basically all together on this. The start did not go according to plan and for the first 8 or 9 laps I was dodging one accident after another. It was chaos trying to get through the field. Eventually I was in 14th position, but the front bunch had pulled too big a gap for me to catch up within 10 laps. So we ended 14th overall for the race.
I would like to thank my Sponsors, team and all the wonderful people who have helped me in every way before and at this event and to all my friends, fans and family for their support. It is really so much appreciated.
The Bridgestone Cup European Final is a well known international event, where most of the top competitors, such as Alessandro Vantini, Paolo Baselli and Massimo Aceto, who compete here also compete in the Vortex Super Grand Final (19th 0 25 October).
Qualifying went well as we qualified 3rd on the grid, which is the prefect position to start for a race, I think. At the start of the pre-final I overtook the 2nd driver at the start and put the pedal to the metal to keep up with the leader. The kart found grip quicker than I though and I was all over the back of the leader. I then overtook in lap 5 and went into the lead. I lead the race till 2 laps from the end. It was an amazing feeling to lead the pack on their home turf. My kart lost some pace and I made a mistake in the one corner and was too late to defend the line, so I got overtaken and finished 2nd, only to find out that the winner had an illegal clutch, which is a performance enhancer. So this meant that we won the pre-final. I was over the moon. I got goose flesh all over. I could not believe my eyes! I got so much respect from the other drivers for my performance, it was overwhelming. I felt so blessed.
So we started on Prime number 1 spot for the Final. I was quite nervous, excited and totally ready to rock and roll. I remember the 2nd driver trying to trick me on the start as he accelerated and then suddenly stopped in order to create confusion I guessed…I got him as I had a superb start. Lead the race for a lap or 2. Then got overtaken and pushed wide and fell back to 3rd. I did notice my kart did not want to come up to pace, which we later discovered that our tyre pressure gauge was faulty, which meant that our pressures were higher than we thought. So the tyres overheated and got damaged. Anyway we managed to finish 5th in the end, which is great. We are 5th in the World! I am so blessed about that!
In among trying to get Votes in for the shootout, the SAKRA (South African Kart Racing Academy) Academy invited me to help one of their students, Chad Bell with some set ups for his kart as he, like myself struggle to get the kart set up to an absolute perfection as the two of us carry a lot of ballast on the kart to make up the minimum weight of 165 kg. The SAKRA Academy is such a wonderful organization. It is an academy for children of all races who can not afford to race. So kids who are really interested in racing get interviewed and then accepted accordingly. The academy is based in Cape Town and I feel so blessed to have met the students and am so happy for them.
I arrived in Cape Town this past Thursday and spent the day plus the whole of Friday to set the kart up and help Chad. It took me a couple of laps to get used to the kart as the seat, steering and pedal position is set up for Chad. Then, World Champion Claudio Piazza – Musso and my engineer got stuck into Chad’s Kart and started making some set up changes on Thursday. We carried on, on Friday morning before Chad came from school. We made some very good progress. Chad then arrived, jumped into the kart and improved his time by about .5 of a second from the day before. I then showed Chad how to do the one left-right corner complex. We then we put new tyres on, the race engine and I was so happy and pleased that Chad was brining his time down and he improved once again. When he got out the kart, his smile went almost right around his ears. LOL We did one more change for the day and voala… Chad was on pace! I could not believe my eyes! I was so happy that I, together with my team of engineers could help a driver get onto pace.
Racing can get so busy sometimes and with everyone involved putting a lot of attention on me to help me perform, to market me and to help move my career forward, that sometimes I love to put some attention on others.
Hey Everyone!!!
Round 4 of the 2009 ENGEN Supa Karts National Series in the Vortex Super Rok will be this weekend at Vereeniging Kart Track, South Africa. It is a very fast, flowing track, which I love, so I am looking forward to some fast action.
Why do I call it mixed spices you may ask… Well it was full of hot, sour and very good spices all mixed together with a win in the end 
It is the 3rd round of the South African National ENGEN Supa Karts series this weekend at iDube raceway in Pietermaritzburg. My stomach is twisted as I have mixed feelings of excitement, nervousness and the roller coaster feeling I spoke about in one of my previous blogs.
