MORGADO’S MAX ATTACK – VEREENIGING

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Cris Morgado capped a highly successful trip to Gauteng by winning the final of the Rotax Max Challenge Northern Regions event at Vereeniging on Saturday (August 24).

The KwaZulu Natal driver was quick all weekend, but slightly out-paced by Bjorn Roos and Max-returnee Gavin Cronje in the heat and pre-final. Instead he had his hands full with the on-track attentions of Jennifer Murray as they traded third place while Cronje and a rejuvenated Roos attacked each other. However it all ended in a tangle, and pre-final winner Cronje found himself stranded track side, while Roos was bumped back to ninth.

Murray ended second for the day, with Andrew Vryenhoek third, Steve Ridgeway fourth and George dos Ramos fifth. Northern Regions Max series leader Mark Cronje sat this one out as competitors can only count their best four out of five meetings and with a 31 point lead prior to the fifth round, Cronje could afford to concentrate on getting a good Cape Town set-up for the finals.

The big winner as far as the championship is concerned was 19-year-old Jennifer Murray. With KZN driver Morgado not eligible for a points haul in Gauteng races, Jennifer bagged 83 points to put her in a strong position as the Max Challenge heads for the SA Finals in Cape Town next month.


KZN visitor Chris Morgado impressed with his Gauteng victory in Max Challenge, after some good dices with Jennifer Murray


Gavin Cronje made a return to Rotax Max Challenge and almost won the final before tangling with Bjorn Roos


Bjorn Roos was quick all day, shadowing Gavin Cronje in the pre-final and final before his shunt with Cronje and dropping to ninth


Jennifer Murray mixed it with Chris Morgado throughout the day and ended up top Northern Regions points scorer for Rotax Max Challenge, thanks to her second place behind KZN “interloper” Morgado

Competitors count a third of their regional results towards the SA Rotax Max Challenge for 2002 and whilst Murray had a splendid final round of the regionals, Rob Kellock, who was lying second in the Gauteng-based championship prior to Saturday, only ended seventh, dropping 12 points to Murray. The other major Gauteng contender Steve Ridegway, placed fourth on Saturday.

With the announcement of the 2003 World Finals to be run at Zwartkops in January next year there is a new sense of urgency surrounding Rotax Max Challenge and it will be interesting to see if Gavin Cronje enters for the SA’s in Cape Town, despite having sat out the first four rounds of this year’s regionals. As the winner of the first Max Challenge World Finals two years ago, it would make a lot of sense for Gavin Cronje to make a major push for a place in the South African team next year. But his DNF on Saturday will not have helped his chances.

KARTdotCOZA will bring you a full points tally of the regional Max Challenge series later this week.

RESULTS

ROTAX MAX NORTHERN REGIONS ROUND FIVE
1. Christiano Morgado

2. Jennifer Murray

3. Andrew Vryenhoek

4. Steve Ridgeway

5. George dos Ramos

6. Garth Prost

* All results provisional as of August 26 2002