SA KARTING YOUNGSTER ON TOP OF THE WORLD

East Rand karter Caleb Williams won the 2010 Rotax Max Challenge Grand Final in Muro Leccese, Italy  yesterday (November 21) to beat out 72 champion drivers from all over the world.

In an incredible feat of driving the CBC Boksburg Grade 11 student had to start from the back of the 34 kart grid in the winner-take-all final, but managed to work his way to the front, cheered on by a 5 000-strong crowd of thrilled spectators.

It was young Williams second world-championship Rotax victory. Last year he took the honours for South Africa in the Rotax DD2 gearbox class, at the 2009 Grand finals held in Egypt.

“It was the most incredible racing I have ever seen” said South African Rotax team manager Ed Murray, himself a former South African karting champion.” A puncture in the pre-final saw Caleb having to start right at the back of the final, even though he’d been setting top-five placing in the elimination rounds all weekend.

“There were a number of multiple-kart crashes in the finals and Caleb simply drove through them, around them, as if they weren’t there. He started the race in 34th, and by the first lap he was 12th!” From there he clamly picked off the guys in front of them, took the lead and held on, despite some strong challenges towards the end. It was a masterful display of driving,” said an emotional Murray

The other South African drivers competing in different classes suffered mixed fortunes. Marc Murray, the 23-year-old South African champion in the SA DD2 class,  suffered engine overheating problems in qualifying, but once that was sorted he proved to be right on the pace, setting the second-fastest times in his class in the eliminations.

He was forced to leave the track to avoid an accident in his pre-final race and started way back, but fought back to finish an excellent 11th in the DD2 class.

Young Mathew Swanepoel from Natal battled in the Junior Max class as he carried more weight than some of his competitors. Mathew qualified in the top 12 in his pre-final, but was put out of contention in an accident to eventually be classified 29th out of 68 drivers. An indication of how competitive this class is was shown by the fact that the top eight finishers were covered by less than half a second after 24 laps! The class was won by Jordi Van Moorsel of the Netherlands.

In the DD2 Masters category, Gary Marais of Johannesburg finished a fine 17th, this category being won by Scott Campell of Canada.

“The South Africans did us proud” said Ed Murray. “You consider that there were a total of 252 drivers competing in the four categories, all champions from 55 countries around the world. I’ve been karting for over 40 years and this is the best race meeting I’ve ever seen, anywhere in the world. It truly derserves to be seen as the world championship of karting, the most competitive series for young drivers who are on their way up the ladder to international stardom.”