KARTING | Successful Junior MAX Debut for Sodi Kart’s Chiwara
Junior MAX Rookie Matthew Chiwara wrapped up a successful debut on 11 February at the opening round of the MSA Western Cape Regional Karting Championship at the Killarney Kart Circuit, claiming an opening heat podium finish and the fourth overall placing on the day.
Chiwara, backed by Sodi Karts and racing out of the ANGRi Racing Kart Academy stable, completed his first full season of competition in 2022, competing at both the regional and national levels in the Mini MAX class. His day, however, started with a mechanical issue during the morning’s qualifying session that saw the rookie start from the last row of the grid.
A confident Chiwara lined up on the grid, determined to put the disappointment of qualifying behind him. Following a solid start, the teenager of Zimbabwean descent made up several positions on the opening lap to start Lap 2 in sixth. While battling James Nash for the most part, Chiwara would make up a further two positions to take the chequered flag in fourth, but later benefit from a post-race penalty to a competitor ahead to be awarded the final podium position.
“I’m pretty happy with third considering where I started in that heat. Unfortunately, Qualifying set us back somewhat, but the team rectified the problem, and I could run a good race pace and make up a few positions. We will start higher up on the grid for the next one, so I’ll be pushing for the win,” stated Chiwara after Heat 1.
With high expectations for Heat 2, Chiwara got caught in the battle for position heading into the opening right-hand bend, which saw him ultimately run off track. Dropping to the back of the field, Chiwara drove valiantly to make up the almost eight seconds to catch the rear of the field and start his charge. Gaining on most competitors on every lap, Chiwara recorded the second-quickest lap of the heat before running out of laps to finish in seventh on track but sixth on the results sheet. Courtesy of his quickest lap, he would take up his highest grid position for the day (second), where he again battled it out for the podium in the final heat, but just missed out, finishing in the fourth position. The overall results saw him classified in fourth for the day.
“Thank you to my team for the hard work today. We didn’t have the ideal start to our weekend, but we recovered well. After all, it isn’t how you start, but how you finish. Congratulations to Reese (Koorzen) on the win today, but I’m confident we’ll be up there to challenge him soon. We will debrief now and then focus on our preparations for the upcoming national in a few weeks in KZN. Thank you, ANGRI Racing and Sodi Karts, for the support.”
The national opening round of the MSA South African Rotax MAX Challenge (SARMC) will commence on 3-4 March at the iDube Kart Raceway, Camperdown, KZN.
