Coastal Chaos...

The AVL Africa / Logisticor 250 Superkart Series made the long trip down to the historic East London Grand Prix Circuit on Saturday 29 October for the seventh round of the 2011 season. This popular coastal circuit is well known to be the fastest circuit in the country and much was expected from karts and drivers alike. The weekend would be remembered for many things but the performance figures of these incredibly quick pocket rockets will be edged in the memories of all of the drivers who raced on this hallowed piece of tarmac.

Qualifying

Sean Moore (Logisticor PVP Superkart) finally broke Veron Pappas’ (Graham Singer Racing Rotax Anderson Kart) pole position qualifying streak to claim the top spot from his championship rival.

Tyron Davis (AVL Africa PVP Superkart) qualified in an excellent third position with his team mate Andrew Greenslade (AVL Africa / Logisticor PVP Superkart) alongside him on the second row of the grid.

Cape Town residents Eerik Horn (OTTR PVP Rotax) and Schalk Burger Junior (Cape Gearbox & Diff PVP Yamaha Superkart) would start from the third row with Trevor Green (Rotax Superkart) and Virgil Pappas (Rotax PVP) right behind them.

Schalk Burger Senior (Cape Gearbox & Diff Anderson Rotax Superkart) qualified in a respectable ninth position with Kwazulu Natal resident Patrick Mc Gee (Rotax Stealth) making a successful comeback in tenth.

Steve Lavender (Anderson Superkart) would unfortunately not race at all on the day as he blew his motor in the practice session before qualifying and had no spare engine available. Both Burger Senior and Burger Junior would suffer similar fates as Burger Senior broke his karts gearbox while Burger Junior blew the motor on his kart in the morning warm up session as well.

Race 1

 A frantic start for the first race saw the field charge down towards the infamous Potters Pass Corner. Moore emerged in the lead with Veron Pappas ruining his chances with an uncharacteristic spin. Davis slotted into second position with Greenslade and the rest of the field hot on his heels.

Greenslade lost any chance of a decent finish on the second lap when the motor on his kart seized coming down the main straight, ending his race in the fauna and flora on the side of the track. Veron retired to the pits a lap later with a right rear puncture putting an end to his 100% finishing record so far this season. Horn retired a lap later with the same problem. Green then came to a stop in the Esses on the same lap with gear selection issues but managed to get the kart going again a lap later. 

Moore was in top form...

Moore was in a class of his own in what turned out to be a real race of attrition. He blasted his way across the line to take an easy win ahead of Davis with Virgil Pappas taking a lonely third position ahead of Mc Gee and a recovered Green.

After the race Mc Gee created much interest in the pits when his on board GPS telemetry showed that he had achieved a top speed of 282.6km/h! Bearing in mind that he was a couple of seconds slower than the race winner, that would mean that Moore should have been doing in the 290km/h range at the pace that he was running at the front of the field.

After conferring with a few of the Kawasaki ZX10 bike racers and their on board telemetry and then confirming this information with the time keepers, it was estimated that Moore had achieved a top speed of about 285km/h to 290km/h!

A new top speed record in South Africa for a 250 Superkart!

Unfortunately there is no officially documented lap record for this category at the track but it is thought that Moore’s qualifying time of a 1:24.554 could be recognised as the new lap record for the 250 Superkarts Series.

Some frantic repair work in the pits saw Greenslade fit Moore’s spare motor to his kart while Green, Horn and Pappas sorted out the issues which caused them not to finish the first race. Virgil Pappas suffered mechanical gremlins just before the start of race two and despite numerous attempts to get his kart started; he had to eventually settle for being a spectator in the second race.

Race 2

The now customary reverse grid format would once again throw the cat amongst the pigeons. Mc Gee would lead his first ever Superkart race with Virgil Pappas alongside him on the front row. A chaotic start saw the karts running five abreast down the main straight as they jostled for position heading into turn one!

Veron Pappas led the field coming out of Cocobana Corner with Moore and the rest of the field hot on his heels. The two championship contenders crossed the line side by side at the start of the second lap with Moore gaining the lead going through Potters Pass.

Fourth placed Horn ran wide coming onto the main straight on the second lap with Greenslade having to take avoiding measures to miss colliding with him. Once again Davis slotted into third position with team mate Greenslade hot on his heels.

Veron slowed exiting the Esses and pulled into the pits a lap later with a loose carburetor. He rejoined the race after the problem was hastily repaired but found himself two laps down on the leaders.

Davis impressed all with his pace...

Green was unfortunate to retire down the back straight on the fifth lap when the clutch on his machine exploded into several pieces. Horn dropped back on the same lap when a loose coil wire slowed his progress. Horn then dropped even further back when a burst water pipe caused him to spin on lap seven.

In his haste to get going again he pulled back onto the circuit right in front of the second placed battle between Davis and Greenslade. Davis locked up the brakes trying to avoid hitting Horn while Greenslade drove around the outside of the stranded pair to pick up second position.

Moore romped home to another easy victory ahead of Greenslade with Davis recovering to third position after having been robbed of a brace of second place results.

The ever consistent Mc Gee crossed the line in fourth position with Horn crossing the line in fifth position. A hard charging Pappas had to settle for sixth with Green classified in seventh position.

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Mc Gee’s consistency saw him take third Overall for the day... 

The final round of the 2011 AVL Africa / Logisticor 250 Superkart Championship will see the pilots of these incredible machines head to their adopted home circuit of Zwartkops Raceway in Pretoria on Saturday 19 November.

Only 29 points separate Pappas and Moore at the top of the points table. With 39 points up for grabs at the final event of the year it is going to be an all or nothing affair heading into the final race.

The third place battle is also far from over as a solitary point now separates Greenslade and Davis going into the Zwartkops event.

One couldn’t ask for a more fitting finish to what has been an exciting and competitive 2011 race season!

Report by: Greg Reilly Photographs by: Warren Alford – Speedworx Photography