Ronald Bohdi Venter, a six-year-old Grade 1 student from Pretoria East, has shown a natural talent for karting. He follows in his father Ronald Senior’s footsteps, who has been involved in competitive motorsport for several years as an offroad motorcycle competitor. Senior recently competed in the Mexico Rally Sonora, where he qualified for the 2024 Dakar Rally.
Ronald Junior developed a passion for motorsports at three years of age, initially expressing a desire to own a motorcycle like his father’s. However, it was not until he tried karting at a shopping mall at the age of five that he became inspired to pursue competitive karting. Despite this, Senior notes that his son encountered some challenges when starting in the sport.
“Despite being told he was too small to drive a kart at the mall, I decided to give him a chance after hearing we could rent a mini kart at the local kart circuit. He barely completed a session before we decided to pack it all in. Six months later, we returned with a more mature and confident Ronald. We kept putting him in the kart to do laps as there is no better way to practice than to spend time in the seat. He steadily improved, and we made the call to enter him into his first race meeting. Needless to say, it didn’t go too well. Ronald was involved in an accident that saw him flung out of his kart. Despite the day’s emotion, he soldiered to complete all three heats, finishing tenth overall.”
In 2023 Senior entered his son into the various national and regional Bambino and Cadet competitions. Junior has impressed many as a rookie with his positive attitude and cordial conduct, which sees the part-time skateboarder and BMX rider rank in the top four of every competition. Furthermore, he holds second place in the Cadet standings in Motorsport South Africa’s (MSA) Northern Regions ROK Karting Championship, where he has achieved an impressive seven podium finishes, four as the runner-up. Meanwhile, in the National ROK Cup Championship, he ranks fourth with an outstanding record of reaching the podium in all six heats and is only three points behind the competitor in second place.
While competing in the national and regional Bambino class, the Expert-backed driver also maintains an impressive record. In the national and regional competitions, he occupies third in both championships and is also the best-placed rookie.
“I really enjoy karting,” said Junior. “While I’ve made a few friends at the circuit, we all know that when the visors go down, we are competitors all trying to win. Fortunately, once we are done racing, we play again. I haven’t been karting that long, but if I want to be the best, I must practice and be dedicated, something my dad instils in me.”
It’s clear that Junior has inherited his talent for motorsports from his father and has a bright future ahead. Junior will return to karting on 10 June when he competes in Round 4 of the Northern Regions Rotax Karting Championship at Zwartkops Kart Raceway in Pretoria.
Published by: Motorsport Fanatix
Picture Caption: Venter claimed another podium finish at the recent MSA National ROK Cup Championship held at the Formula-K Kart Circuit, Benoni.
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