This weekend saw the conclusion of the third and penultimate round of the South African Rotax MAX Challenge Kart Championships. Senior MAX driver Kian Spies claimed a top-seven finish at a frenetic Senior MAX national.
Hosted at the Formula-K Raceway in Benoni, Kian qualified his Xtreme Racing Team kart in tenth on Friday afternoon to start from Row 5 for the first of three heats on Saturday. While he completed the ten-lap race in seventh, he would run as high as fifth midway through the race before dropping back two places.
Heat 2 would see a similar race where the slightest touch would send a driver offline and lose positions. On the receiving end of some of the fiercest racing on the weekend, Kian would fight back up the grid from tenth to seventh before taking the chequered flag in eighth. The final heat, however, would see the Maties student start 11th. From there, he would move up to sixth before collecting the kart up ahead who had run into a mechanical issue, ruining what could have been a potential top-five result.
“Despite the setbacks, I’m proud of our performance. We raced well, always made up multiple positions throughout the race, and got up to fifth in the final heat before a competitor’s chain broke as I was catching him. This caused me to ramp over him, ruining our race and the chance of an overall trophy. We did everything right and luck didn’t fall our way. That’s racing sometimes. It was a positive weekend overall, and I’m looking forward to the next few races to keep carrying our good momentum,” said Kian, demonstrating his sportsmanship and respect for the sport.
Kian returns to karting on 27 July, when he will compete in the Northern Regions Rotax Kart Championships at Zwartkops Kart Raceway.
Published by: Motorsport Fanatix
Picture Caption: Kian Spies
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