RACEWEB DOMINATES FIRST RACE AT KENILWORTH KARTING
26 February 2013 | Photos: RaceMasteR J | Story: Chris Cameron-Dow | Location: Kenilworth Karting, Cape Town.

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Seven teams lined up for the start of the indoor karting league in Cape Town at Kenilworth Karting on Tuesday 26 February that was dominated start to finish by Raceweb, with No Fear second and AM Racing completing the top three.

There were plenty of new faces in the league, with four new teams out of the seven that took part in the race. Raceweb (returning after a year out), No Fear and Redline Racing were the established teams, and were joined by newcomers Auto Magneto (AM) Racing, Team Play, Maniacs and Sunworx. Not all of the drivers in the new teams were novices, however, as some of the drivers from 2012 who found themselves without a team joined up with the 2013 entrants.
The evening started with a 15 minute qualifying session, which established a starting order that would remain almost unchanged throughout the race.

The qualifying results were as follows:

Just six hundredths of a second separated the top three in qualifying, but the rest of the field struggled to match the blistering pace set by the leading teams. As the season progresses, the field can be expected to close up and all seven teams should be covered by no more than a few tenths in qualifying by the end of the year.


The race featured a rolling start, which is new in the league for 2013. Raceweb led from pole position and set about building a gap to the rest of the pack. AM Racing and No Fear kept close to the leader in the early part of the race, with Redline Racing in what would become quite a lonely fourth position, as they dropped back from the top three but pulled away comfortably from the bottom three teams.


Not too far into the race, No Fear ran into some bad luck and dropped a couple of laps back to fifth place. They quickly established that they were too quick to be that far back and set about chasing down fourth and then third place, which they took from Redline Racing in the second half of the race. No Fear will be a team to watch through the season. They displayed raw pace throughout the race, and set the fastest lap of 20.07 seconds.


AM Racing, although they were a new team, were certainly well prepared, and drove a quick and consistent race to cross the line in an impressive second place. Unfortunately for the team, they incurred a two-lap penalty for completing an extra lap after the chequered flag fell. The penalty moved them behind No Fear in the final results, which will be disappointing for AM Racing, but they will take comfort from their competitive performance first time out.


The three teams remaining new teams – Team Play, Maniacs and Sunworx – found out first-hand just how tough the racing is in the league, as they battled between themselves for the final three positions behind Redline Racing. Maniacs were the most competitive, which was to be expected as they had a number of experienced league drivers in the team, and they finished 7 laps behind Redline Racing and 16 laps behind winners Raceweb. But for Team Play and Sunworx, the evening was about staying out of trouble and constantly letting the leaders through under blue flags. The first race for a new team is always tough, and to their credit the new teams gained significantly in pace through the race, to the point that Team Play were putting in consistent high 20-second laps towards the end.


Raceweb were, as expected, immaculate. Pole position was followed by a perfect start and then a flawless two hours of racing, in which they didn’t put a wheel wrong. With a resounding victory, they have made their intentions for the season clear – win the league as clinically as possible. While they had reason to celebrate, however, Raceweb instead reacted to the race with a great display of sportsmanship, giving their first place trophy to No Fear in recognition of an inspired performance from a difficult early-race position.


Perhaps most importantly, the atmosphere at the track was extremely positive, with teams chatting to one another and applauding each other’s achievements. With new teams and new faces, new friendships will doubtless form before long, which can only help the league to grow. Indoor league karting is a very accessible form of motor racing, and is therefore a great opportunity to build close communities.


The second race of the season will be at Century Karting, at Canal Walk shopping centre in Century City, on Tuesday 12 March. The action promises to get better and better.

Full race results: