It was an epic trip up to KZN for the Wadeley Racing Team as they settled in on Wednesday evening prior to Round 3 of the South African Kart Championships at the incredibly tricky iDube Raceway just outside Pietermaritzburg.
With four days of sunshine and excellent racing conditions predicted, it was time to get down to business.
The first day of a National event is a time for drivers to do a systems check on their equipment and ramp up their lap times as the track goes from very green to rubbered in. Both the Wadeley boys found their rhythm early on. Matthew and Jordon both had good days out in their Senior Max and Mini Max machines respectively.
Onto Friday official practice and the boys picked up where they left off the day before. Both found themselves lapping near the top of the timing sheets. Jordon was particularly impressive as he set a great pace throughout the day. In the Mini Max class, there is often less than 2 tenths of a second covering the top 10 – 15 drivers and the smallest issue on a hot lap can quickly mean hero to not.
Matthew showed great potential for a solid result as he regularly found himself inside the top 10.
It all however counts in qualifying. Friday afternoon saw a 3-lap Superpole shootout for Matthew and he delivered a terrific P6 against a quality lineup of drivers while Jordon had to settle for P7 having lost out on the tow that the front runners had during the 10-minute session.
In Saturdays National, both Wadeley Racing lads showed great pace which sadly wasn’t reflected in the overall standings at the end of the day. Jordon then grabbed an awesome result in Sunday’s African Open and Matthew showed moments of brilliance.
For Matthew, Saturday’s National got off to a steady start as he maintained his P6 start to finish there in race 1, races 2 and 3 yielded a poor dish of luck and he rued the odd mistake that cost him a good result. 14th and 10th were all he could muster on his way to P12 overall.
On Sunday, he went one better in qualifying to secure P5. A steady P6 in the first of two pre-finals and then P16 in the second. In an act of true courage and determination, Matthew valiantly pushed his kart up the hill to cross the finish line in last place after his chain snapped on the final lap. He was running in the top 10 at the time and would have secured a decent starting position for the all-important final, but as luck had it, he would be starting from the back. An epic drive followed as he worked his way up to P11 by the end of the race.
“I’m disappointed after some great qualifying results this weekend, but am learning from my errors. After a good two days of practice, we didn’t quite put it together when it counted coupled with a dose of bad luck. I know we could have done better, but we have the next National and many more ahead to get it right. Well done to Odi for his National win on Saturday, it was a pleasure sharing the track with him this weekend.” said Matthew, to round off a busy 4 days of racing.
Jordon, having qualified in P7 for Saturday’s National, had a mixed bag of fortune from there on. A solid drive in race 2 saw him get a P6 but his P8 in race 1 and P12 in race 3 after finding himself on the wrong end of some wheel banging meant an eighth overall on the day.
It was time for redemption during Sunday’s African Open for Jordon and he delivered. Finding pace on a new set of Mojo rubber, he qualified in P6 as 3 tenths covered the top 10!
Two great drives in the pre-finals resulting in a P7 and P4 meant Jordon would start the final right near the front. He drove superbly, stayed out of trouble and showed he’s wont always be “Mr Nice Guy” on the black stuff. His pace was incredible and he had the leaders within his sights for the entire race. When the checkered flag waved, Jordon crossed the line in P3 to secure a well-deserved podium at the All Africa event.
“Thursday we learnt, Friday we had great pace and on Saturday we were in the mix. It would have been closer if we didn’t get pushed off during one of the races. Sunday went really well with a third in the African Open Final,” said Jordon humbly.
Brad Wadeley was pleased with how the weekend went while acknowledging where they can improve as a team to get the results they are after in future.
“Matt was epic in qualifying, I’m very impressed. He will continue to learn and we need to work on his starts and race craft. Luck could have been more on his side but in Sunday’s final, starting from the back, he drove incredibly well to work his way forward. I’m over the moon with Jordon’s result on Sunday. It is coming together for him now and he is on a good run. Overall I’m pleased with the weekend, the trip was awesome, we had some good results and we all had fun, that is what we want.” smiled Brad.
It’s now back to Regional action in the Cape for Wadeley Racing before the final round of the National Championship at Zwartkops in September.