Russell (7) pushes SA rivals hard

Motorsport
The youngster from Windhoek intends to learn fast from the mistakes that cost him a better finish.
Andrew Poolman
  • 7 Months Ago 08 May 2024
The talented seven-year-old go-kart driver Russell Josephat from Windhoek continued his development as a solid competitor at the South Africa national championship series’ Leg 2 event held at Zwartkops race track in Pretoria on Friday and Saturday.

Based on earlier results, Russell qualified fifth in his category (Bambino, ages five to eight) and started heat one in fifth position, which he held until lap 7 when he missed one corner and was lapped by two rivals. Concluding the eighth and final lap, he came seventh.

In heat 2 he started seventh, but managed to work his way up to finishing the race in fifth place.

In the third and final heat, he again started seventh, but fought back to finish fourth.

On the overall standings he finished 6th on – missing out by just two points to potentially finish fourth.

JP Josephat, the father and coach of the grade 2 learner at Delta Primary School, says: “We are certainly gaining momentum by the day. We had intentions of finishing better, but I would say it was a great opportunity to display our skills. This championship is the best level in the sport in Africa and our presence here is an honour that indicates we are heading in the right direction.

“We made some costly mistakes, but it is up to us to improve, so we’ll be working on what we identified.”

In late March at the first of the two legs of the SA championship held at Killarney in Cape Town, Russell also fought through four races to finish sixth in the SA championship series race and fifth in the African Open which was held simultaneously.

Two events (in July and August) remain in the SA go-kart championship series.

• Namibian competitors are looking forward to leg 3 of the national go-karting championship this coming Friday and Saturday at Swakopmund.