Bloemfontein’s karting sensation Stuwie White, aka "Baby Vettal", will once again be putting his foot to the pedal and burn rubber when he competes in the African Open at the Zwartkops Raceway in Pretoria over the weekend.
South Africa’s top drivers and visitors from as far as Angola and Kenya will fight it out for a highly sought after invitation to the 2014 Rotax Max Grand Final in Valencia, Spain.
This African Open event is seen as something of a "short-cut" to the Rotax World Championship, as traditionally the winners have to compete in a tough season of regional and national championship legs to win a place in the grand finals.
This system is still in place, and the winners of the African Open will be joined in the finals by the 2014 SA champion in each Rotax category.
The winners will be crowned in October after the final round of the nationals, also at Zwartkops. This weekend it will, however, be a family affair for the Whites at the African Open, with Stuwie’s older sister, Andrea, competing in her first African Open.
The 14-year-old who attends Oranje Girls’ High School will be taking part in the Clubman’s Class, which will be running as the supporting class for the African Open.
As it stands, Andrea is the only girl in the entire Free State participating in karting. Not only are the two brother and sister, but from now they will also be teammates as Andrea will be racing for the Blue Lable Roos Kart team, the same team Stuwie races for. The team is situated in Vereeniging under team principal Etienne Roos.
morgan@centralmediagroup.co.za
