The third round of the National Extreme Festival is set to stay on the highveld, heading to its home ground at Zwartkops Raceway in Pretoria on Saturday, 23 May. That one promises to be a lively day out, so diarise it.
But first, a look back at Saturday’s action at Red Star Raceway near Delmas, where the 2026 national championship circuit’s Extreme Festival delivered a solid day of racing. The twisty track saw Julian van der Watt and Keegan Campos share the South African Touring Cars wins. There were also double victories for Rory Atkinson in SupaCup, Hannes Scheepers in the Astron Energy Polo Cup, Aqil Alibhai in Investchem MSA4, Damion Purificati in the SunBet ZX10 Masters motorcycles, and Connor Weston in the Gazoo Toyota Cup. All of that added up to a busy and entertaining day’s work.
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Pole man Julian van der Watt and his Volkswagen Golf GTI made off with an easy win in the opening South African Touring Cars race. That came after returning duo Robert Wolk’s Golf GTI and Keegan Campos’s BMW 128iS, along with KC Ensor-Smith’s Golf, came together at turn one. Wolk stopped, Campos dived into the pits, and Ensor-Smith spent the rest of the race chasing Jason Coetzee’s second-placed Toyota Corolla to the flag. Campos then used his reverse-grid pole position in race two to take the win from Ensor-Smith and van der Watt, who still ended as the day’s top scorer.
Rory Atkinson grabbed his SupaCup pole position — gifted by penalties to two rivals — with both hands. He initially fended off Tyler Robinson and log leader Jason Loosemore before pulling clear for a maiden win in race one. Penalised pole man Judd Bertholdt finished fourth, ahead of Nikki Vostanis and the other penalised driver, Bradley Liebenberg. Atkinson then made short work of race two as Loosemore, Liebenberg and Bertholdt all found a way past Robinson.
Hannes Scheepers continued his unbeaten run in the Astron Energy Polo Cup by passing pole man Charl Smalberger twice off the start to score a double victory. Roshaan Goodman held off Mauro Da Luz for third, with Shiren Rajpaul and Jayden Goosen chasing behind. Wayne Masters won the Polo Masters class from Derick Smalberger and John Kruger. In an enthralling second race, Charl Smalberger tried every trick in the book to get past a defensive Scheepers, while Goodman again held off Goosen and Da Luz, and Masters beat Smalberger and Kruger to the Masters win.
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Former British Formula 4 ace Aqil Alibhai turned the Investchem MSA4 chase on its head. Pole man Shrien Naidoo bogged down at the start, leaving log leader Mikel Bezuidenhout to take second from Karabo Malemela, Guido Bidoli and a recovering Naidoo, who fought back to fifth. Alibhai again beat Naidoo to turn one in race two, before Naidoo clashed with Bezuidenhout, who held on for second. Malemela was third from Bidoli and Kent Swartz, as Naidoo recovered to seventh. Meanwhile, Ian Schofield did the Formula Ford Kent class double from Alex Vos and Nicholas van Weely.
Damion Purificati made a lightning start in the SunBet ZX10 Masters, leaving Keith Agliotti to fend off Hein McMahon and James Barson on the way to the opening race win. Henk Kruger, Ad van Dalen, Trevor Westman and Reginald Seale chased hard behind. Purificati also dominated race two, leaving McMahon to hold off Agliotti and Barson while van Dalen nicked fifth from Kruger.
The Gazoo Toyota Cup saw GR86 Rookie trio Connor Weston, Kobus Reynecke and Emma Dowling top the opening race, where GR Yaris Dealer lad Devon Scott and GR Corolla Media man Nabil Abdool kept their classes running to form. The second race delivered the same results, although a tight four-way battle developed behind race winner Weston.
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