The 2025 Extreme Festival Finale, powered by Coca-Cola, provided plenty of drama as it decided the South African National Circuit Racing Champions at Zwartkops Raceway on Saturday. Pending the final approval from Motorsport South Africa, Michael van Rooyen has secured the South African Touring Cars championship, while Tate Bishop claimed the SATC SupaCup. Rory Atkinson and Wayne Masters took the Astron Energy Polo Cup and Masters titles respectively. Jonathan du Toit emerged as the 2025 Extreme SuperCars Driven by Dunlop champion, KC Ensor-Smith secured the inaugural Investchem MSA4 title, and Clinton Seller added another SunBet ZX10 Masters Cup to his name. Other winners included Chris Tait in the Volkswagen Rookie Cup, Jason Coetzee in the GR 86 Rookie category, Nabil Abdool in the GR Yaris Media Cup, and Mario da Souza in the GR Corolla Dealer Cup.
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In the South African Touring Cars category, veteran Michael van Rooyen secured a widely celebrated first title in his Toyota Corolla. He secured the championship by following Keegan Campos’ BMW across the line in second place during the first heat. Jagger Robertson finished third in his Volkswagen Golf GTI, ahead of Sa'aad Variawa’s Toyota, Julian van der Watt’s Volkswagen, and Andrew Schofield’s BMW. The second race started with a reversed grid, which saw van der Watt and Robertson get ahead of Schofield, with Variawa, Campos, and van Rooyen giving chase. The race was stopped with a red flag after Campos crashed. Although Robertson won the day, the incident meant Campos slipped behind both Robertson and van der Watt in the final championship order.
With Cape Town’s Tate Bishop having already been named the SATC SupaCup champion before the event, his predecessor Jonathan Mogotsi won the opening race. He was followed by his Volkswagen teammate Jason Loosemore, an impressive Nicolaos Vostanis, David Franco, Leyton Fourie, and Bishop. Loosemore then secured third in the championship behind Mogotsi and Bishop by taking a strong victory in the second race. Vostanis, who showed good form, pressured Mogotsi into second place, with champion Bishop finishing fourth ahead of Dylan Pragji and David Franco.
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Jonathan du Toit sealed the Extreme Supercars driven by Dunlop title with a triple win in his Lamborghini Huracan. This outcome was influenced after Charl Arangies’ Mercedes-AMG GT3 was penalised for a jumped start in the first heat, losing that win. Gianni Giannoccaro finished second in his Nismo GT-R, with Arangies taking second in the following two races ahead of Gianni and Ricky Giannoccaro’s Mercedes-Benz AMG GT3. Kris Budnik’s Viper and Paul Hill’s Audi R8 followed. Du Toit also took the GT3 honours, while Ricky Giannoccaro won Class A, Jimmy Giannoccaro’s Porsche 911 won Class B, and Uli Sanne’s BMW Z4 won Class C.
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One of the most dramatic contests of the day was for the Investchem MSA4 championship, where the lead changed twice as the main contenders experienced mixed fortunes. KC Ensor-Smith ultimately reclaimed the title from Mikel Bezuidenhout with an unexpected win in the third heat, on a day dominated by Namibian driver Adriaan Nel. Ensor-Smith retired from the opening race with damage, which Nel won from Bezuidenhout and Karabo Malemela. Nel then won the second race from Malemela and Bezuidenhout, while an overheating issue relegated Ensor-Smith to sixth, putting Bezuidenhout at the top of the points table. However, Bezuidenhout suffered a puncture in the red-flagged and restarted final race. Ensor-Smith took the win from Nel and Nicholas van Weely after Ndzalo Khoza, who crossed the line first, was excluded. This result made Ensor-Smith the champion from Bezuidenhout, with Nel provisionally third.
The Astron Energy Polo Cup title fight also went down to the wire. Rory Atkinson took control of his destiny by finishing second behind winner Hannes Scheepers in the first heat, with Tyler Robinson taking third. His main title rival, Mo Karodia, finished outside the top ten after running off the track early on. The second race produced a surprise winner as debutant Jayden Goosen led from start to finish. Scheepers held off Ethan Coetzee, Robinson, and the newly crowned champion Rory Atkinson for second place. Another difficult race for Karodia did not stop him from provisionally securing second in the championship, while Scheepers moved up to third in the final standings. Although Derik Smalberger won both Engen Polo Masters races, it was not enough to stop Wayne Masters from securing his second consecutive Astron Energy Polo Masters title. As his reward, Cup Champion Atkinson has earned a 2026 SATC SupaCup drive.
Clinton Seller returned to his winning ways with a double race victory, securing another SunBet ZX10 Masters championship. He finished ahead of Damion Purificati, Hein McMahon, Class B winner Graeme van Breda and top Class C driver Jayson Lamb in the first race, with Keith Agliotti, Henk Kruger, and Johan le Roux following. The same four drivers led the second heat, ahead of Agliotti, Reginald Seale, Kruger, and Renatus van Niekerk.
In the Volkswagen Rookie Cup, Chris Tait won the first race from title rival Josh Moore, Uzair Khan, Luke Hill and Mauro Da Luz. Tait then finished behind Khan in the second race, which was enough to secure the title, with Moore, Hill and Da Luz next. Tait now has the option of an Astron Energy Polo Cup or an Investchem MSA4 drive for 2026. With the Toyota Gazoo Cup champions already decided, including GR86 Rookie Jason Coetzee, GR Yaris Media winner Nabil Abdool and GR Corolla Dealer champion Mario da Souza, only the Dealer Cup race delivered an upset. Werner Horn beat the veteran Da Souza to win on the day in Pretoria.
That wraps up the 2025 Extreme Festival National Championship presented by Coca-Cola. With a number of interesting developments anticipated for next year, race fans can expect another season of close competition in 2026.
Colin Windell for Colin-on-Cars in association with
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