Pretoria Extreme thriller will deliver 2026 champions

While two champions are already decided, most of South Africa’s 2026 National circuit racing kings will be crowned at Pretoria’s Saturday 17 October’s Zwartkops Raceway Extreme Festival finals. Only SunBet ZX10 Masters champion Damien Purificati and Gazoo Toyota Media champion Nabil Abdool have so far been crowned. Leaving all of the South African Touring Cars, SATC SupaCup, as well as the Investchem MSA4, Dunlop Extreme Supercars, Volkswagen Rookie and the remaining two Gazoo Toyota Cup titles on the line. Zwartkops will however be the penultimate round of the Astron Energy Polo Cup, which now concludes at the 14 November Kyalami 9 Hour.

Julian van der Watt arrives in Pretoria with a comfortable South African Touring Cars advantage in his Volkswagen Golf GTI. He’ll be keen to wrap it up, while the rest try chase him down. Among them, rookie teammate KC Ensor-Smith’s Golf GTI and another first year hero, Jason Coetzee’s Toyota Corolla sit second and third ahead of Coetzee’s veteran teammate and reigning champion Michael van Rooyen. They have Keegan Campos’ BMW closing them down and Andrew Schofield’s BMW looking for another win.

Former Polo Cup champion Jason Loosemore is just two points from clinching the all-Volkswagen SupaPolo SATC SupaCup title. He basically needs to finish in the points to wrap it up over reigning Polo champion and SupaCup rookie Rory Atkinson this weekend. Also watch for rookie Judd Bertholdt, Niko Zafiris, Mo Wally, and Davide Franco among this lot.

Hannes Scheepers is likewise in charge of the 30th birthday Astron Energy Polo Cup. His closest rival, Charl Smalberger has however won three of the last five races. But all Scheepers needs do is follow Smalberger home to be sure of that title. Also keep an eye on rookies Mauro Da Luz and Chris Tait, Roshaan Goodman, and Shiren Rajpaul. It’s not so clear cut in Polo Masters though. Leader Wayne Masters may stand on the threshold of a triple title, but he has dad Derick Smalberger closing him down and John Kruger also still in the game. Being the penultimate round, both Polo title fights look likely to ramble on to his 14 November finale.

For the rest, it’s also much closer. Charl Arangies’ thundering Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO has Jonathan du Toit’s wailing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO close in his mirrors in the Dunlop Extreme Supercars and Damian Hammond ready to play interference. It’s even closer between fast lady Karah Hill’s Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo, Ricky’s Lamborghini, and Gianni Giannoccaro’s Audi in Class A. And Roy Obery’s Porsche and Ant Blunden’s Lamborghini fighting over Class B.

There’s still nothing to split Aqil Alibhai and Mikel Bezuidenhout following their season long Investchem MSA4 single seater struggle. Alibhai has eked out a nine point advantage, but that’s hardly enough with these final two races still to run. They also have Renzo Ribiero, Shrien Naidoo, Karabo Malemela, Guido Bidoli and Kent Swartz literally falling over each other to win their first races of the season. Investchem MSA4 never disappoints at Zwartkops.

As noted, dominant Damion Purificati is one of two champions already crowned in the SunBet ZX10 Masters motorcycles. But that does not make him the favourite. Clint Seller is the man to beat since his recent return. Also watch for Keith Agliotti, Hein McMahon, Henk Kruger, and the rest, while the Killarney faithful also have home hero Trevor Westman to root for in the only two wheeler action on the day.

The Volkswagen Rookie Cup is also super close between new leader Sebastian Dias, Luke Hill, Keyaan Dwomoh and Jack Moore. And while Nabil Abdool has already wrapped the GR Yaris Media Cup up, Connor Weston and Kobus Reynecke are tied on points in the GR86 Rookie Cup and just two points separate Werner Venter and Devon Scott in the GR Corolla Dealer Cup.

With champions to be crowned across the board and most of their rivals out to prove a point in some way or another, the 17 October 2026 National Extreme Festival finale will no doubt probe a thriller. See you at Zwartkops!