THE 2004 karting season roared off on Sunday March 14 at the Champions Park Raceway, Roche Caïman, with the opening round of the National Championship and 22 drivers took part in the three different classes, namely Formula A, Junior and Cadet.

Drivers of the Cadet class, most of them promoted from the Novice class this season, stuttered at the beginning, having to get used to the customary rolling starts, but they soon found their way and gave an impressive performance.

Dimitri Maiden, 2003 Novice champion, took a first win in this class, hitting the finish line of the seven-lap race in three minutes 56.81 seconds (3:56.81). Maiden also registered the fastest lap-time of 33.41 seconds for this same class.

Roland Delcy, who challenged eventual winner Maiden fiercely throughout the day, settled for second position, followed closely behind by Stephan Simon in third place.

Micky Victorin had a quiet run for fourth position.

In the Junior category, battle for first position was between 2003 champion Peter Fred and last year's Cadet winner Eddie Estrale, promoted to the higher class at the start of the season.

Fred entered the final as outright favourite after winning the two heats against close challenger Estrale. But Estrale reserved the best for last, putting up a brilliant display in the 10-lap final to take victory in a time of 5:49.46.

Fred had to do with second position with the fastest lap-time of 43.10 seconds.

Joshua Gopal came in third ahead of Ruddi Joseph and Stephan Emmanuel who finished fourth and fifth respectively.

Things were more lively and exciting in the Formula A class with a number of new faces joining this category.

Just as Michael Schumacher and the Ferrari team opened the new Formula 1 season with a one-two finish, so did Dave Rene and daughter Liza of Team Tony Kart Seychelles.

The father and daughter raced nose to tail all afternoon with Dave getting the upperhand on Liza at the end of the race. Dave took victory with the fastest lap-time of the day (27.29 seconds), while Liza was only 0.02 seconds slower.

Joel Lau-Tee did an excellent job of keeping in touch with the leaders to take a firm third place in front of John Simon (fourth) and Andy Alvis (fifth).

Christian Larue of the Team Sunsail, who was making his debut, did well in his first competitive race, finishing sixth while his teammate, Gavin Booker, was unfortunate to spin out and had to retire.

The next event on the Seychelles Karting Association's (SKA) calendar is the Novice Introductory Day, scheduled for Saturday March 27, starting at 2 p.m. at the Champions Park Raceway.