Getting Started

Welcome to the exciting world of pocket bike racing. Based on past experience, once you’ve tasted a few laps around a world class go-kart circuit on a pocket bike just 50cm off the ground, your mind will be made up and you will have found your new past time.

Before getting started, there are quite a few choices to make with regards to class, bike etc. So let’s take a look at what is available to you and narrow things down from there.

First off, the classes are split into junior and senior classes. The split happens at 15 years of age. The rule is that the junior classes are open to all riders from the year of their 6th birthday, to 31 December of the year in which their 15th birthday occurs. If you’re older than that, you fall into one of the senior classes.

Then, within the junior classes, the Junior A & B classes have a further split to encourage safety and fairness between children of a similar age. The split happens as follows:

  • Junior A is open to all riders from the year of their 6th birthday, to 31 December of the year in which their 10th birthday occurs.
  • Junior B is open to all riders from the year of their 11th birthday, to 31 December of the year in which their 15th birthday occurs. The other junior classes are open to the entire junior age group should you wish to progress faster through the classes. Senior classes are not divided further by age.

So now you know what age categories are available to you, but then the question, which class? Well, the answer is varied. It depends on a number of things like;

  • your budget
  • your riding ability and just how fast you’d like to be going
  • your level of involvement in the sport

The Junior A & B and Senior A & B classes are open to Chinese CAG type air-cooled bikes only. It is your cheapest way of getting involved in pocket bike racing. Lots of first time riders, adults or children, end up buying a CAG to start off with and spend their first year getting into things, then later once they know a bit more about the racing, the bikes that are available new or second hand etc. They move up to a more expensive bike and the faster classes. As a general rule, the range of new bikes can be broken down into 3 price and brand categories;

  • Chinese air-cooled CAG type bikes +-R3000.00 new (Contact Scalemoto to buy)
  • Blata air-cooled / water-cooled mid-range bikes. R3500.00 – R12000.00 depending on the model and horse power. (Contact BLATA SA to buy)
  • European bikes like the BMS, GRC or Blata which start at around R25000.00 and move upwards from there. (Contact BMS or BLATA SA to buy)

Second hand bikes can also be found under the For Sale / Swap section in the forum. Your bike choice will dictate your class selection and you can go from there. Entry fee is a simple structure, R200 for Junior / Senior A & B classes and R250 for all other classes. Entry is normally done online in the weeks before the race and payment either via EFT or cash on race day. There is no joining/membership fee and because we run the series as a corporate league with no organisational affiliation, there are no license fees.

As far as safety gear goes, the minimum requirements are as follows;

  • A full-face helmet of approved type, in sound condition and fitting securely
  • Protective knee and elbow padding
  • Full fingered leather gloves
  • Boots or tackies affording adequate protection to feet and ankles
  • Long trousers
  • These are minimum requirements and many riders, senior and junior ride will full leather gear

The 2010 season is made up of 8 rounds that all count towards the championship. A typical race day consists or a warm-up session, a qualifying session and then 3 heats throughout the day. There are 8 rounds that make up the championship this year. Racing is held at the Kyalami Kart Circuit, The Rock Raceway in Benoni, Zwartkops Kart Circuit in Pretoria West and in March we will be going to Bloemfontein for our away event (Round 2). At this point all racing is done on a Saturday. Race dates can be found online by clicking here

For any additional information, please contact us by completing the contact form. Be sure to subscribe to our newsletter by filling in your details to the left. That way you will be notified of upcoming events.

E-mail: info@minimoto.co.za