Penultimate 30th Birthday Polo Cup at Zwartkops Saturday

While most National championships wrap up at the Saturday 17 October Zwartkops Raceway Extreme Festival in Pretoria, the meeting will be the 30th Anniversary 2026 Astron Energy Polo Cup’s penultimate round. This follows last week’s announcement of a seventh and final Polo Cup round at the Kyalami 9 Hour on 14 November.

That also means that with 86 points still on the table and the Dainfern dentist holding a 26-point advantage, championship leader Hannes Scheepers is by no means assured of wrapping it up on Saturday. The round recovered to replace cancelled Killarney opens the door for championship rival Charl Smalberger, who will do everything he can to close the gap even further at Saturday’s Zwartkops Extreme Festival.

It’s even closer in the Astron Energy Polo Masters, where Charl’s dad Derrick Smalberger has whittled leader Wayne Masters’ title advantage down to just twelve points, with 84 still available there. So that one certainly is all to play for this weekend.

Scheepers won the first six races of the season on the trot, including a clean sweep at the Killarney opener. So on that form he’s looking good in his black Dainfern Dental Polo. But the Red Baron Charl Smalberger took three of the last five wins to erode that advantage in his Sabertek OMP Polo. His chances to catch Hannes were however hampered by the dramatic cancellation of the previous round. So all Scheepers needs do, is follow Smalberger home on Saturday. But yes, stranger things have happened over those thirty years of the Polo Cup…

Smalberger meantime holds a steady 19-point advantage over the best of the first year drivers, Volkswagen Rookie Cup graduate Mauro Da Luz in third. His Topshirt Nathans Polo needs to outscore Scheepers to stay in the chase into the new final, while Mauro sits a further seventeen points ahead of a titanic spat for fourth. Roshaan Goodman’s Upward Spiral 1471 machine has drawn level with Durbanite Shiren Rajpaul’s Goldwagen Polo. But both are under pressure from rapidly closing Astron Energy Volkswagen Rookie Cup champion Christopher Tait.

Bjorn Bertholdt shocked with a win at Aldo Scribante and Berlin Robinson is always one worth watching, while Automobile Association rookie Jayden Goosen is one young man who will be keen on a better outcome, a year on from his solo maiden Polo win. Sophomore Milan Emslie’s Triton entry, and rookie Joshua Moore’s Worx BPW, Cyril Jacobs Jr.’s Auto Perfect Team Red entry and Liam Crystal will also be looking for steps up at Killarney.

The most intriguing Astron Energy Polo dice is however in the Masters. Wayne Masters may be chasing his third title on the trot in his Performance Masters Polo, but Derick Smalberger’s Sabertek OMP car is making that prospect increasingly different on his latest form. And John Kruger’s Habot Performance Lubricants also remains in title contention, while PABAR Master Mike Barbaglia, FSS entry Elio Muzzulini, newcomers Albert Moffatt and Richard van Heerde are all ready to play interference.

Racing its thirtieth season in 2026, Astron Energy Polo Cup will race as part of the full Pretoria National Extreme Festival Finals program on Saturday 17 October. See you at Zwartkops!

*Volkswagen Motorsport salutes its Polo Cup partners, naming rights sponsor Astron Energy, Dunlop, Pabar and Ferodo.