FWT International Rotax Max Challenge Rounds 5 & 6 Review
	One half of the 11th Annual Formula Kart Productions Florida Winter Tour, presented by Tony Kart Florida, is now complete as the 2009 FWT International Rotax Max Challenge came to a close over the weekend at Ocala Gran Prix. Headlining the news from the paddock were a multitude of awards, key among them the naming of Team FWT for the 2009 Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals. Both Brazil’s Fabio Orsolon and Canadian Darren White will be returning to the Rotax “Worlds” event, as they respectively captured FWT Championships in Rotax Senior and Rotax DD2 on Saturday. Completing the line-up on Sunday and making the team truly international was American Nick Neri, who emerged from a very competitive Rotax Junior class. The fields in Ocala were once again stacked with the best racers from the Americas and a handful of international stars made the finale one of the most competitive events in FWT history. Qualifying regularly had multiple karts recording the same tenth of a second, and to take the pole position was truly an accomplishment. It was a bittersweet weekend for Florida Winter Tour owner and promoter Bill Wright, as an incredibly successful event brought the 2009 FWT IRMC to a close. “At a time when karters are making tough decisions about where they will be racing this year, a record number have chosen the FWT, and for that I am both proud and grateful. I am honestly shocked at the high numbers, and the depth of talent is unprecedented. I have high hopes we’ll see yet another Rotax world title coming to the FWT”. The weekend began with three championships stretched out and three others very much undecided with two races left to run. Rotax Senior, Masters, and DD2 were laid to rest on Saturday, while Rotax Junior, Mini, and Micro needed every race lap on offer to settle championship affairs. By Sunday night ten different race winners from six different countries had been on the box and there were six new Florida Winter Tour Champions from three different countries, having raced on six different chassis, standing tall. Rotax DD2 - sponsored by SH Karting As if her presence alone didn’t catch the attention of the paddock in Ocala, England’s Tiffany Chittenden’s performance certainly did when the 2007 British DD2 Champion captured pole position by pipping both Richard Boake and Jeffrey Petriello at 36.7 seconds. Showing the depth of the field at the finale, point leader Darren White, Brendan Bain and Jamaica’s Martin Anderson each clocked at 36.8 seconds, the top six spread by less than two-tenths of a second! Knowing what was at stake, Boake cut to the lead at the wave of the green as Chittenden washed out allowing Petriello to second. The Arrow driver then took the lead at the second hairpin, only to have Boake respond two corners later! Each needed a win and maximum points to have any shot at White overall, and they proceeded to wage a race-long war while Chittenden worked back to third and White was cruising in fourth. The lead pair swapped the point once again near half distance, but the showstopper came on the last lap as Petriello surprised Boake heading into the carousel and held to earn fifty points and pole for the main event. Boake was second, Chittenden third and White fourth. At the start of the final Petriello held the point in the final race of the day while White slotted second, Boake third, Brazil’s Pedro Jacobsen fourth and Chittenden fifth. No other driver would crack the top five over 24 race laps. Nearing desperation, Boake took second from White at the second hairpin and set off after Petriello, but it was not to be. Petriello had things firmly in control for his third consecutive FWT win while Boake fell into the clutches of White, the soon-to-be champion edging his CRG past at the first hairpin just before half distance. After that the field fanned out with Petriello winning by three seconds, White a second clear of Boake, Chittenden alone in fourth and Jacobsen alone in fifth. Runner-up mattered not to White, as the points secured the championship and ensured his return to the Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals. With 1065 points at day’s end, even if he failed to score a point on Sunday White could not be caught. Petriello could reach no higher than 1000 with a perfect four-for-four score, and in the event Boake swept the maximum 250 points on the day to momentarily edge ahead, his mandatory drop would lower him back to second. White had the championship, and for the second time, a trio of Canadians were on the podium. Sunday began with new champion White taking a pass on the day’s action and Petriello on pole. The Arrow lagged at the start though, and Chittenden grabbed the lead racing into turn one. Petriello tried to take it back in turn three but touched the rear wheel of Chittenden’s Intrepid and fell down the order. Boake then jumped into second, and as they crossed the line through one the former British Champion led from Boake, Bain, and Bill McLaughlin. Boake then took the lead working lap four and by the end of the lap Petriello had recovered third. Things were static the rest of the way with Martin Anderson crossing fourth and McLaughlin fifth. At the start of the race that closed the 2009 FWT International Rotax Max Challenge, Boake held pole with Petriello behind and Anderson slotting third ahead of Bain and Chittenden. By lap four Chittenden was back to fourth, and the lead quartet cleared the rest of the field and raced toward half. Petriello took the lead working lap ten and for the fourth consecutive final it was lights out for the rest of the field. The SRA/Arrow driver was on cruise control afterward taking his fourth win from his fourth start. Anderson and Chittenden also got Boake on the same lap as he tried to counter the move, and Anderson went on to take second while Boake eventually recovered third. In final points the Saturday podium shifted order with White on top at 1065, Boake second with 1010, and Petriello third with 990. Rotax Max Senior - sponsored by BTK/Arrow Racing Karts It was a very similar situation in Rotax Senior where Brazilian Fabio Orsolon wrapped up the championship on day one at Ocala, and will make his second trip representing Team FWT at the coveted Rotax Grand Finals. Heading to the finale with three wins from four starts, the Max Papis Racing with Fittipaldi/Birel pilot took the title after going four-six in race action on Saturday. Also similar to DD2, it was an Arrow kart pointing the way on the day as Australian David Sera returned to take his fourth North American win from his fifth start. He began the day off-pole after Victor Pedrosa’s 37.021 was fractionally better than a 37.024 by Sera, and Wes Phillips was third at 37.066! The same trio controlled the prefinal as Sera worked up from third by the end of three and nothing changed the rest of the way - Pedrosa second and Phillips third. Orsolon was fourth by lap four and also cruised while Thiago Parazinho made a successful return for Zanardi in taking fifth. The main event was all Sera as he checked out on the field early. Already one second clear through three laps, at lap five he was the only kart going sub-37 and was three-tenths under! Phillips took second at the start but Pedrosa worked his OGP/TonyKart past within two laps and the podium was set on lap four. Phillips went the distance third for MRP/Birel, with Joey Collins working from seventh to fourth in his return to CRG. Canadian Marco Di Leo had worked his Intrepid to fourth, but succumbed to Collins in the closing laps. Almost identical mathematically to White in DD2, Orsolon had a lead of 228 points overall with a sixth-place finish, and even in failing to score on Sunday he could not be caught. The Florida Winter Tour had its first two drivers headed to the Grand Final for 2009. Sera was right back at the front on Sunday when he took pole and within a few laps was checking out on the field in the prefinal. Pole position for the main event was never in question while behind five karts were in a dogfight to set the order. Orsolon was second ahead of Parazinho, Phillips, Pedrosa and Collins. Parazinho retired on twelve, giving Orsolon clear sailing to second. Pedrosa worked his way to third, with Phillips and Collins completing the top five. The main event was halted by a red flag when carnage ensued in turn one, and when things got rolling a second time Sera again checked out. By lap ten he was two seconds clear, but at fifteen he was standing on the inside of turn three with a mechanical DNF! His retirement opened the door for Pedrosa, who then cruised to win by five seconds for OGP/TonyKart. The fighting behind was intense with a number of drivers holding podium positions. In the end, Phillips took the second step for MRP/Birel, new champion Orsolon was third, Marco Di Leo was fourth after joining the fight in the second half, Oscar Luebbert was fifth for FA Kart. Sunday also altered the final order of points as Pedrosa jumped to second to create a Brazilian one-two with Orsolon and Canadian Pier-Luc Ouellette was third. Orsolon’s winning total was 1142 points, Pedrosa tallied 947 and Ouellette 897. Di Leo was fourth overall at 851, and despite making just four FWT starts, Sera wound up fifth with 722 points making it three different Nations and five different chassis at the top. Rotax Max Junior - sponsored by Goodwood Kartways / Intrepid Canada Rotax Junior was anything but decided when a wild final lap Saturday compressed the standings. Jaime Ortega still had the point lead over two fellow TonyKarts, but by just nine points over Nick Neri and just 24 clear of Steven Szigeti. When drops factored in, Neri was on top at 870 heading to the final race with Ortega at 810 and Szigeti at 809. Ortega had a devastating final, but the day began with qualifying where Neri took pole as the first of five karts at 37.7 seconds! Six more were at 37.8 seconds and the Junior field was the most intense at Ocala Gran Prix. The prefinal was simply electric with multiple position changes each and every lap. Neri led from the green with Merlin’s Shawn Sharkey second, and Daniel Formal third. A six-pack worked off the front while Szigeti raced seventh and began closing in. Eventually the lead train was eight strong, and impossible to call. Sharkey, Neri and Formal each led at points, with Formal’s MRP/Birel looking very strong through the carousel and Neri powerful down the straight and through one as well. Sharkey led six times across the stripe, Neri three times and Formal nine times, including the final four in leading the trio under the checker. Alessandra Madrigal took fourth for J3/Kosmic, Ortega was fifth and Szigeti sixth. Formal resumed where he left off in the main event, leading from the wave of the green after two waved starts and a stern warning to the field. Sharkey had second by the end of the first lap with Neri third, Madrigal fourth and Szigeti fifth. The opening laps were once again electric and had the fences lined. Neri worked past Sharkey on three and two laps later Madrigal went by as well to take third. Neri took the lead on the next lap, Formal returned the blow in the carousel, only to have Neri counter again racing through one! Neri led through seven, Formal came back through eight and nine, and by ten Madrigal had worked to the head of the line as the lead train still raced seven karts strong! Jesus Rios Jr. worked his way to second with Ortega third and the trio held the podium positions for eleven laps and racing under the white flag. Then the fireworks began: Ortega looked for second position at the first hairpin but got in too hot and spun himself out - taking Rios Jr. out in the process! That allowed Formal back to second, Neri to third, and Szigeti to fourth, each with valuable championship points coming as well. Madrigal then faced a technical disqualification, and Formal topped the blocks and had a mathematical shot at defending his title on Sunday! He made the most of it when he took pole, and when the green waved in the prefinal a pack six karts thick was scrapping at the front. Formal held through the first four before Rios Jr. took over on five and ran it all the way to the house. He was now in the championship hunt, and Formal remained hopeful after going second the rest of the way. Neri worked his way to third ahead of Madrigal and Austin Self. Championship hopefuls Ortega and Szigeti crossed seventh and eighth respectively and had work to do in the final. When the green flew to decide the championship Rios Jr. held the point but Neri took it beginning lap two and led a five-kart breakaway that included Formal, Szigeti and MRP/Birel pilot Taylor Tzouanakis. By ten Ortega was doing his best to join the fray and make it six while the entire top five went ‘green’ in turning their fastest laps of the race. The order held through seventeen laps until Rios Jr. took the point back on eighteen. The only remaining change then came after the leaders took two-to-go and Formal went inside Szigeti at turn one and Tzouanakis followed him through. Szigeti washed out to seventh, allowing Ortega through to complete the top five and Mauricio Hernandez-Guillen in for sixth. Rios Jr. won a race to the checker, but Neri had the championship and a trip to the Rotax Grand Finals. His final winning margin was fifty points, 1090 to the 1040 of Rios Jr. Ortega took third with 980 points, finishing ahead of Formal at 967 and Szigeti at 958. Rotax Mini-Max - sponsored by GoRotax.com / MRP Motorsport Beginning just as tight as the rest of the fields in Ocala, the Rotax Mini-Max class had three drivers time in at 38.8 seconds during qualifying with Dalton Sargeant taking pole from Dore Chaponick Jr. and point leader Jack West. At the start of the prefinal, West jumped to the point in what became an eight-kart lead train and a crazy heat race. The lead changed hands five consecutive laps heading to half distance and Derek Sobel joined the lead pair in slipping off the front. They continued to swap the spot in the second half and produced an incredible final act. First, West slid wide allowing Sargeant through to the lead, then Sobel took second from West racing through turn one just after taking the two-to-go. One lap later he took the lead in the same spot, and the order looked set with Sargeant second and West third - cue the madness! Sargeant spun off the straightaway in strange circumstances allowing West by, and when Sobel failed technical inspection West was on pole for the main event! Title contender Jesse Lazare was up to second, and reigning champion Chaponick was up to third. Sargeant was scored fourth, crossing on the grass and Pietro Fittipaldi was fifth. The Saturday final began with an even longer train extending beyond the top ten and the field having serious hops - literally! A majority of the leaders had taken to hopping from the seat at the end of the straightaway to find an extra bit of speed and in a case of monkey-see, monkey-do, the class was hopping into turn one. West, Chaponick and Lazare each led in the first half of sixteen laps with the TonyKart of Lazare leading the way into the closing stages. The crucial moment came working lap thirteen at the first hairpin. West dove inside Sargeant for third but his nose touched the rear of Chaponick’s Birel at the apex and it led to a spin. Sargeant recovered third and Chaponick held second, but the momentary delay allowed Lazare to get some breathing room and take it to the checker. Sargeant moved to second in the carousel before taking the white flag, and Chaponick took third. West recovered to tenth, and when a drop was figured into the point tally he then trailed Lazare by five points with one race to run. Sunday qualifying saw six karts time within two-tenths of a second led by Brazilian Pietro Fittipaldi da Cruz. Sobel was second, Sargeant third, West fourth, Lazare fifth and Kyle Kirkwood sixth. In the prefinal there were only three changes to the lap-one order the entire race distance: Lazare took fourth on lap two, and both Sargeant and West worked past Fittipaldi. The prefinal points also put West back in front, and headed to the final he was five up on Lazare with sixteen laps to the championship. West held at the start before Sargeant took over in turn one. Initially five karts strung together at the front, but Sargeant and West worked clear and the barring catastrophe the title was going to the Juncos driver. Not content to stay in second, West took the lead with a surprise move at the Tree turn on the last lap - the only change in the field after the white flag waved! West crossed first, but Officials deemed that the great start he had produced was a little too great, and after a one-position penalty he was back to second. It mattered not for the Juncos driver as the championship and it’s paid entry to the U.S. Grand Nationals was his. Fittipaldi was third on the track, Lazare fourth and Sobel fifth. In the Championship West topped out at 1080, Lazare at 1055 and Sargeant at 965, just four ticks ahead of Jordan Perry. Rotax Micro-Max - sponsored by firstkart.com The smallest of the Rotax crowd began with the usual suspects at the front as Logan Sargeant, Lance Stroll and Jimmy Cabrera each clocked 41.5! The trio quickly had a gap in the heat race but as they started to dice near half distance Devlin DeFrancesco joined the fray. Stroll edged his SH/TonyKart to the lead in the carousel and Cabrera took his CRG inside to second running through one on the next lap. The move also created room for DeFrancesco. They held station until lap eight when DeFrancesco took second exiting the hairpin and the starting grid was set. Backmarkers came into play in the final as Cabrera’s PSL/CRG caught them at just the right time and the rest of the leaders were significantly delayed. Cabrera had a majority of his winning margin from that point forward, while the rest scrapped for the remaining podium spots. DeFrancesco and Stroll continually swapped steps until lap twelve when DeFrancesco was caught out by a backmarker a second time and both Stroll and Sargeant got past. On thirteen, DeFrancesco went inside both at the second hairpin to take second in one swoop, but Stroll recovered the position a corner later. On fifteen DeFrancesco went to second at the hairpin once again and this time would not relinquish it. With Cabrera home free, DeFrancesco took his first podium for FirstKart and Sargeant took third for Kart Mini, winning a fight with Stroll, Patricio O’Ward, and Jesse Seeley. Heading to Sunday, Sargeant was still comfortably on top of the points with a gap of 65 back to Stroll. Cabrera continued his torrid pace on Sunday by capturing pole but after two false starts the front row was demoted and DeFrancesco was on the point. When field took to racing, Cabrera quickly worked back to the front and Stroll worked back to his second spot. O’Ward worked his way to third with Sargeant in tow, and the front two rows were set for the final. The same pack of five karts was controlling the last race of the season as Cabrera held at the start from Stroll, O’Ward, DeFrancesco and Sargeant. The lead changed among the front pair five times or more and as Cabrera and Stroll began to fight it out in the late stages the other three were able to get involved. Sargeant moved to second on lap fourteen and after following him through, DeFrancesco took second himself after taking the two-to-go flags! On the final lap, Stroll ran inside toward the carousel, DeFrancesco swung wide, and Cabrera made it a three-way drag for the flag! Stroll crossed first, Cabrera second and DeFrancesco third, each in just over a tenth of a second. Sargeant crossed fourth, winning the championship and the U.S. Grand Nats entry in the process, and O’Ward was fifth. In overall championship points, Sargeant’s 1120 topped all. Stroll was second at 1105, followed by O’Ward at 1000, DeFrancesco at 966 and Zachary Claman DeMelo at 951. Rotax Masters - sponsored by SKF Bearings In the Masters Class Paul Montopoli became the third driver to wrap up a FWT IRMC Championship on Saturday. With 1015 at the end of the day, he was mathematically assured of the top spot and the paid U.S. Grand Nats entry. To begin the day, Canadian Eric Beltrami took pole position from Oregon’s Scott Holmboe and the pair proceeded to fight for the prefinal win. Holmboe led the first flyer but Beltrami took over working two and took it all the way to the house. Montopoli was third, and after looking restless in the early going, thought better of it and settled in for the run to the final. Chris Rock was fourth for Maranello with title hopeful Rene Martinelli fifth. In the final, Holmboe took the point and began to run for cover immediately. Beltrami was second, and Montopoli third leading Rock and Martinelli. Rock was the first to fall, losing fourth to Martinelli, and the lead four were clear heading to the back half of 24 laps. Martinelli would lose ground, eat it up, and lose ground again as the quartet worked to the closing stages. Montopoli then sealed the deal on nineteen. He took second in turn one and was immediately clear and free to the championship. Martinelli did the same to Beltrami one lap later and the Saturday podium was set: Holmboe for Swiss Hutless, Montopoli with the championship for First Kart and Martinelli third for PSL/CRG. Sunday had a new name on the top of the order as CRG’s Russel Hamel edged Beltrami, Holmboe and Martinelli in the timed session. He then made good as he ran flag-to-flag to win by one second from Holmboe, Martinelli, Beltrami and champion-elect Montopoli. The start of the main proved different as Holmboe stole the point ahead of Hamel, with Beltrami racing in third. Martinelli was in seventh after one and Montopoli back in ninth. Matching Hamel’s prefinal effort, Holmboe worked his way from the field, sometimes taking as much as four-tenths of a second per lap. He was two seconds clear through eight laps, and nearly five when the checkered flag waved on him for the second straight day. The best scrap on the track was for second, and by the closing laps Hamel and Martinelli were the pair involved. Martinelli took the spot working twenty, but Hamel took it back on the next lap - only to suffer a spin on the exit of turn two! That left Martinelli to deal with fellow Mexican Mario Garcia Cantu, and he held the spot in setting the podium. As was often the case this season, Montopoli came through it all with another fine finish in fourth, and Jamaican Robert Kerr was fifth. Starting P27 after a mechanical in the prefinal, ‘Mad’ Max Papis was seventh behind Brent Harper. Closing the 2009 IRMC Hamel may not have won the round 6 Masters final, but he was a big winner on the day as his name was pulled in the drawing for the FWT Rotax Masters Ferrari Driving Experience award. Formula Kart Productions and Ferrari North America will be sending Hamel to the exclusive precision driving school where he will experience the thrill of driving a Ferrari 430 Scuderia, 599 GTB Fiorano, and F430 on the world famous Mont Tremblant track in Quebec, Canada. Alessandra Madrigal was also a big winner on the day as the Junior driver was chosen by a panel of FWT judges to receive a three-day Skip Barber Car Racing School and guaranteed entry into the 2009/2010 Skip Barber Karting Scholarship Shootout. Reigning Mojo World Tire Changing Challenge Champion Wesley Boswell continued his streak of WTCC finals wins and took home $500 for his efforts during the FWT Mojo/Freeline WTCC competition with a winning time of 27.77 seconds. Adding to the “Serious Fun!” at this years FWT was the introduction of Kart Drifting when Gary Carlton and Bobby Wilson put on a wild exhibition that included a drifting session, a free-style “expression session” and a “head-to-head” burnout that will be talked about for years to come. FWT LIVE! continued its unprecedented on-line karting coverage, introducing more ground-breaking features, including an archive video section, higher-resolution video, points championship review and preview stories, individual driver interviews and more. FWT LIVE! will wrap up its 2009 broadcasts with coverage of the Formula Kart weekend March 21 & 22.
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