Frank Launi

Lorenzo Mandarino

Garrett Grist

	BSRKC Rotax Report - Flamboro Speedway
	The Brian Stewart Racing Karting Championship made its inaugural visit to Flamboro Speedway over the weekend as the Waterloo Regional Kart Club hosted round four of the Ontario Regional series. Once again the Rotax Max Classes were the starring attraction on Saturday, and for the first time this season the three main classes drew repeat winners. Frank Launi made it back-to-back victories, Garett Grist took his second of the season and Lorenzo Mandarino scored his third win from his fourth start. The first headline story of the day though was the weather, as after a glorious practice day on Friday the event was running on borrowed time Saturday morning. Starting early to race against the clock, a majority of practice ran in dry conditions before a torrential storm rolled through and flooded a majority of the infield and parts of the paddock. The Flamboro and WRKC crews immediately went to work when things subsided and after a herculean effort the show resumed on a drying track with two other stories rearing ugly heads: first, as the regular Saturday night stock car crowd was rolling in and the day was running under a 3pm curfew, all prefinals were axed from the schedule; and second, tire-gate 2009. While some drivers acted on official Rotax Max Challenge rules and chose between Mojo W1 and W2 tires - worn W1's being the optimum choice - others followed BSRKC Supplementary regulations to the letter and qualified on W2's, inevitably new this season and notably slower as qualifying grew longer. Some had asked for clarification and were misguided, others decided on their own, but all were summoned to the grid afterward to have their choice recorded and officials began to huddle under the watchful eyes of parents, drivers and tuners alike. In the end, officials chose to override their own Regulations and allow both tire options, and the W1 group had its first victory of the day. On track things were even more interesting as the racing once again saved the day. Innisfil/GP driver Frank Launi was on pole in DD2 and with Cameron/CRG driver Tyler McEwan alongside they led a field of fifteen to the green flag in the first Rotax race. Turn one went off without a hitch, and when the field returned to the oval three corners later, Launi was leading McEwan and his Cameron/CRG teammate Enrico Menotti. Through the first quarter of the race the field sorted itself and Launi had jumped off the front in his second start. Championship leader Darren White was running him down in his GreenSpeed/TonyKart, and a six-pack of karts was going to fight for third on the podium. Innisfil/GP driver Paul Carvalho had the spot early as McEwan looked for it back followed by PRKosmic teammates Rich Hibbs and Matt France, and Cameron/CRG teammates Menotti and Brendan Bain. The field raced to half in the same formation and changes began in the second half of twenty laps. White had closed to the bumper of Launi up front and McEwan went inside Carvalho in turn one beginning lap eleven. Hibbs tried to follow but couldn’t wiggle through, and the top three was set in the process. McEwan worked clear of the fight to take his first regional podium breathing easy, while up front White couldn’t find a way past the GP and settled on second, minding the points picture. Launi made it back-to-back wins turning his best times late in the race, and teammate Carvalho crossed fourth. France took fifth from Hibbs beginning the last lap, each escaping a charging Eric Simon when the checkers waved. In Rotax senior the ageless-one Marc Stehle was on pole for GreenSpeed/TonyKart with Kevin Monteith also getting a handle on the mixed conditions to qualify second. Michaels Vincec and Glaze were on row two, with Darren White completing the top five in a much-abbreviated field of twelve. The race was shaped through a pair of turn one fiascos when things got underway. The first came beginning lap four as Glaze and Monteith tangled at the front, caused Vincec and Stehle to scatter, and allowed for GP mates Zack Meyer and Frank Launi to cruise through the aftermath into first and second. Lorenzo Mandarino was also clear for Pserra/Birel, as was Pearce Herder and his Karts‘n’Parts/Arrow. Vincec resumed fifth, working to catch back up with White in tow. The latter pair would join the line as Launi tried to wrestle the lead from Meyer. They ran side-by-side through turns one and two on lap six with Meyer keeping the spot, and beginning seven Mandarino got involved as he took second running to turn one. A lap later he had the lead and the race was headed to its back half where turn-one drama would return once again. Vincec was looking for a way to third and drag racing toward turn one with Meyer to begin lap fifteen. White had to nose up behind one, and chose Meyer as the GP was on the inside line. They hit turn one in the same formation with White evidently proving too close to Meyer, the GP spinning when a nose hooked a bumper. Vincec then had a free pass to third, Monteith cruised by for fourth, and after a penalty to White following the race, Herder was fifth. At the head of the line, it all let Mandarino and Launi over three seconds clear. Launi had led laps 12-14 after taking the point in turn five, only to have Mandarino take it back on fifteen coming off the oval in turn four. Launi looked to pass the rest of the way, especially in turns five and one, but it was not to be, and Mandarino had a hat trick for Pserra/Birel - three straight wins coming from Sutton, Mosport, and Flamboro. Last in the trio of Rotax Grand Final classes was Junior where Garett Grist and Ethan Livingston were on the front row. Livingston nearly pulled off the session of the day when GreenSpeed/TonyKart tuner Mike Roth made the call for slicks and they timed within 0.059 seconds of pole. Cameron/CRG driver Jeffrey May was also right there, clocking third while also inside a tenth of Grist’s Top Kart. The dicing at the front was early and often when the green finally waved as Livingston snatched the lead at the start. Grist took it back working through the interior, but Livingston came calling once again beginning three, and after running side-by-side through turn one he got it. After a few laps in formation, Grist made his return call as he slipped inside running through one, and he would capitalize on the move as Livingston then had to contend with Spencer Todd in third. The Goodwood/Intrepid driver was all over the back of the Tony Kart and if that weren’t enough, Austin Milwain was looking to get his Pserra/Birel involved, as were May and Artem Korolev. It all proved a blessing for Grist, as the race two winner went about his business and slipped off the front toward his second win of the season. The juniors produced the most passing out of the banking and onto the straight and as Grist went into the clear, the six karts fighting behind eventually settled into two packs of three: the first with Livingston, Todd, and May; and the second with Milwain, Reid Arnold and Korolev. That of course, until the closing laps when infighting brought them right back together, with the PRKosmic of Michael Adams now in the mix as well. Livingston was the first to crack as he overshot turn one beginning lap sixteen and raced around the banking, rejoining in front of Arnold in fourth. Officials left him there, incredibly, but he wouldn’t be for long. On the final lap Arnold tried to nose in at turn five and both were removed from the podium picture. Livingston on the spot and Arnold with a three-position penalty for rough driving. Adams had gotten by Korolev on the same lap as the overshoot, and he created one himself the final time through turn one as contact sent Milwain around the banking and back to sixth. Todd would incur a penalty after the race as well, and when the checkers waved the only thing that was certain was that Grist had bagged a victory. When the dust settled, May was second after Todd was issued a one-position penalty dropping him to third; Adams was fourth with the Arnold penalty, and Milwain completed the line for hardware in fifth. The BSRKC now heads to its biggest event of the season, the Ontario GrandNationals at Shannonville Motorsport Park. Two days of practice begins on Wednesday, July 29th, with race action carrying right through the weekend.
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