Devlin DeFrancesco raced his third career National Championship event recently as the reigning Canadian Micro-Max Champion looked win the 2010 US National title in his new class - Rotax Mini-Max. Competing at New Castle Motorsports Park in New Castle, Indiana, the DFR driver had reason to be confident as he had faired well in two previous visits this season. This, though, was the biggest event on the American calendar for Rotax Max, and DeFrancesco was looking to make his mark.
After qualifying P11 and being placed in Group C, the ten-year-old then had three heat races spread over two days of racing. In his first heat race, DeFrancesco steadily worked forward to score a win. Fifth through the opening lap, he moved to fourth for the next three, ran third to the last lap board, and showed he had learned to use the draft in his previous visits to go third-to-first on the final lap. He also set the fastest lap of the race, a time better than he had in qualifying earlier in the day.
Back the next day for heats two and three, the dual citizen continued to show fine form. In his second heat he sat sixth through the opening lap and over the seven that followed once again worked forward, this time to third. He bettered his lap time for the second straight race, and was now a half second up on his qualifying effort. For heat three, it was another repeat performance. Fifth the first time by in the final heat, DeFrancesco steadily came forward again, this time taking second on the last lap. He had the fastest lap in the field once again, a lap that was his quickest of the weekend. The three heat races gave the DFR driver the third lowest total, and he also posted the third best time in Saturday morning warm-up as the teams got set for a prefinal and National final.
At the start of the prefinal he passed into second but lost the spot in a draft-pass the first time down the long New Castle straight. He slotted third, and stayed there until a huge draft train moved alongside working lap five. The line of karts stretched back outside the top ten, and DeFrancesco sandwiched his way into seventh, a position he kept through the middle stages of an eleven lap race. He then took his turn working in the train coming home, passing to sixth and fifth on consecutive laps. The checker waved with the DFR driver in that spot, and he lined up on the inside of row three for the National final.
When the green waved on the main event DeFrancesco maintained his fifth spot but quickly went forward knowing the importance of being in the lead train. He set the fastest lap in the field on two, and went from fifth to second in one lap. The train then went back by him on the next trip, and DeFrancesco was fifth through three! One lap later he was where he needed to be - sitting P4 in the lead train. He then fell to fifth racing the middle stages, and crucially lost the draft line trying to shuffle back forward. In the end he was isolated, just over a second back of fourth and over six seconds up on sixth. It meant he was unable to work coming to the checker, and he finished fifth in his first National Mini-Max final.
Incredibly, through the 2009 Canadian and United States Rotax Max Championships and now the 2010 version at New Castle, DeFrancesco has never finished outside the top five in any heat, prefinal, or National final in Micro-Max or Mini-Max! He’ll look to continue the later this month as on consecutive weekends he races the third round of the Pan American Rotax Max Challenge at Homestead before heading back to Europe for the opening round of the WSK Master Series in Siena, Italy. For more information on Devlin and his DFR team, visit devlindefrancesco.com and DFR on Facebook. |
DeFrancesco produced another solid National