Euro Challenge: Webb Dominates Rotax Senior Heat Races; DeMelo fast but inconsistent

The second day of competition brought on a full day of heat races for all three divisions on track at the Rotax Euro Challenge in Italy. An overnight rainfall dampened the facility and wet conditions for the first few on track warm-up sessions, but come race time the sun was shining and it was a jam-packed schedule of heat-race action.

The mates under the Strawberry Racing tent dominated the day in Rotax Senior as the TonyKart outfit won every heat race on Saturday except one. Standing out among them was Brit Harry Webb, who is making his first start of the season. Webb went undefeated in the heat races and earned the pole-position for the Prefinal on Saturday.

Qualifying pole-sitter Guan Yu Zhou, who hails from Japan but calls Great Britain home, scored three heat wins along with a second in his race against Webb to rank second, while Joseph Reilly notched two heat wins and a pair of seconds to rank third. Pierce Lehane (FA Kart) was the only other driver to win a heat race, and he ranked fifth behind Edward Brand (Intrepid) who had a pair of seconds and a pair of thirds.

Zachary Claman DeMelo was very fast on Saturday but wasn’t quite rewarded for it. He was leading the first heat race, but fell to eighth after getting hung off the racing line in a battle for the lead. But he fired back with second place in heat two. A DNF in heat three added 22 points to his tally, as he finished off the day with a third place run. With the dust settled, he is ranked 18th overall and advances to Sunday’s main events where he will start on the outside of row nine.

Zachary Claman DeMelo has the speed to run up front. (Photo by: Cody Schindel/CKN)