RMCGF: Babington Remains Perfect in Rotax DD2; Cooper and Woodley in the Top-five

The DD2 Class did not disappoint when it came to excitement. Fans were given quite a treat for all four of the DD2 heats today as drivers battled quite aggressively.

Rotax DD2 A vs B:

The first heat was group A vs B featuring all eight North Americans. This heat saw a great battle between the UK’s Sean Babington and Canadian Ben Cooper. Both drivers battled consistently throughout the race. Babington was able to edge out Cooper for the victory at the line, with Adam Glear (Great Britain) third, Haralds Garkaklis (Latvia) fourth and Canadian Fred Woodley rounding out the top-five.

Fellow Canadian Jeffrey Kingsley was also in the mix, but he fell back to seventh at the line after running fight for most of the heat. Americans Nick Neri and Gavin Reichelt were able to manage 13th and 14th place finishes. Jonathan Kotyk was eighteenth and Michael Ilavia twentieth. Canadian John Buzza suffered a DNF resulting in a 36th place finish respectively.

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Rotax DD2 C vs D:

Although the second heat contained no North American drivers, it did provide some of the best racing at the track today. Xen De Ruwe (Belgium), Jordan Boys (Austrailia) and Bradley Liebenberg (South Africa) were consistently swapping positions each lap. Finally it was De Ruwe who took the lead on the final lap with a fantastic pass in the final turns of the Valencia Circuit.

Ben Cooper has been very strong in the heats finishing second and third. ABOVE: Sean Babington of the UK is perfect thus far in DD2. (Photos by: Cody Schindel/CKN)

Rotax DD2 A vs C:

The second round of DD2 heats saw some great racing as Sean Babington (UAE) took another victory in the A vs C heat over Ferdinand Habsburg (Austria). Ed Brand (Great Britain) held the third position for most of the heat, but surrendered in the final laps to allow both Bradley Liebenberg (South Africa) and Piers Pakenham-Walsh (United Arab Emirates) by before settling in to finish fifth.

Three Team USA drivers competed in this one with Michael Ilavia finishing ninth, Nick Neri fifteenth and Gavin Reichelt in seventieth. All three USA drivers battled extremely hard throughout the race and had fantastic drives overall.

Full Heat Race Results and Points Chart (Unofficial)

Rotax DD2 B vs D:

The final DD2 heat race of the day took place with groups B and D. This heat race wrapped up the days action and the entire paddock was watching as drivers put on quite a show. Canadian Ben Cooper took the lead early on and was in a consistent battle throughout the entire race with Hungarian driver Ferenc Kancsar. The two broke away early but some late race defence by Kancsar allowed Rasmus Markkanen (FIN) to catch up and pass Cooper on the final lap.

Fred Woodley (CAN) had another very impressive drive, running as high as third, and came home in fourth position. Jeff Kingsley struggled to get into a rhythm and eventually earned a disappointing fifteenth place finish, while John Buzza (CAN) was twentieth and American Jonathan Kotyk 35th.

Friday morning the Rotax Junior drivers will hit the track for their third and final round of heat races. Those placed within the top-28 advance directly to Saturday’s Prefinal while the remainder will have to race their way in via the Last Chance Race where only the top-6 survive.

Nick Neri leads the American DD2 contingent (Photo by: Cody Schindel/CKN)