Marritt Advances to Rok Shifter Main Event; Luik, Harris and DiLeo Relegated to B-Finals

After twenty-eight heat races on Friday at South Garda Karting, four of the six classes have starting lineups for their main events at the Rok Cup International Final. Rok Senior, Shifter, Expert and Super Rok completed their final heats to set the grids, while Mini and Junior Rok will finish up on Saturday morning to determine who makes their A and B Finals.

Isaac Marritt is the lone Canadian to confirm himself in the main Finals on Saturday and he will start from twenty-fourth on the grid in Rok Shifter. Marritt finished 16-13-17 in his three heat races to score 46 points, tying him for twenty-third in the ranking. He lost out on the tie-breaker and will start from the outside of row twelve tomorrow. After last years superb showing by Antonio Serravalle, Marritt will be looking to better Canada’s best Rok Shifter result at the Rok International Final.

“It’s exciting to qualify for the Final. I didn’t have much of a reference going into to the event to where I would qualify, so it’s a relief to make it to the Final. The heats are stressful but with how much people defend, track position never changes much so that can be comforting with a good qualifying position. With a longer race tomorrow I hope that people with choose to race instead of defend and stick to the racing line so moving up through the field is possible.”
– Isaac Marritt

The other Canadian in Rok Shifter, Justin Luik, will compete in the Vortex Trophy tomorrow. Also known as the B Final, Luik will be looking to close out his first international venture on a high note. He will start from P11 on the grid and has been progressing forward throughout the week in Italy.

In Rok Senior, both Xavier Harris and Marco DiLeo will race in the OMP Trophy tomorrow. The found themselves in trouble throughout the weekend, including DiLeo scoring a DNS in his second heat after retiring on the pace lap with a broken chain. DiLeo was in the B Final last year as well and raced for the win after starting inside the top-five. Starting twenty-first, he will have his work cut out for him if he wants to match last years result. Harris is a little further up the starting grid, departing from thirteenth.

It was an eventful day for our Expert Rok drivers and unfortunately, that means they will all start tomorrows Final from outside the top-ten.

The three will be grouped together for the start, with Crupi leading the charge from eleventh. Adrian Donkers will join him on row six, starting twelfth, while John Cariati takes off from fifteenth. We expect all three to move forward after showing good pace this week, just running into some tough luck.

Xavier Harris (Photo by: Cody Schindel / CKN)

Rok Junior and Rok Mini will finish up their final round of heats on Saturday morning.

Dale Curran had another brilliant day on track Friday, finishing second and third in his to heat races, giving him a four-heat total of sixteen points. He will just need a solid run in his final heat to ensure a good starting spot for the Final.

Mackenzie Clark continues to battle from the middle of the pack and was on his way up when he was crashed out by a fellow driver in his morning heat. He recovered to take fourteenth in his afternoon heat to at least give him some hope at making the Bridgestone Trophy tomorrow as only the top-72 will race on Saturday afternoon.

Finally, Frankie Esposito may need a miracle to make the Mini Rok Singha Trophy as he’s really been challenged in his heat races. He’s on the outside looking in, but has informed us that this has been an eye opening week that he will never forget.