As the curtains closed on Championship Sunday at the 2024 ROK Cup Florida Winter Tour in Orlando, the roar of Canadian triumph echoed through the circuit, with three Canucks claiming podium positions in their respective Final races, while three others surged their way into the jubilant championship celebrations.
In a thrilling display of skill and determination, Jordan Di Leo soared to P2 in VLR Junior, Owen McCarthy powered to a formidable P2 in Briggs Senior, and Jayden Francisco secured an impressive P3 in Micro Rok. Moreover, the Canadian contingent’s success extended beyond individual races, as Ty Fisher clinched an overall P3 in the VLR Junior championship, with Anthony Bissette adding to the glory with a commendable P3 finish in the Briggs Senior championship race. Not to be outdone, Nathan Dupuis shone bright with a stellar P3 in the ROK Junor championship, solidifying Canada’s presence on the podium of international competition.
In a race weekend filled with Canadian drivers, many of them utilizing their March Break away from school to run their first race of the year, there was no shortage of Canadian content on track throughout the weekend.
For Di Leo (Goodwood/Exprit) he had his strongest showing of the Winter Tour in Orlando. Qualifying in the top five of the VLR Junior category that featured 41 drivers was a good start. He advanced up to P2 in his first heat race, but an accident in heat two knocked him down the running order. Rebounding in heat three with a P4 set him up to start the PreFinal from seventh on the grid and he kept his composure during a wild race to score a P2 finish and a front-row starting spot for the main event. Di Leo nearly grabbed the lead into corner one but slotted into second place and kept close to the race leader, leaving the pack to fight for third behind him. The lead pair pulled a big gap in the opening laps and when the red flag was required on lap ten, the race was declared official with Di Leo taking second place.
There were 11 Canadians in that VLR Junior race with Ty Fisher (RaceLab/TB Kart) finishing one spot off the podium in P4, Nathan Dupuis (SuperTune/TonyKart) battling hard with Fisher all race long but falling back to P6 in the results and Cole Medeiros (RPG/Kosmic) also finishing in the top ten in P7.
Another driver to have a stout weekend was Jayden Francisco (Goodwood/Nitro Kart). It started with a top ten qualifying effort on Friday and after getting pushed around slightly in his first heat race, Francisco went to work in his second and third heats to move into the top five for the start of the PreFinal. Advancing up to third place in his PreFinal put him in a prime position for the main event and Francisco delivered. Keeping his nose clean and avoiding the drama, Francisco secured his first FWT podium with a third-place finish.
There were 7 Canadians in Micro ROK and Liam Francisco (Goodwood/Parolin) moved up six spots in the race to finish P6, with Leo Simone (Kart Republic) slipping back three spots from where he started to P9 at the finish line.
Taking a third Canadian race podium was Owen McCarthy (Prime/BirelART) in Briggs Senior. It was a relatively quiet weekend in the category with only six drivers in the category but nevertheless, McCarthy still challenged his way to the front and cruised to a P2 finish with the race winner simply untouchable all weekend long. Anthony Bessette (CEF/Formula K) initially finished third in the race but had a two-position penalty knock him off the podium. Thankfully, it wasn’t enough to pull him off the championship podium as his consistency in all three rounds earned him the honours of P3 in the final championship standings.
Two more Canucks stood on the FWT championship podiums. Ty Fisher was a consistent front runner and contended for race wins in all three rounds, resulting in two podium finishes that helped him secure P3 in the VLR Junior category. In ROK Junior, Nathan Dupuis was also a front-runner all winter long and with one podium finish to his credit and consistent top results, he ranked third overall. These drivers were very active this winter, racing in numerous events across Florida all winter long and their efforts were surely rewarded.
Other notable results from Orlando this past weekend. Aidan Shimbashi secured a commendable 10th position in VLR Senior, Francesco Vassallo claimed the ten spot in ROK Shifter Masters, and Joseph Launi also attained the 10th spot in ROK Senior. Nathan Dupuis achieved a respectable 4th place, while Luca Cariati and Cole Medeiros landed in 8th and 10th place respectively in ROK Junior. Mark Pavan achieved a solid 5th place in VLR Masters, with Jared Ramnarayan securing the 6th spot in ROK Shifter, contributing to the collective narrative of Orlando’s motorsport scene.
