The second round of the Florida Winter Tour wrapped up on Sunday with the Rotax Max classes getting their opportunity to race for the FWT podium.
In Rotax DD2 there was a big shakeup in the PreFinal when leaders Igor Muhkin and Gary Carlton came together opening up the door for Jeff Kingsley to slide through with Robert Wickens and Davide Greco moving up to second and third in the process. While it appeared neither wanted the off-pole starting spot for the Final, they both slowed coming to the checkered flag hoping the other would take the spot and while Greco eventually crossed in second, Juan Diego Villacis snuck by Wickens at the last second to take third. Wickens would also receive a penalty for impeding Villacis, putting him seventh on the grid.
It was a rocky start in the Final as Villicis beat Kingsley to turn one while Wickens’, Friday’s fast-qualifier, race ended after being run over by James Armas along with Micheal McCarthy and Gary Carlton also being collected.
Out front, Villacis did his best to keep Kingsley behind but after three laps, Kingsley completed the pass and began to build up his gap. Under attack for the spot, Villacis fell to eighth as the scrambling for podium positions continued. Ethan Simioni had made his way to third until a late pass attempt by Greco saw the PSL driver crash over Simioni and end his race.
From there it smoothed out as Greco recovered and tracked down Marco Signoretti for second, taking the position on lap thirteen. However for his actions, Greco received a pair of penalties after the race.
On the podium, Kingsley scored his second win of the year, this one by nine seconds. Signoretti recovered from his scary crash on Friday to podium in his season debut while Cedrik Lupien completed the all-Canadian podium.
Rotax Senior
Mathias Ramirez played his cards very well in only his third start in Senior, overtaking Austin Garrison on the second last lap to take the victory. The mistake in the final corner by Garrison not only let Ramirez cross him over but allowed the chasing pack to close in as Ryan Norberg and Canadian Samuel Lupien steered by on the final lap to complete the podium.
Logan Cusson moved forward in the Final to finish seventh, one spot ahead of Marc-Antoine Poirer while Jackson Neilands and Justin Overjero failed to finish.
