Brazillian driver Matheus Morgatto (Parolin Kart) was brilliant in the Rok Junior Final on Sunday at the Florida Winter Tour, leading every lap en route to victory at Ocala Gran Prix.
Getting off to a good start from the pole-position, Morgatto pulled away early from Canadian Dale Curran (Kosmic), who used his third-place starting spot to follow the leader into turn one. But Curran found trouble on lap two and fell back a number of spots when Arias Deukmedjian (TonyKart) went by and sent Curran scrambling to jump back into line. He eventually slotted back in around seventh.
Round one winner Tyler Gonzalez ran into trouble on lap four, as he slowed coming down the main straight, appearing like he had no power. As the entire field slipped by, Gonzalez was able to get his engine to refire, but he resumed in last. A few laps later the problem returned and the points leader entering the weekend was forced to retire.
Out front, Gonzalez had checked out and Deukmejian was cruising in second. Jeremy Fairbairn (TonyKart) and Ugo Ugochukwu (TonyKart) were waging a batting for third and that lasted until lap twenty-five when Fairbairn went for a ride off track in the carousel corner. By the time he got back on track, he was at the tail of the field, a heartbreaker for Fairbairn.
The podium was confirmed from there with Morgatto taking a 1.8-second victory over Deukmejian. Ugochukwu was third, 9.5 seconds adrift. Jace Denmark-Jessel (TonyKart) took fourth, advancing up five spots from where he started while Connor Zilisch (TonyKart) completed the top-five.
Both Luca Mars and Dale Curran finished ahead of Zilisch but received penalties after the race, moving them down to sixth and seventh. Thomas Nepveu (BirelART) wound up eighth, while Mackenzie Clark (BirelART) was twelfth. Rounding out the Canadians, Nolan Bower (TonyKart) was nineteenth.
Full results can be found here: http://bit.ly/2Exksl1.
Below, watch out Facebook Live stream of the Rok Junior Final. We apologize for Neelan’s shakey hands.
