#ROKVegas
Cooper Wins; Mrak Podiums at ROK VEGAS
Ben Cooper and Olivier Mrak represented Canada on the podium over the weekend in Las Vegas during another excellent running of the popular ROK Vegas at the RIO Hotel and Casino.
The annual trip to the fabulous Las Vegas for ROK Cup USA welcomed ROKKERS from North and South America to compete on a temporary circuit just behind the recently renovated RIO Hotel.
Starting off the Final races on Sunday, Cooper led the VLR Masters field to green. Running with the Rolison Performance Group on a Kosmic Kart, Cooper battled all race long with Englishman Martin Stone and Brazil’s Renato Jader David, three very decorated drivers.
Trading the lead with Stone in the race’s second half, Cooper pulled off his final pass with two laps to go and then navigated his final lap of the circuit to perfection. Stone tried to drag race him to the finish line, but came up short as Cooper notched another major race victory to his impressive resume.
Later in the day, Olivier Mrak became the second Canadian to grace the ROK Vegas podium as he drove to a runner-up finish in ROK Senior. Mrak showed great pace all weekend while making his Senior debut and was rewarded at the finish line with a trophy to take home. Competing with Nash Motorsports, Mrak still had the support of his Racing Edge Motorsports mechanic Nick Hornbostel to guide him to success.
An honourable mention goes out to Ryker Magro who used his experience at the recent ROK Cup SuperFinal to help him run with the leaders in Mini ROK. He had a shot at the victory and a podium on the final lap, but one small slip-up trying to make the pass knocked him back to P5 at the finish line.
Other top-ten results went to Liam Francisco, 8th in Micro Rok, along with Nathan Dupuis and Edward Kennedy, finishing P6 and P7 in ROK Junior. Remo Ruscitti and Massimo Valiante finished P7 and P10 in ROK Shifter.
Canadian race teams were also successful at ROK Vegas as Italian Motors powered Daniel Vasile to victory in ROK Shifter, driving away to a margin of victory over 3 seconds. PSL Karting scored a pair of podium results on their BirelART machines, with Diego Ramos taking P2 in VLR Senior and Jordan Musser also finishing P2 in Shifter Masters.
In total, 20 Canadian drivers competed at ROK Vegas, down a fair amount from previous years.
