The 2013 Florida Winter Tour was back on track at Palm Beach International Raceway for race #2 of the FWT Rotax Max Challenge. After Mother Nature rolled through heavy rain and winds for Saturdays racing, Sunday featured sunshine and hot action on and off the track.
At the beginning of the DD2 Masters pre final, defending Rotax Grand Finals Champion Cristiano Morgado (CRG) tried to make a three wide pass on front-row starters Stuart Clark (Maranello) and Scott Campbell (CRG), but couldn’t hold the lead as Campbell crossed from the outside of the track to exit with the lead. Morgado would evetually gain the lead on the next lap as he and Campbell began to pull away from another Grand Finals champion Christophe Adams (Birel) in the third position, as Clark dropped well down the running order. Juan Font (Kosmic) would then get by Adams for third position as both drivers would work together to catch Campbell in second. Morgado would take the win followed by Campbell, Adams, Font, and Luis Schiavo (Praga) in fifth.
At the drop of the Green in the final Morgado and Campbell took the lead early and quickly pulled away from the field. Clark would make a run on Adams on lap three to take third away from the Belgian. Next time by Morgado would make a mistake coming on to the back straight allowing Campbell to go to the lead and also allowed Clark and Adams to catch the pair up front. Morgado was able to take the lead back in the beginning of the esse’s, as Campbell would then come under pressure from Clark who took second on the last corner and brought Adams with him pushing Campbell back to fourth. Next time by, Clark would then get shuffled back to fourth with Adams and Campbell moving back by. All this action allowed Morgado to drive away during their fight for second. Clark would eventually get by Campbell for third, then try to get by Adams but wasn’t able to make a move stick. At the line it was Morgado taking the win with Adams, Clark, Campbell and Schiavo rounding the top-five.
The double victory for the South African Morgado see’s him as the Championship point leader entering races 3&4, being held at Homestead-Miami Speedway in February.
