March Sunday’s in Ocala have become a special time for those involved in the karting industry. For the past few seasons, the Florida Winter Tour closes it’s two championship weekends at the Ocala Gran Prix location, with great racing, prizes, awards and excitement, and this year once again has delivered. For the Formula Kart classes, their Championships came to a close today but for some classes it went right down to the wire.
Juan Font (Kosmic) took the Pole Position in TaG Masters Qualifying as James Russell Jr. (Parolin) and Javier Gonzalez (Tony Kart) would complete the top three in the seven kart grid.
Juan Font took the win in the first heat of the day as Gonzalez took the second position ahead of the Parolin teammates of Russell and Brent Lyman (Parolin).
In the second heat, Gonzalez took the lead after the inverted grid with Russell Jr., Font and Lyman close behind. on lap three Russell and Font would both get by Gonzalez at which point Russell would get a one second gap over Font. At the end Font would close up to the back of Russell but wouldn’t be able to make a move for the win. Lyman took third position ahead of Gonzalez and Manual Gransaull.
Juan Font would be uncontested in the TaG Masters final as he would take a flag to flag victory by three seconds ahead of Russell Jr. The real battle on track would be between Lyman and Gransaull and the two Floridians were running bumper to bumper throughout the race. Lyman would take the third position in the end with Gransaull finishing fourth and George Moss who won the trip to the Granja Viana 500 finishes in the fifth position.
With the victory, Font would take the Championship honours, as Russell would finish second (with only four of six races) and Lyman third.
