The final rounds of the 2013 Florida Winter Tour are underway at the Ocala Gran Prix facility in the northern portion of the sunny state. This weekend seven Rotax Max class champions will be crowned, with many Rotax Grand Finals tickets also up for grabs. The short and flowing OGP track provides plenty of great racing, and with most championships wide-open it will surely be one to watch. Friday saw official qualifying for both Saturday and Sunday, setting the grids for the all important Pre Finals and Last Chance races.
In Rotax Junior, Kyle Kirkwood (TonyKart) put forth a great effort in the morning qualifying session to top the charts, leading the pack of 37 with a time of 37.891 seconds. Jamaican Thomas Issa (Kosmic) continues to show momentum coming off his double-victory at the Homestead rounds and will start second for Sunday’s Pre Final, while a trio of local TonyKart drivers round out the top-five with Austin Garrison ahead of Trenton Estep and Quentin De Boever.
In the afternoon session, Kirkwood again found himself on top of the list this time bettering his speed in posting a 37.664 second lap. Issa will once again join him on the front row while Canadian Gianfranco Mazzaferro (TonyKart) was third ahead of William Myers (Kosmic) and Antoni Ptak (Birel).
There are plenty of drivers on the outside looking in, in Rotax Junior and drivers like Ashley Rogero, Jack Weprin, Austin Versteeg and Tyler Ripani will all be interesting to watch as they navigate themselves towards the front.
