Don’t blink, otherwise, you will have missed it. The 2022 Rok Cup USA Florida Winter Tour came and went in what felt like one of the fastest winter seasons we’ve experienced, and no, we’re not complaining.
Three events hosted from January through March featured races held in the parking lots of Pompano Beach and St. Petersburg before capping out with a much-anticipated return to the Orlando Kart Center to crown the annual winter champions of the sport. Weather played a factor in all three, with a mix of warm and cold, while rain affected two of the events pretty severely.
By our calculations, 71 different Canadian drivers entered at least one race of this year’s FWT, which is amazing, and that’s not including the three Briggs drivers who also took part. Seven drivers battled in multiple classes and Canada had representation in every category that lined up on the FWT grid this winter.
After struggling in 2021 to have more than a dozen Junior Rok drivers at any given race, 19 different Canadian suited up in Junior Rok and 7 more in VLR Junior! Suddenly we have a feeling Junior could be the best class on track this season, whether it’s on the Rok GP or the VLR Junior. How amazing in that?!
When it comes to the final standings Canadians brought home some hardware as well this winter.
Rocco Simone joined the Parolin USA race team in January and went on a tear all winter long, scoring a win in St Pete and the overall Micro Rok title in Orlando after a runner-up finish. While the family has moved south permanently, we’re hoping to still see him on our Canadian circuit this summer.
Adam Ali quietly cruised to the VLR Senior vice-championship, as did Cayden Goodridge in VLR Masters, showing Canadians can get it done on the 100cc air-cooled engine as well.
Third overall went to Ayden Ingratta in Junior Rok. A contender to win every race this winter, luck just wasn’t on Ingratta’s side and he had to settle for third.
Three Canadians finished inside the top ten of Senior Rok, perhaps the most competitive class this winter with 50 different entrants. Nolan Bower was fifth overall, thanks in part to a solid finish to his winter with a fourth-place finish in Orlando. Gianluca Savaglio and Adam Ali were eighth and ninth for Racing Edge Motorsports, while Patrick Woods-Toth only competed in one event (Orlando) but drove to an impressive PreFinal win, sadly his chances in the Final ended early with a crash before recovering to ninth.
Other notable top-ten championship finishes went to Decklan Deonarine (5th in Micro), Orlando race winner David Zhao (6th in Micro), Justin Di Lucia (10th in Micro), Ty Fisher (10th in Mini), Caleb Campbell (10th in Junior Rok), Joshua Conquer (7th in Shifter Rok), David Greco (10th in Shifter Rok), Nathan Dupuis (8th in VLR Junior), Mayer Deonarine (9th in VLR Junior), Daniel Ali (5th in VLR Senior), Bruno Sorgiovani (5th in VLR Masters), Mark Pavan (9th in VLR Masters) and Franco Vassallo (10th in Shifter Master).
To view the final standings of all the classes, click here.
This winter featured a number of drivers getting to grips with new categories so when they fire up in the coming months at home, they are ready for battle.
So with the snow starting to melt and many of us getting very anxious to return to the kart tracks this Spring, we remind everyone to get their licenses sorted and applied for to be ready for race season, their home clubs selected and if called upon, spend a day or two at your local track to help clean it up after another long winter. Our tracks will love the support.
See you at the track soon!
