Rok Cup SuperFinal Heat Race Update

Mini Rok

Our Mini Rok drivers have their heat races split up over three days, so we don’t know just yet who will be in which Final on Saturday.

Jensen Burnett is having a great weekend with a heat win on Thursday and a third place on Friday to put himself right in the mix.

An excellent effort on Thursday by Meyer Deonarine put his Energy Kart in fourth place in his first heat race, but a crash in his second heat will hurt his points total.

Jordan Di Leo has learned what it’s like to race in a pack this week, as his heat races have looked like busy highway traffic. A tenth on Thursday was followed with a fourteenth on Friday, meaning he needs a good result on Saturday morning for a shot at the A main.

Another driver to find the chaos of the mid-pack this week has been Christian Papp. He’s driven well to score a pair of twelfth place results so far and we will see where he comes out on Saturday morning.

Ilie Tristan-Crisan has started his heats from the sixth row and while his experience in Europe this summer is showing, he’s been having to fight really hard to stay where he starts. A pair of eleventh place results puts him right close with both Di Leo and Papp so far.

With the Mini Roks being split into two groups, our racers will need to rank among the top-17 in their group to make the A Final, with the next 17 advancing the Trophy Final.

Junior Rok

67. Caleb Campbell – Heat results 29/25/21/22

It’s been a bit of a rough week for Caleb. His first heat on Thursday saw him exit on lap one with a very bent axle and from there he managed to hold his own on track but couldn’t progress forward. He has just advanced to the B Final and will start from the final row. He can only go forward from there, so we will see how he does.

Senior Rok

5. Robert Soroka – 2/5/9

7. Marco Filice – 13/4/3

9. Nolan Bower – 12/6/6

29. Gianluca Savaglio – 15/20/13

34. Lorenzo Morsillo – 20/17/16

37. Andrew Maciel – 20/21/15

With six Senior Rok drivers on track we have witnessed no shortage of action. Both Robert Soroka and Marco Filice have really impressed in the heat races and will start near the front of the A Final. Soroka even led a good portion on Thursday evenings heat race before falling back to third while Filice has fended off some serious attacks on Friday.

Also coming on strong Friday was Nolan Bower with a pair of sixth place finishes and great race pace.

They will all start inside the top-10 with Soroka, Filice and Bower on the inside line in fifth, seventh and ninth.

The mid-pack chaos has found Gianluca Savaglio, Andrew Maciel and Lorenzo Morsillo this week as they battle right in the middle of the action in each heat race. All three ended off their Friday with good runs and that helped Savaglio and Morsillo advance to the Main event on Saturday while Maciel is the lone Canadian in the Trophy B Final, where he will start from third.

Shifter Rok

16. Davide Greco – 10/24/7

19. Taegen Poles – 18/15/17

20. Joshua Conquer – 25/17/14

After awesome top-10 qualifying efforts from Greco and Conquer, both had slow starts off the line in the Thursday heat race. It went from bad to worse for Conquer, who ended up on his head in the heat race after a intense battle with another driver. He was okay though.

With the grids for Shifter Rok drivers using the progressive format, this meant Conquer started at the rear while Greco was right in the middle for heat two and sadly for Greco, his heat race was over only moments after the lights went out. Pinched in the middle of two karts, he bounced up and out of the race with a bent kart before the first corner.

A great rebound in heat three saw Greco drive from last on the grid all the way to seventh with some of the fastest laps of the race, but contact with another driver resulted in his pushback bumper being activated, knocking him back down the order.

Quietly, Taegen Poles pieced together three consistent races and avoided all the drama to rank inside the top-20 each heat.

For the Final, Greco will start 16th with Poles 19th and Conquer 20th.

Expert Rok

10. Joe Crupi – 12/10/11

19. Cayden Goodridge – 20/16/17

20. Mark Pavan – 21/19/19

Consistency in the heat races helped progress Joe Crupi into a top-ten starting spot for the Final on Saturday. Still missing a bit from the leaders, Crupi will need a good run to move up the order.

Both Cayden Goodridge and Mark Pavan continue to gain experience at their first international event. They avoided trouble in the heat races, although Pavan did have a mechanical DNF in heat 2, and will start the Final beside eachother on row ten.

Saturday’s races will be live streamed on the SouthGardaKarting.it website, as well as the Rok Cup Official Facebook and YouTube pages.