Rok Cup USA Invades Oakland Valley Race Park

On Sunday, rain couldn’t dampen the spirits of those on hand at the Oakland Valley Race Park in central New York as the OVRP Rok Cup Festival finished up their weekend event. An overnight rain continued through the morning hours, washing away everything the drivers had learned throughout the hot and sticky week on track. With plenty of tickets to Rok the Rio as well as the Rok Cup International Final on the line, it all came down to Sundays Finals.

The modest turn out of drivers was still treated to great support and crew that Rok Cup USA has become known for, providing a professional program to race under, while Tim Hannan, owner of OVRP, did everything he’s known for when welcoming each and every racer to his home.

Taking home the big victory in Rok Senior was Conrad Krawiek after he was able to overtake Emma Delattre just past the halfway mark. Delattre led the field throughout the weekend, winning all of the heat races on Saturday, but came up short of the victory on Sunday in the wet conditions. Raif Shah wound up third followed by Sammy Ruck and Alejandro Garcia.

Rok Junior featured the continued domination from Diego Contecha as the Columbian swept the weekends racing. After Alessandro De Tullio jumped ahead at the start, Contecha monitored the race leader until he was ready to pounce, and quickly pulled away after. Rafe Abdulali completed the podium, which earned the top-three tickets to Las Vegas, while Nichola Zecchinato and Dylan Christie completed the top-five.

For the second major event in a row, James Egozi delivered a knockout punch on Sunday. Throughout the heat races in Mini Rok, Egozi was just part of the lead pack, showing good speed, but nothing compared to his blistering pace in the Final. On a wet, but quickly drying track, Egozi pulled out to an eight-second victory to secure himself a trip to Las Vegas, along with Jack Jeffers and Miguel Costa, who joined him on the podium. Michael Costello and Andres Cardenas were fourth and fifth.

Following the Mini’s, there was a quick scramble by the Micro Rok as dads and mechanics swapped their drivers to slick tires. The sun was shining and drying the track quickly only moments after the final drops of rain had fallen. The slick track was a challenge for Micro rokkers, with only two karts making it to the finish. The win went to Lucas Szabo after Alejandro Luis spun mid-race and surrendered the lead. Canadian Cole Newton finished third and secure his spot in Las Vegas, although a couple spins put him a lap down before being removed. Completing the top-five were Aidan Lourenco and Paulie Hart, who also had trouble tackling the conditions.

With a complete dry line on the track, the Rok Shifters rolled out on track for their final. Quickly Rory Van Der Steur jumped out to the early lead, overtaking polesitter Danny Formal. Canadian Josh Conquer had a great launch and beat Antonio Pizzonia to third. Formal didn’t take long to return to the top of the charts, as did Pizzonia, who had a spirited battle going with Pizzonia when the skies opened up on lap five. A quick shower soaked the track, followed by a constant mist. Doing all there could to find grip, the Shifter Seniors were impressive in maintaining their positions and after 28 laps, the sun returned and Formal took the win over Pizzonia and Van Der Stuer. Conquer held for fourth ahead of Gonzalo Aponte.

In addition to the podium winners earning tickets to Rok the Rio in Las Vegas this November, six drivers earned tickets to the Rok Cup International Final in Italy, based on a mini championship between the two Rok Cup Festivals. Driving their way to Italy were Delattre in Senior, Jeffers in Mini, Aponte in Shifter Masters, Flavio Menezes in Masters, De Tullio in Junior and Formal in Shifter Senior.