Rok Junior: Launi and Esposito Each Have Dominating Days at Hamilton

The championship lead changed hands in Hamilton as Joseph Launi (Powerhouse/Exprit) and Frankie Esposito (Prime/BirelART) each controlled a full race day while Ryan Maxwell (REM/Kosmic) had a tough Sunday Final to surrender the top spot.

Saturday was all Launi. Pole position, a PreFinal win and a dominating drive in the Final saw him cross the finish line 6.7 seconds ahead of the pack. There was just no stopping him from netting his third win of the MRFKC season.

Behind, Maxwell moved into second on lap one after giving Launi a nice push to the lead in corner one and he never gave it up from there. Unable to keep up with Launi, it was an uneventful drive for Maxwell. Esposito recovered from a slow start to finish third, moving by Christian Menezes (KGR/RedSpeed) at the halfway point of the 30-lap main event. He did close in on Maxwell but never got close enough to make a move.

It was a similar story on Sunday, but this time in Esposito who controlled the top of the charts.

Appearing like he found an extra gear, Esposito was lights out in Qualifying, controlled the PreFinal and pulled away to a 7.4-second margin of victory in the Final to keep himself in the championship hunt.

It was a rather uneventful race until Anthony Raducanoiu (Prime/BirelART) turned up the wick in the second half. Starting seventh and running sixth through lap fifteen, Raducanoiu picked off Menezes and Maxwell at the halfway mark. Posting the fastest lap of the race on lap 23, he chased down and overtook Caleb Campbell (Prime/BirelART) with five laps to go to grab third and even closed in on Launi on the final lap but just ran out of time. With two full days of racing on his set of Le Vanto tires, he really saved the best for last and it paid off.

Leaving Hamilton, Launi now leads Maxwell by 18 points with Esposito in third 54 points back of the leader. Who will come out on top? We will find out in September back at Mosport.