Rain started off the second day of the Pan American Rotax Max Challenge championship event, setting up an interesting day of ever-changing weather conditions for drivers and mechanics alike.
After taking to the track for a wet morning warm-up and the day looking like it could dry up, entrants endured a wet or misty heat one that surely sent the parc ferme into a frenzy of tire changing. After a quick lunch break, the sun began to peek through the mostly cloudy sky for the second heat with winds really beginning to pick up for the third and final on-track session of the day. The tricky conditions made for some great heat race action, as clear favorites emerged in some classes while some were left with ground to make up during tomorrow’s prefinal leading up to the race everyone has been waiting for, the championship final.
Max Senior sponsored by Intrepid North America
Polesitter Marco DiLeo (Canada) held point at the start of the first heat in the Intrepid North America sponsored Max Senior class, but only for a fleeting moment as 11th place starter and former DD2 World Champion Pier-Luc Ouellette (Canada) was the leader by the end of the first lap. Kevin Monteith (Canada) also made great strides in the opening lap, and was up to third from 16th right behind DiLeo. Drivers ran the “rain line,” staying off the rubber in the slightly wet conditions with Ouellette showing true skill as he quickly began to pull away. Monteith began to pressure his fellow Canadian but didn’t have enough for the Intrepid pilot, as DiLeo eventually found Ouellette’s bumper. Almost having a go through 17 on the final lap, DiLeo was two tenths off at the line as the former DD2 world champ showed he can master both classes by taking the first heat win. A gaggle karts behind Monteith were battling for position with Pearce Herder (Canada) and Reid Arnold (Canada) making it an all-Canadian top-five. Daniel Formal (USA) was just back in sixth.
photo: Daniel Formal
DiLeo kept his starting position with Andrew Palmer (USA) in tow at the drop of the green for heat two. DiLeo couldn’t make it stick for long, as Palmer and Luke Chudleigh (Canada) drafted by him into 17 followed by Herder and Formal. From a distant, it appeared DiLeo would spin with Herder in the mid-section on lap two, falling down the running order to 16th. The Birels of Formal and Jesus Rios Jr. (USA) would work together up to third and fourth with both eventually sliding past Palmer. Ouellette started to turn up the wick, as Palmer would split the two Birels for third. Chudleigh began to pull a significant gap due to all the kart swapping behind his CRG kart. On an exciting last lap, Palmer would get by for the second place at 15, but Formal would take it back coming off the straight finishing in second two and a half seconds behind Chudleigh. Palmer maintained third followed by Ouellette and reigning Pan Am Rotax Senior champion Rios Jr. Herder would be classified all the way in 20th while DiLeo made it back up to ninth.
DiLeo held point at the start of the third and final heat of the day, with Formal taking second over Chudleigh and off-pole starter Palmer. Herder was in fourth by the second time past the stripe, with Ouellette working up to sixth. Herder began to put the pressure on Formal, and got a pass to stick through 15. Ouellette gained one more to get by Palmer, who stayed close to keep things racy. This allowed Stepanova Nekeel (USA) to get by the former world champ as Ouellette fell off slightly from the two Kosmics. On the back straight before the white flag would fly, Palmer had a go at Formal, which lead to a scuffle at the stripe. The fiasco shuffled the running order and a two position penalty on Ouellette for contact resulted in an eighth place finish. DiLeo prevailed to take his second heat win by eight tenths over Chudleigh, with Herder in third, Palmer fourth, and the Birels of Louie Pagano (USA) and Formal fifth and sixth respectively.
Rotax DD2 sponsored by ZCD Autosport
Slight sprinkles started to fall during the warm-up laps of the ZCD Autosport sponsored Rotax DD2 heat one, with just enough to dampen the track. Obviously slippery at the drop of the green, resulted in polesitter Zacharie Richard-Robichon (Canada) sliding through the first corner allowing Tyler McEwan (Canada) into the lead. 
photo: Zach Richard-Robichon
Richard-Robichon would be the ultimate victim on the slick track, going off track into 13. Pushing his kart up the hill as the field darted by him, the Canadian National DD2 runner-up would not have as promising heat after his stellar day yesterday. McEwan was way out front at the line, gaining almost three seconds in the first lap. Matthew DiLeo (Canada) handled the track as well as McEwan, and had pulled a gap on a seven kart pack of Brendan Bain (Canada), Diego Ferreira (Venezuela), Cory Cacciavillani (Canada), Michael Ostrowski (USA), Stefan Yasin (Canada) and Andrew Longe (USA). Banging wheels and running three wide through the corners, the seven drivers battled it out as McEwan and DiLeo increased their gap. With the track beginning to dry a bit by lap four, the pack began to spread out. Bain, Cacciavillani and Ostrowski tightened up by the white flag, with Daniel Burkett (Canada) joining the fight mid-lap.
Cacciavillani dived in for the pass on Bain on the last corner, but fell to fifth at the line with Bain coming out on top of the pack. McEwan would be ahead of DiLeo by more than two and a half seconds, while DiLeo was ten up on the rest of the field. With Bain crossing third, Ostrowski would be classified fourth and moved Burkett up to fifth after Cacciavillani was issued a three second starting penalty. In DD2 Masters, Francis Mondou (Canada) came out on top over Dany St-Hilaire (Canada) while Stuart Clark (Canada) and Carlo Rinaldi (Venezuela) failed to complete the final flyer.
photo: Carlo Rinaldi
Richard-Robichon looked more at ease under the dry conditions at the start of the Rotax DD2 sponsored by ZCD Autosport class second heat. Getting an early jump on the field, trouble would ensue as Ferreira reeled in the Birel pilot. As Ferreira made a dive for the lead midrace going into 17, Richard-Robichon bumped his wheels. Next time by Richard-Robichon spins on the long straight, running over the Rotax flag in the process as it appeared he was hit by Ferriera. Ferriera was clear from there, but resulting penalties relegated him to 15th, one behind Richard-Robichon. This moved McEwan into the top spot, followed by Eric Simon (Canada), DiLeo, Julio Moreno (Ecuador) and Ostrowski. Carlo Rinaldi would take an impressive DD2 Masters victory, finished seventh overall in the mixed class.
Once again Robichon checked out at the start of the final heat for the shifter Rotax class. McEwan and Ferreira followed suit, with the Intrepid pilot poking his nose out looking to take over second. Realizing he couldn’t make the pass stick, Ferriera pulled back in line only to try again the next time by. McEwan began to reel in the leader and Ferreira fell back until major contact between Ferreira and DiLeo caused a ruckus at the line with Longe enduring a huge impact. Able to get up on his own recognizance but looking visibly shaken, the Keane Racing pilot sat on the barriers for the remaining laps as Richard-Robichon continued unchallenged to take the heat win over McEwan, with DiLeo, Moreno and Simon the top-five.
Max Junior sponsored by MRP Speed Schools
A red flag came out for the Max Junior class, sponsored by MRP Speed Schools, before the field even went green, as a melee of karts tangled after the first start was waived off. The result was a flipped kart right before the finish line, which had spilled fuel onto the track, along with a pile-up of impaired karts. The race director made the ultimate decision to allow the grid the chance to make repairs while they ran the Senior class off schedule.
With karts repaired, re-gridded and set for the green flag, off polesitter Jesse Lazare (Canada) was pushed off the start among a host of other karts. Dalton Sargeant (USA), Dore Chaponick Jr. (USA) and Alex Keyes (USA) slotted into the first three spots as Lazare fell all the way to the back of the pack. Midway through the first flyer, Lazare was back up to the middle of the field. Parker Thompson (Canada) was running down fellow TonyKart pilot Keyes as Chaponick gained on Sargeant by lap two. The top four karts began to bunch up, with Thompson getting by Keyes coming up to the short straight and then by Chaponick. Thompson then had his eyes on Sargeant, who was catching the US Grand National champion through the tighter corners. Chaponick was back in second coming to the stripe for lap five, then dove into the lead on the long straight. Thompson followed suit, battling with Sargeant for a few corners but finally made it stick. Once Chaponick was clear, he was off like a rocket pulling a sizeable gap over the ensuing frontrunners. Settling into a rhythm on the last lap, it was Chaponick by over two seconds followed by Thompson, Sargeant, Keyes and Alex Guenette (Canada), who had started at the tail of the field due to a grid miscalculation.
It was a crazy start of the second MRP Speed Schools sponsored Junior Max heat had Sargeant maintaining his starting position at the stripe, followed by Lazare and a big move for position by Zachary Claman-Demelo (Canada). Lazare went to the lead after a few corners, as Sargeant ran into trouble falling to the back of the pack. Colin Daley Jr. (Jamaica) moved up from his sixth place starting position with Guenette behind on a tear. The quartet of Lazare, Claman-Demelo, Daley Jr. and Guenette ran together most of the race as the Canadian Natioanal champ went unchallenged for the win. Daley Jr. jumped to second off the last short straight, but Claman-Demelo pounced right back to take second at the stripe. Daley Jr. maintained third with Guenette fourth and heat one winner Chaponick Jr. fifth.
Frontrunners Claman-Demlo, Chaponick and Thompson all went off in the first corner of the last Junior heat, which allowed Sargeant and Lazare to immediately pull a sizeable gap on the field. Keyes, who had started 15th, was in winner from the opening lap melee moving up into the fourth place. Lazare was on Sargeant’s bumper quickly, and easily made his way by to take the lead while in the back section. Artem Korolev (Canada) and Samuel Fontaine (Canada) then tangled at the stripe, allowing Guenette to slot into fourth. The Canadian and US Junior champions ran out front and unchallenged, with the top few karts staying in place as Armin Cavkusic (USA) and Diego Borelli (Venezuela) started to close on Guenette. Sargeant attempted to put the pressure on Lazare, but Canadian was able to edge his at the line by 0.226. Keyes circulated in third the whole race, with Guenette holding onto fourth followed by Cavkusic and Borrelli at the line.
Mini Max sponsored by SPORTALITY
Frontrunners Darren Keane (USA) and Austin Vertseeg (USA) went off at the start of the SPORTALITY sponsored Mini Max heat one giving polesitter Juan Manuel Correa (Ecuador) the advantage at the stripe. Both got back going pulling their karts out of the grass, but would be out of contention. Patricio O’Ward (Mexico) and Sebastian Sierra (Columbia) capitalized on the mishap to take over second and third, and began to work together to catch Correa. With three laps to go O’Ward started to pull in the leader with Sierra making the move on the Mexican on the short straight and was quickly on the leader’s bumper at the white flag. Sierra would then charge through the final cover to overtake Correa and steal the victory. Logan Sargeant (USA), who posted quick lap, O’Ward and David Malukas (USA) rounded out the top five.
The field stayed clean as they charged to the line at the start of the second Mini Max heat as Correa, Keane and Versteeg all maintaining their starting positions. The entire 17-kart field slotted into a close line for the first flyer with Keane making his way to the lead, and Sargeant finding himself into third. Versteeg went back to the third place through the twisty corners, only to find Sargeant using the draft on to zoom into the lead a few corners later. O’Ward was on a tear by lap three, looking to gain a position as was Devlin DeFrancesco (USA). Through all his Sargeant began to pull away, but Versteeg and Keane kept working together to take over second and third. O’Ward fell off to sixth as did Keane, while Correa charged back up to second with DeFranceco in tow. Sargeant walked away with a two second lead, DeFrancesco edged Correa at the line for second with Keane, Versteeg, Sierra and O’Ward behind.
Correa stayed out front for the start of the final Mini Max heat, with Versteeg and Sargeant overtaking off polesitter Keane. Touring through 16 corners, O’Ward and Keane then shot out to the inside on the straight, relegating Versteeg back to the fifth place. Sargeant then made his move for the lead into 15 on the next lap, with O’Ward making a repeat dive to take second. The two, along with Correa in third, began to spread out during laps three and four, until O’Ward lost his position to Correa on the start of the fifth lap, which also allowed Sargeant to pull away from the seven kart train behind him. Keane made the move for second, then ran with Correa side by side coming up to the final corner with Correa grabbing second while Joshua Sirgany (Jamaica) slipped into third. Keane was pushed back to fourth with O’Ward completing the top five.
Micro Max sponsored by Keane Racing/Homestead Karting
At the drop of the green flag for the first heat in the Keane Racing/Homestead Karting sponsored Micro Max class, polesitter Justin Sirgany (Jamaica) held point through the first turn with hot shoe Antonio Serravalle (Canada) slotting into second. Santiago Terife (Venezuela) was the leader by the end of the long one-mile first lap, but soon Serravalle was putting the pressure on the Venzulean. Once Serravalle got around, he was off like a rocket showing the international field why he is the current Canadian National and Eastern Canadian Karting Championship champ. With Serravalle checked out, a five kart battle ensued behind between the Terife brothers, US Micro Max champion Philip Varner (USA), Victor Javier Prato (Venezuela) and Sirgany. By the white flag Santiago Terife (Venezuela) and Varner had gapped the pack, as Serravalle sailed to a dominant six second victory. The Terifes and Prato would be excluded from the final results, moving Varner up to second followed by Sirgany, Michael d’Orlando (USA) and Anthony Famularo (Venezuela) the top five.
Varner slotted into the lead at the start of the second heat, with Sirgany falling to second with Serravalle in tow. Santiago Terife got by Serravalle, then Sirgany, and then took over the lead overtaking Varner coming to the stripe. With the top four running nose to tail and showing how competitive the Keane Racing/Homestead Karting Micro Max class truly is, Varner was back to the lead via the draft the next time by with the top four after going an incredible four wide on long straight on the third lap. Serravalle began looking for a way around Sirgany, but then lost a spot to Terife, with Terife gunning it to second and then to the lead off the straight with Sirgany in pursuit. Coming into the last lap, the top four were still bumper-to-bumper as Serravalle put on a show sliding from fourth into the lead coming into the last corner to take his second consecutive heat race win. When the dust had settled it would be Sirgany, Terife, Varner and Prato following the winner.
Sirgany held onto the lead at the start of the final Micro Max heat followed by Serravalle and Santigo Terife. Serravalle immediately began putting the pressure on the first place kart of Sirgany. Going three wide on the long straight allowed Serravalle to drive into first with Terife in tow. Varner and Prato tightened up to make it a five kart pack. Sirgany and Varner then partnered up to get by Terife while Serravalle began to pull away yet again. The next lap by, Terife got back up into second while Prato also got by to gain a position. Sirgany began to lose ground but once he hooked up again with Varner the two were able to draft to lead the pack, bringing the battle for second right down to the wire. With Serravalle checked out and taking a four and a half second victory, his third of the day, Sirgany emerged in second followed by Varner, Terife and Prato.
At this point, it will all come down to championship Sunday: with prefinals scheduled at 10am, which will set he grid for the championship finals. Seven trips will be awarded to the top two finishers in Sunday’s final in Senior, Junior and DD2, along with one spot in DD2 Masters for the 2011 Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals, the final spots available in North America. If today’s action was a prelude to what will come for Sunday, you won’t want to miss one second of the pinnacle event of Rotax racing in the Americas. Be sure to tune into the “Pan Am LIVE” coverage at www.panamericanchallenge.com complete with live timing and scoring, and audio an video feed that will capture all the championship action.
Bill Wright
Formula Kart Productions, Inc
Product and Event Promotion / Video and Live Streaming Productions Exclusive owner and promoter of the FWT / Administrator of the Pan American RMC Safe Race Systems LLC Exclusive North American Distributor Tracksa Light Marshalling Systems
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