Sunday morning dawned with a crisp coolness in Homestead, Florida as the drivers in Formula Kart Production's Florida Winter Tour presented by SPORTALITY prepared themselves for the fourth round of races in the 2012 Formula Kart Racing program.
Sunday’s schedule called for a short morning warm up, followed by qualifying for all classes. After qualifying the Pre-Finals were run followed by an hour-long lunch break before the Finals and podium celebrations.
During the lunch break we had a chance to get to know some of our drivers a little better. One such driver was Parkland, Florida’s Darren Keane. Darren has been racing karts for six years but just started getting serious about it last year. This is Darren’s second year of Florida Winter Tour competition and he’s currently running Formula TaG Cadet on the Formula Kart weekends and Mini MAX on the MAX Challenge weekends.
Darren says his main attraction to The Winter Tour is because he wants to test himself against the best competition he can find and, as he put it, “The FWT has such great competition, it’s really the top of the league.” He then added, “You can’t get better than the Florida Winter Tour.” At 12-years-old Darren is very focused on karting but says he still enjoys playing soccer with his friends but not as much as he enjoys racing. The TaG Cadet and Mini MAX fields are very tough but Darren is making a name for himself with some great runs and we expect to see him on the podium many times in the future.
Another driver making his mark this year in the Florida Winter Tour is 13-year-old Kyle Kirkwood from Jupiter, Florida. Kyle is in his first year of Junior competition and competes in TaG Junior during the Formula Kart weekends and Junior MAX in the MAX Challenge weekends. Kyle got started driving karts at the age of five when his father bought him a Comer 80 kart for Christmas and he hasn’t looked back.
When asked what he likes about the FWT he said, “I like the strong competition and The Florida Winter Tour is the only place you can find this type of competition.” With that being the case then Kyle is certainly at the top of his game. He is currently undefeated in Finals in the Formula Kart championship for 2012 and has been on the podium in both MAX challenge races.
Kyle says he’d like to race cars someday but for now just wants to win kart races. In fact, he’s been advised by Indy Car driver Jay Howard not to think about jumping to cars too soon and just concentrate on karting. Away from the race track Kyle likes to go hunting and fishing with his two brothers and close friends.
After the morning warm ups had been completed it was time to get the various classes of karts qualified to set the starting orders for the days Pre-Finals races. Promptly at 10:00 AM FWT LIVE! began it's broadcast of the day’s events that started with qualifying for the TaG Senior and TaG Master's drivers.
The ZCD Autosports sponsored TaG Senior and Keane Racing sponsored TaG Masters drivers were the first to qualify. These two groups share track time but are scored separately since they are two distinct classes. Like the previous day, Danny Formal (USA) was fastest at a 47.395 to set pole position for the TaG Senior class. Once the pre final race was underway, Formal stayed in command all the way taking a 3.198 second victory over Alex Guenette (Canada).
In the TaG Senior Final, Danny Formal and Alex Guenette started on the front row and it wasn’t long before Danny started to open up a lead. However, unlike the previous TaG Senior races this weekend, this time Danny did not sail off into the distance as Alex kept him in striking range for the majority of the race. Behind the top two, Luis Schiavo (Venezuela) and Jose Zanella (Venezuela) were fighting their own battle for the final step of the podium. In the end it was Formal over Guenette and Schiavo in third.
The TaG Masters pole went to Jim Russell jr. but at the start of the pre final it was John Dixon continuing his fast form from Saturday as he took the lead with Russell in hot pursuit. With two laps to go, Dixon and Russell caught Julian Park (UK) who was running in the TaG Senior class. Unfortunately, Park did not give way to the faster karts coming from behind and the ensuing melee sent Dixon off the track at the inner hairpin sending him back to second.
In the Final for the TaG Masters, John Dixon was determined to get back to his winning ways. Right from the start of the race, Dixon and Russell gapped the field and set a torrid pace as they circulated the 7/10ths of a mile Homestead circuit nose-to-tail. At the checkered flag it was Dixon over Russell by a kart-length as the two scored maximum points for the USA in the Nations Cup Championship. Four and a half seconds behind the lead duo, Carlo Rinaldi brought his kart home in third scoring valuable points for Venezuela. With Rinaldi’s third, Schiavo’s third and Zanella’s fourth there was a lot of celebrating from the small but boisterous Venezuelan contingent here in Homestead.
In AM Engines sponsored TaG Junior qualifying, Zachary Claman DeMelo (Canada) was once again on pole over Kyle Kirkwood (USA). Zach's fast lap of 47.211 beat Kyle's lap by 0.079 of a second. In the Pre-Final, Claman DeMelo assumed the early lead but not long after Kirkwood was able to get past to command the race. Zach was never far behind though and by halfway Ashley Rogero (USA) had joined the battle for the lead. Just past halfway, DeMelo re-took the lead and during the same maneuver Ashley was able to slip into second while Kyle was gathering it back up. They three stayed this way to the checkered flag with a great win for DeMelo.
In the TaG Junior final, Ashley grabbed the initial lead but Zachary took it off her on lap two. The two then spent the next third of the race locked in a battle for the lead while Kyle Kirkwood stalked the two from third place. Around halfway Kirkwood decided it was time to make his move. He first slipped past Ashley and set his sights on Zachary. For a handful of laps Kyle ran right on Claman DeMelos bumper looking for a way past.
After a few laps of this Zach appeared to slow down. Whether it was a problem with his kart or just braking early to throw off Kirkwood’s timing is unclear. However, what it did was bring Ashley right onto Kyle’s bumper further increasing Kyle’s motivation to get by. Using the time-honored communication technique of “bumper code”, Kyle started signaling to Zach with light taps that he wanted to get by. Eventually Kirkwood was able to get a run on Zach into the middle hairpin, turn five. One swift move down the inside was all Kyle needed to take the lead for good. While Zach was taking the high line Ashley took advantage and slipped into second. The three ran out in this order to the finish for a thrilling end to a hard fought race. This was Kyle Kirkwood’s fourth win out of the four TaG Junior Finals run so far in the 2012 Florida Winter Tour season. And with Ashley in second, it was another race where the USA picked up maximum points for the Nations Cup Championship.
When the DeFrancesco Racing sponsored TaG Cadet drivers took to the track for their 10-minute qualifying session, Logan Sargeant (USA) was able to stick his kart on pole position by 0.155 of a second over Darren Keane (USA) with a lap of 52.325 seconds. At the start of the Pre-Final, Logan took off in the lead he would never give up while a multitude of drivers fought over second. In the end, Darren Keane won that battle and would start the Final from outside of the front row with Anthony Gangi Jr (USA) finishing third.
In the final, there was an incident in turn one that sent Devlin DeFrancesco in a spin that caused third place on back to scatter left and right to miss him. The young drivers did an excellent job of that as all the Cadet drivers had been doing all weekend. But, the evasive action by the bulk of the field left only two battling for the lead as Anthony Gangi Jr did his best to stay with the 2011 Mini RoK World Champion Logan Sargeant.
By lap three Logan was once again in a commanding lead and before long Darren Keane had pulled himself into second. Unfortunately for Kean, by this point Sargeant was so far ahead he was half way to Ocala so Darren set about bringing his kart home for a fine second place. Behind Keane at the checkered flag was Pedro Tavares de Mor (Brazil) who fought off a challenge from David Malukas for third to round out the podium. Promoters note: The racing in this class was off-the-charts. Great stuff. BW
The shifter karts were the last classes to run throughout this weekends sessions. The two shifter classes running this weekend were Open Shifter and the Masters Shifter class for those drivers who have a few more life laps under, and sometimes over, their belts than the younger drivers. In qualifying for the Open Shifter class, Alex Manglass (USA) laid down a quick lap of 45.670 seconds to set pole by 0.088 of a second over Nicholas Latifi (Canada).
In the Shifter Pre-Final, Nick Neri (USA) didn’t get the best of starts but before the end of the race had worked his way up from fourth to take the win, his first in only his third start in a KZ powered shifter kart. Behind Nick were Zachary Meyer (Canada) and Alex Manglass as there was less than a second from first to third. Although the Pre-Final win gave Neri the pole position for the Final, he again did not get the best of starts and fell back in the pack right off the line. Any hopes of another come-from-behind win were dashed right away as the popular Floridian, and newly named factory Tony Kart driver, was out of the race with a mechanical problem on the very first lap.
Seizing on the opportunity to take the lead was Zachary Meyer who went straight to the point and set about on another fast run. Right on his tail, however, was Alex Manglass. These two settled in with some fast laps and started putting a gap between them and another great battle for third between Nicholas Latifi and Collin Daley (Jamaica).
Just past halfway there was drama at the front as Meyer suffered an engine seizure, putting an immediate end to his race. Right behind Meyer was Manglass who had to take avoiding action which slowed him down considerably. This allowed Nicholas Latifi to close the gap and in his haste to get by, ran right into the back of Manglass sending him off the track in a 360 degree spin. Fortunately for Alex the contact didn’t do any serious damage and he was able to continue in third after getting himself collected from the spin. With Meyer and Manglass out of the way, Latifi and Daley were left to fight for the lead. In the end it was Latifi taking maximum points for Canada while Daley represented Jamaica with a fine second place.
The Masters shifter class was dominated by Tim Ulmen (USA) who was running high enough to contend with the open Shifters for a while. Tim took pole position, Pre-Final victory and the win in the Final. Second place in the Master Shifters Final went to George Moss (USA).
When all the points for the weekend were tallied up, I was a very successful weekend for the USA in the Nation’s Cup Championship. For details on the points system and for current standings for both the Nation’s Cup and the Manufacturer’s Cup for chassis manufacturers, log onto www.FloridaWinterTour.com for the latest information.
As a helpful tip to all the FWT faithful out there, we’d like to remind you that this Tuesday, February 14th is Valentine’s Day. For those of you that have yet to find the perfect gift for your special someone, always remember nothing says "I Love You" like a romantic getaway to a Florida Winter Tour event. Next week it’s the Rotax MAX Challenge FWT weekend here at Homestead Karting and there’s sure to be plenty of “Serious Fun!” for everyone.
If you can’t make it in person, log onto www.FloridaWinterTour.com to watch the race on FWT LIVE!, the industry’s leading live video, live timing and audience interactive broadcast. The 2012 Florida Winter Tour really is “THE Winter Place To Be”.
Words by Ken Johnson and Bill Wright
In the opening picture:
Zachary Claman DeMelo (13) and Ashley Rogero (7) slide into turn one as Kyle Kirkwood (28) lurks in third early on in Sunday's TaG Junior race
Bill Wright
President, Formula Kart Productions, Inc
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