Race ROUNDUP: KARTING CHALLENGE RD 6
HOMESTEAD, Fla. (July 28, 2019) - The summer heat couldn't keep racers away from getting on track for Round 6 of the 2019 Karting Challenge season, as over 90 competitors invaded the AMR Homestead-Miami Motorplex facility.
tag senior / Tag master
Aaron Benoit set the pace in his TaG Senior debut. The Comp Kart driver swept all official sessions, although Yannick Rolland was able to close the gap by the end of the Final to just a tenth of a second per lap. William Horn finished off the podium with a third place result in his first Karting Challenge start.
iame x30 junior
The X30 Junior division was far from predictable on Sunday. Ashton Chilton struck first in qualifying, taking fast lap honors over Jimmie Lockhart and Lucas Rodriguez. He backed up that effort with a win in the Pre Final, but he was under pressure for its entire duration from Lockhart, Rodriguez, and Jakub Kolar.
Early on in the main event, the group of four shuffled and reshuffled the run order. By lap 7, it was Lucas Rodriguez who emerged through the smoke as the race leader. Lockhart trailed him all the way to the final circuit, where the duo battled and both Lockhart and Chilton were able to slip by. In the end, Lockhart was able to defend from a last corner charge by Chilton to secure the victory. Rodriguez did the same to Kolar to snag the last step on the box in third.
lo206 junior
Collin Lloyd was looking to rebound after a rough showing in Round 5. He did just that by scoring the pole award in qualifying. The Pre Final, however, was an absolute dogfight. Lloyd traded jabs with Alejandro Ramirez and Vance Devine nearly every lap in the 9 lap session, with the order eventually coming out to Ramirez on top, Devine second, and Lloyd back to third.
In the Final, the trio waited until the halfway mark to begin fighting. The race went down to the wire, as first it was Vance Devine sneaking by Lloyd to reclaim the lead on the final circuit. From there, the battle went on all the way to the final corner, where Lloyd swung to the outside to try and set up a pass on Devine. Unfortunately, Ramirez and Lloyd came together before a run to challenge Devine could be made, ending both of their races just a few hundred feet from the start/finish line.
The ultimate benefactor was rookie Joseph Botting, as the young driver cruised past the wreckage to take second with Rocco Pasquarella following for third.
iame ka100 junior
Jakub Kolar and Jimmie Lockhart once again found themselves to be neck-and-neck for pace in the KA100 Junior class. Kolar got the upper hand at first with the pole award in qualifying, but it was Lockhart who got the jump off the start of the Pre Final to secure the #1 starting spot for the Final. In the Final, the two jockeyed for the lead a number of times. In the end, it was Lockhart who came out on top with Kolar crossing the line just a mere three tenths back from the race winner. Luke Welcome drove away from the midfield to complete the podium in third, scoring some valuable points for his championship bid.
lo206 heavy
Dario Echeverry returned to full form in this weekend's LO206 Heavy division. After qualifying on the pole by a substantial margin, he held the lead for every lap of the Pre Final to score a front row starting spot. In the Final, he did have to fight a little harder to keep and reclaim the top spot, as Rohan Ramsaroop, Jorge Ruiz, and Marc Julien all were able to challenge. However, Echeverry held on to score the victory with Ramsaroop ending second and Ruiz in third.
SHIFTER
Giano Taurino was the class of the field in the Shifter division this past weekend. He led every lap and swept every session, although he did see pressure at certain points. Cole Mathewson started alongside him on the front row for the Pre Final, but it was actually Nicholas Hargraves who gave Taurino chase throughout the session. Hargraves ended second in both the Pre Final and the Final, with Mathewson fading to third and ending there in the Final.
IAME MIcro SWIFT
Anastasia Markovic was the class of the field in Micro Swift this past weekend. She performed a perfect sweep of the day's action, leaving the rest of the field to fight for second place. Asher Ochstein rose to take the runner-up spot by outrunning newcomer Alessandro Truchot, who ended the day in third. Jose Dias, Benja Fernandez, and Lucas Rodriguez completed the field finishing fourth, fifth, and sixth respectively.
iame mini swift
Max Garcia's winning streak continued in the Mini Swift division. He put more than seven seconds on the field in the Final, putting his Kart Republic chassis on the top step of the podium once again. He was joined by Enzo Vidmontiene and Caleb Duenas. The pair featured the best battle of the class by trading the second position throughout the day. In the end, it was Vidmontiene pulling away from Duenas to claim the silver medal.
LO206 SENIOR
The LO206 Senior division had its biggest turnout to date with a whopping 29-driver entry list. The Pre Final lived up to the hype of the division, as a four-driver lead group emerged featuring championship leader Frankie Barroso, 2018 state champion Michel Garrido, and veterans Juan Arenas and William Isaias.
The slicing and dicing continued well into the main event, as the first two laps were an absolute frenzy. Frankie Barroso got lucky enough to escape the madness and build a substantial lead early. Arenas emerged next, but he saw a near two second gap to close. What followed was a high-speed game of cat-and-mouse between the duo. Eventually, Arenas arrived. He and Barroso dueled for a couple of corners before he was able to break free, taking the win against the biggest grid of LO206 Senior drivers to date in South Florida.
LO206 Cadet
Brayden Chieffe won in his maiden outing the LO206 Cadet division over fellow newcomer Jet Coursey.
UP NEXT:
Up next is Round 7 of the Karting Challenge presented by MG Tires on Sunday, August 25th.
For more information on the Karting Challenge club series, CLICK HERE>>