Race ROUNDUP: KARTING CHALLENGE RD 5
HOMESTEAD, Fla. (July 19, 2018) - The heat of South Florida's summer pushed drivers to the absolute limit this weekend, but in contrast to the likes of Round 4, not a single red flag or heavy incident occurred throughout the day. With level-heads prevailing, raw pace was a necessity to compete for wins.
BRING OUT THE BROOMS, MAX GARCIA!
TaG Mini rookie Max Garcia has had a number of highs and lows in the 2018 Karting Challenge season, but for the second round of driving on the CW layout, he was on fire. A solid final lap in qualifying first got him the pole over DucTard Racing's Jakub Kolar. A consistent drive in the Pre Final maintained the number one starting spot for the Final, and in the main event, he cleared the field by more than 3 seconds to snag his first career victory in the class. Kolar would strengthen his hold on the championship lead with a good run of his own in P2, and Garcia's teammate Jimmie Lockhart would finish third.
season-high numbers in lo206 heavy
A steadily growing division within the Karting Challenge ranks is the LO206 Heavy class, which nearly hit its peak this weekend at 14 total competitors. Unlike much of the past rounds, though, the intensity of the racing didn't boil over into carnage. Nearly all of the drivers finished, with a couple missing out on all of the laps due to mechanical failures.
Dario Echeverry started off the day strong with a pole award in qualifying over Homestead Karting's Todd Ulmen and Round 4's quickest driver, Ryan Gordon. Unfortunately, carburetor issues struck Echeverry right off the bat. The RYSA Racing driver was slow to start and fell to the tail end of the field quickly in the Pre Final. This opened the door for Gordon, who took full advantage working his way through to the lead. Ulmen attempted a last lap move for the win but couldn't make it stick. A start infraction later dropped Ulmen to the mid-field for the Final grid.
In the Final, Ryan Gordon once again managed keep the field at bay. Rebounding from his chain-based DNF in Round 4, a near flag-to-flag victory for the TB Kart driver put him back on top and in the championship hunt.
happy belated birthday, lucas rodigruez
While still very early in his TaG Junior stage, Lucas Rodriguez has been stating and re-stating his outright speed and driver ability, no matter the category. The TaG Mini Winter Challenge champion scored his first career TaG Junior victory over championship leader Ashton Chilton, who was just missing that extra tenth to compete. Chilton would end up suffering a DNF to fully take him out of contention, but ultimately no one was able to challenge Rodriguez.
With Chilton down the 'boards, Kevin Raventos and Ian Pou scored their first podiums of the season with a respectable P2 and P3 finish each.
LO206 SENIOR: THE JORDAN PERRY SHOW
Jordan Perry was the most deserving driver to win on Sunday in LO206 Senior -- without question. The P1 Racing team driver utterly obliterated the field in LO206 Senior from Practice 1 through to the Finals, with an absolutely perfect day. He was no less than ~0.5 faster per lap than the closest driver without draft, and on some laps even further. A tip of the hat from all of us at AMR Motorplex to the driver who had everyone's number last weekend, and passed tech with flying colors.
other notableS:
Alejandro Ramirez has now completed a 3-peat in LO206 Junior, fending off a handful of different challengers throughout the day. Collin Lloyd joined Ramirez in similar fashion by repeating his victory from Round 4 in LO206 Cadet.
Jason Angles and Nicolas Hargraves won the fastest classes offered in the Karting Challenge by large gaps to second, with Angles scoring another victory in TaG Senior and Hargraves taking the win in a newly-revived 125 Shifter class.
UP NEXT:
Up next is Round 6 of the Karting Challenge presented by MG Tires on Sunday, September 23rd.
For more information on the Karting Challenge club series, CLICK HERE>>