Race ROUNDUP: KARTING CHALLENGE RD 7
HOMESTEAD, Fla. (October 18, 2018) - Hot off the heels of a huge turnout to restart the season, the 7th Round of the Karting Challenge by MG brought with it a number of photo finishes and exciting last lap action.
FITTIPALDI: RIGHT PLACE, RIGHT TIME
Emmo Fittipaldi remained on the tail of TaG Junior front runners Ashton Chilton and Lucas Rodriguez, but he appeared to lack the pace needed to fight for the lead. Chilton and Rodriguez realized that while Fittipaldi might not be able to get by them, he was not going away. From the drop of the green flag in the Final, the duo shuffled the top spot back and forth with some fantastic moves and lunges.
Ultimately, the battling went just a touch too far in the end, as some defensive driving heading into the final turn opened the window of opportunity for Emmo and he capitalized, going from third to first in one corner. Chilton ended up second while Rodriguez dropped down the order on the final circuit to third.
off the wall and into the lead
Jack Copeland already scored one win earlier in the season, but after going on his head in a nasty flip in Round 6, you'd think he might be a little bit more timid. However, he was unphased and back at peak form for the 7th Round in the championship fight, going toe-to-toe with championship rivals Jordan Perry and Juan Arenas.
Juan Arenas kept both Perry and Copeland at bay coming to see the white flag with a near half-second advantage. Unfortunately, a poor-timed encounter with lapped traffic forced Arenas off to the side and down the order. Perry jumped through to the lead and held it coming into the final corner, but he overslowed defending an inside lane charge from Arenas. Copeland, who rode in the third nearly the entire Final, ripped the "cushion" -- as it's known in dirt track racing -- and even clipped the wall on the outside to pass them both for his second win on the season.
shock-and-awe: alan isambard in shifter
Considering the little amount of experience in shifter race events Alan Isambard has, his domination of the division on Sunday was unprecedented. The young driver from KSF Racing absolutely smoked the shifter field with flawless starts and a complete sweep of the day.
With Isambard out front, the spotlight focused on the battle for second, where Christopher Lall Dass held off a hard-charging Patrick Otto Madsen to claim the second step on the podium.
it's rebound season for jakub kolar
After a heart-wrenching end to his race-win hopes in Round 6, Jakub Kolar and DucTard Racing bounced back with a top 5 run in qualifying for Round 7. The usual TaG Mini contenders made up the rest of the front-running group, minus Miguel Costa who was out-of-town. Costa was replaced by Georgian Mateo Rubio-Luengo, who joined the likes of Max Garcia, Jimmie Lockhart, Matias Orjuela, and Kolar at the front.
An unfortunate first turn accident in the Pre Final dropped Orjuela and Kolar to the tail of the field, but they both had impressive comeback drives to set up the Final. Rubio-Luengo and Lockhart put on a show at the other end of the grid, with Mateo coming out on top.
Unfortunately, a poor-timed flight forced Rubio-Luengo to withdraw from the Final, giving Lockhart the top starting spot. He remained up front for the majority of the main, until Kolar got by in the second half and held off the Karting Experience driver to score another victory on the season for Team Praga.
other notableS:
After post-race implications, Ashton Chilton was awarded the win in LO206 Junior following a great battle between himself, Elio Giovane, and Alejandro Ramirez. The finish would have been the second closest on the day if were not for Collin Lloyd besting Rocco Pasquarella by just 0.063 in LO206 Cadet.
Following a win in the Pre Final, Brandon Simeone just couldn't hold back Sebastian Hazbun, who became a first-time winner in the TaG Senior class. Daniel Rieger joined Hazbun as a first time winner, taking the top honors in TaG Master.
Salvatore Rodriguez clinched the TaG Micro championship by adding another win to his season total, the first driver to do so.
Finally, Ryan Gordon returned to the LO206 Heavy class in style, with a hard-fought battle on all fronts to take his second checkered flag on the season.
UP NEXT:
Up next is Round 8 of the Karting Challenge presented by MG Tires on Sunday, November 4th.
For more information on the Karting Challenge club series, CLICK HERE>>