Faces in the Crowd
George Dos Ramos
George Dos Ramos is a DD2 driver from
Roodepoort, South Africa who is making his second trip
to the Grand Finals. He feels his previous experience
last year has really helped him prepare for his trip to
Al Ain. “Last year in Portugal was my first time
at a Grand Final and I really didn’t know what to
expect. This year I have a lot more confidence.”
George also went on to say, “And
this time, NO RAIN! I don’t like the rain”
He mentioned that in his ten years of competitive karting,
he’d only driven in the rain, “maybe three
times.” So, for George Dos Ramos, Al Ain is a great
location for the Grand Finals.
Kyle Lawrence
Also hailing from South Africa is Johannesburg’s
Kyle Lawrence. Kyle is well aware of South Africa’s
history at the ROTAX MAX Grand Finals and is going all-out
to get his country’s flag back to the top of the
podium. Although this is Kyle’s first trip to the
Grand Finals, he says he had actually qualified high enough
to make the trip to Malaysia in 2005. Unfortunately, he
was too young to attend the race at that time.
Kyle has been racing karts for 12 years
and currently competes in both the Max and DD2 classes.
About his future, Kyle says, “For next year I have
a ride lined up in a Westbank V8 Supercar in the Westbank
Superseries. But, I will always run karts to keep fit
and keep my skills sharp.”
Darrell Smith
Darrell Smith was a successful kart racer
for many years in his home country of Australia when he
qualified to compete on the Australian ROTAX team in South
Africa for the 2002 Grand Finals. That year he was the
ROTAX Masters Grand Final Champion, proving that he not
only knew his way around a race track, but that he also
knew what a kart needed to be competitive. As such, it
was no great surprise that BRP-Rotax hired Darrell to
be their official test and development driver.
Darrell also spends his time as a liaison
to ROTAX distributors and attends the Grand Finals to
assist teams with the proper way to set up their karts
and engines. When asked what the most common problem he
advises against, he said, “I’m surprised at
how much some teams dis-assemble their karts. I suppose
they don’t realize how well these karts are set
up for them beforehand.” He then added, “If
you look around and pay close attention, you’ll
see that the teams that are pulling their axles out are
the teams that end up struggling to make the final.”
Coming from someone with Darrell’s experience, that’s
sound advice.
Scott Campbell
Another driver making a return trip to
the Grand Finals is Scott Campbell from Saskatoon, Canada.
However, this is not his second, nor his third, but rather
his fourth trip to the Grand Finals, making him one of
the most experienced drivers in ROTAX MAX Grand Finals
history. “My results keep getting better and better
every year. Who knows, if a little luck goes my way this
could be the year I get up on the podium.” Scott’s
assessment is spot on. There’s no doubt by anyone
that’s watched him run over the past few years that
he has the talent to run up front. But, he’s also
had some very disappointing luck that’s held him
back.
Scott describes his mental attitude right
now as very relaxed. “I’m quite comfortable
right now. I know what to expect and I’m ready for
the racing to begin,” said the likeable Canadian.
Scott has raced karts for 17 years alongside his father
who owns a kart shop back in Canada.
Paul Machek
Monday is the build and set-up day for
all the teams in Al Ain and one item essential to proper
set-up is front-end alignment. To accomplish this task,
Paul Machek of Sniper is on-hand to assist the teams in
using his laser alignment sytems. “Paul the Sniper
Guy” hails from Perth, Australia and provides Sniper
systems for all the teams to use and has become a very
familiar face at all Grand Finals.
This year Sniper has brought their familiar
V2 system for all MAX and Junior MAX competitors. However,
for the DD2 class, they have brought the brand new V4
system that have never been seen before, effectively making
the RMGF the V4’s introduction to the world market.
Paul has made recent changes to his business
and now solely focuses on the Sniper brand. The association
with BRP-Rotax has been very successful for Paul and freely
admits, “I would not be where I’m at today
with our products without our association with ROTAX.
They are my biggest customer and really help promote the
Sniper brand world-wide.”
ROTAX MAX Euro Challenge –
Roland Geidel
The ROTAX MAX Grand Finals consists of
216 drivers from over 50 countries. The majority of the
drivers qualify through their own national championship
races to be able to compete here in Al Ain. However, there
are a few other ways to qualify. One such way is to finish
in the top three in the ROTAX MAX Euro Challenge.
The Euro Challenge has been in existence
for 5 years and is run by the experienced Roland Geidel.
Roland was approached by BPR-Rotax a few years ago to
run a series that would give the ROTAX racer very professional
championship to race in. By all accounts the series has
been very successful and the four-race series is considered
one of the most prestigious championships in karting.
Tiffany Chittenden
Tiffany Chittenden, or “Tiff”
to her friends, has been racing for 12 years. She started
in “Formula 6” as a junior and won the British
Championship in her rookie year. Most of her career has
been spent in karts. But, she did do a season of Formula
Renault last year. This year she raced mostly in the UK
but also managed to do three of the Euro Challenge races.
Tiff spends a lot of her time working
out to stay in shape and is dedicated to making a career
in motorsports. When asked if the current trend of hiring
female drivers has been a help to her career, she said
the whole “Danica-mania” craze hasn’t
been a benefit. “People think that just because
I’m a woman that it’s easy to find sponsors.
Well, it’s not. Right now I don’t know if
I will be able to race next year or not. But, I’m
going to give it all I can.” With her determination
and obvious talent, we’re very confident we’ll
see her in racing for as long as she wants to be.
Guy Sheffield
Guy Sheffield was the manager of the
Daytona Sandown Park in the UK when he was approached
to be the manager of the Al Ain Kart Raceway. At that
point in time the facility amounted to little more than
a track surface and a few huts. Over the past year, Guy
has overseen almost every aspect of the new construction.
He says he is generally pleased with the way things have
turned out but still has more plans for improvement. “Come
back next year,” he said, “and all this dirt
will be grass!” He then emphasized, “Plus,
we’ll have nice furnishing’s in the main building.”
That’s quite a statement seeing as how the building
already has nice appointments built in.
Guy is perhaps one of the best people
to fill the position he’s in. He’s determined,
organized and experienced. Plus, he started racing karts
at age 14 so he knows what racers expect in a racing facility.
Curtis Cooksey
Curtis
Cooksey |
Curtis Cooksey is attending his second
ROTAX MAX Grand Finals as a member of the team from the
United States. Back home in Las Vegas, Nevada, Curtis
owns and runs Acceleration Karting, the USA’s top
ranked ROTAX and CRG dealership. Curtis has been running
very well this week in the DD2 class, bar a few mechanical
troubles, and is looking strong to be in the finals.
When asked to compare this experience
with last year in Portugal, Curtis said, “Overall
I think I drove better in Portugal. Perhaps that’s
because the rain suited my driving style. But, I’d
have to say I’m enjoying the weather this year a
lot better.”
Arnaldo Frias
Arnaldo Frias is the ROTAX Distributor
for Spain and Portugal, and was the host for last year’s
Grand Finals. We asked how business had been for him since
last year’s race in Vienna do Castello, Portugal,
“It’s been great. In fact ROTAX has had tremendous
growth in our area since last year’s Finals”
said Arnaldo. He then went on to add, “There are
three regions that race ROTAX in Portugal. And each one
has more entries than the national CIK championship.”
When asked why ROTAX has had such growth
in the last year he said there are two main reasons. First,
because of the Grand Finals, people can see something
beyond just the local racing series. Second, because of
the influx of new karts in Portugal and Spain after last
year’s event, there are a lot of new racers. Arnaldo
is also the Intrepid Karts inporter. After last year’s
Grand Finals he took delivery of all 70 Intrepid karts
used in the MAX category. Within one week, he had sold
every one of them. When asked if he would like to hold
host the Grand Finals again, his answer, without hesitation
was a definite Yes!
Wesleigh Orr
Wesleigh Orr is the only two-time ROTAX
World Champion, having won titles in the 2004 and 2005
seasons. His success in ROTAX karting has been a springboard
to getting drives in some prestigious car racing series.
After his championships, and being a test and development
driver for a few different kart manufacturers, Wes went
on to compete in Mexican Formula Renault and won a 4-driver
shootout to be South Africa’s A1GP junior driver.
When asked how the car racing was going,
Wes said, “It’s very difficult challenge.
But I enjoy it and work very hard at finding success.”
Wes said no matter what he is racing, he will always have
karts around to stay sharp and in shape.
Manfred Weissgarber
Manfred Weissgarber worked at BRP-Rotax
for over seven years as the Sales & Marketing Manager
of the karting division. A year and a half ago he left
the company and ended up forming a partnership with ROTAX
Euro Challenge Coordinator Roland Geidel. Roland has a
chemical engineering background and had developed a line
of products specifically for karting called Kart Care.
The partnership has been a success and
Manfred continues to be a familiar face at all ROTAX Grand
Finals since he uses the ROTAX series to promote his products.
Manfred also works as a consultant to Heidenau, the tyre
manufacturer that makes the Mojo tyres for ROTAX racing.
Recently he has helped Mojo develop the new D2 tyre and
says there’s an even newer D3 in development for
the 2009 racing season.
Ton Van De Burgd
Ton Van De Burgd is the ROTAX distributor
for Holland and the manufacturer of the Kombi kart. His
team has had a lot of reasons to celebrate over the past
couple years with a World Championship win two years ago
in Malaysia and a first and second in the MAX class last
year in Portugal.
Ton attributes the success of the team
on an international scale because the competition is so
strong back home. “We are a very small country,
yet in all of Holland we have three regions containing
a total of 400 ROTAX drivers. With numbers like that,
you’re bound to develop very strong drivers,”
said Ton. He also added that the high level of competition
combined with the low cost is what has made the ROTAX
Challenge so popular in his country.
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