GRAND FINAL 2008 - Day 29.11.2008
The rain that fell during the final moments
of Friday’s on-track action turned into a major
storm over night. The winds were so intense that some
of the pit canopies, which had been firmly anchored to
the ground, moved up to half a meter and certain teams
found that some of their of their equipment had blown
away.
To make matters even more difficult,
some of the local hotels lost power for a while and one
even lost its water supply. This was a major crisis for
some since no water means no coffee. And no coffee means…
well, let’s just say the track concession area was
very busy in the morning.
Yet, for all the damage caused, the morning
dawned bright and beautiful with picturesque blue skies
containing white puffy clouds. After a short delay to
pump some standing water off the track, the Junior Max
competitors hit the track for their morning warm up. The
track was mostly dry by this point but if they went off
onto the grass, the water they kicked up was enormous.
In the first heat race, race #13, the Junior Max competitors
hit the track for their 8-lap heat. Going into turn one
a both front row starters went of the track leaving reigning
Junior Max champion Kevin Korjus (Estonia) in the lead
fighting with Keishi Ishikawa of Japan. On lap three Keishi
put a beautiful pass on Kevin going into turn one. But
the young Estonian was not giving up and managed to re-take
the lead with one lap to go, bringing a roar from the
crown and a win for Estonia.
The second race of the day saw South
African, Axcil Jefferies lead from pole and pull out a
10-kart length lead going into the second lap, only to
slip on some mud left by drivers going off on the first
lap and go off track in turn two.
This left the door open for another Estonian, Aavo Talvar
to take the lead. Although Talvar led every lap to the
end, it was no easy feat as French driver Paul Fourqueman
challenged him throughout, only losing by the length of
a nosecone at the checkered flag.
The first Max class race seemed to be
the one nobody wanted to win. By halfway there had been
four different leaders. It seemed as though as soon as
one driver went to the front, misfortune would follow.
By the time the checkered flag flew it was Dutchman Hannes
V. Asseldonk winning over Michael Anderson of Sweden.
For those that follow the Rotax Max Grand
Finals, UK driver Ben Cooper has been a mainstay at the
front the last few years. He was a the front again in
race #16 but it was Ricky DeDonno, son of the track owner
that would ride his tail through the first ten laps of
the race. In fact, DeDonno had his time at the front for
a few laps before Ben took the lead for good with 5 laps
to go to sweep all three of his heat races.
Race 17 was a showdown between the two
fastest drivers in the DD2 class, Pier-Luc Ouellette from
Canada and Damien Vuillaume of France. Although they stayed
close together, Pier-Luc was never seriously challenged
and took a convincing victory. This gave both Pier-Luc
and Damien two victories and one second place in each
of their three heats. However, due to the qualifying tie-breaker
it will be Ouellette starting on pole for the Pre-Final.
Race 18 saw DD2 groups B and C doing
battle for the last race before the Last Chance races.
Mark Barten of the Netherlands prevailed for the win over
Canadian Cristophe Boisclair. It is interesting to note
that Crostophe is the only driver who has competed at
the Grand Finals as a Junior, Senior and as a DD2 competitor.
Before the Last Chance races many drivers
were very happy because they had qualified to go straight
to the Finals tomorrow. But, some drivers were concerned
about how they would fair and whether they could transfer
in to the Finals. Even through their concerns, they were
still better off than those that didn’t even make
it to the Last Chance race. For those who’s week
was already over, it was a bittersweet moment. Yes their
racing was over, but at least they could now enjoy the
event and take in everything around them.
In past Grand Finals, the first turn
of the first lap saw many crashes as people beyond the
first six transfer spots made banzai runs through the
pack, often sending a dozen karts or more into the weeds.
This year only the Juniors had an incident worth mentioning
as the Max competitors and DD2s were surprisingly gentle.
Unlike most races where you tend to watch
the race for the lead, in the Last Chance races everybody
watches the battle for sixth since the top-six placed
drivers go on to the Finals. As always, there was great
racing action all the way down to the wire in all three
races and in Junior and Max, the final transfer spots
changed hands on the very last lap of the race.
The winners of the Last Chance races
were Eugen Sokolov of Russia in Junior, Niki Laa of Austria
in max and the Last Chance winner in DD2 was Curtis Cooksey
of Las Vegas, Nevada in the United States.
Thankfully the day turned out to have
the best weather of the entire week. And more of the same
is scheduled for tomorrow. But for now, it is time for
the teams to have some good Italian food and get plenty
of rest so they can be their best tomorrow in the finals.
P I T B I T S
Danilo Rossi started racing karts at
the age of 8 and had a career that lasted 18 years. In
that span of time he racked up five World Championships
driving for the legendary CRG karting Factory. Beyond
karts he also raced in Formula 3, Formula 3000 and even
did a test with Minardi F1 in 2000 before retiring to
manage the CRG racing team.
For next year Danilo embarks on a new
business venture with his own brand of kart chassis, the
DR. Although he will leave the CRG factory as race team
manager, he will continue to have a close relationship
with the team since the CRG factory will produce the DR
chassis.
24-year-old Nathan Mauel hails from Broken
Arrow, Oklahoma in the United States and is attending
his fourth Grand Final as a driver. Nathan started his
Grand Final career back in 2004 in Egypt as a Junior,
the first year that Juniors raced at the Grand Finals.
Nathan has raced for 12 years and says his start came
when his dad, Alan, said he’d get him a kart as
soon as his feet could reach the pedals.
Although Nathan is passionate about his
racing, he says his only plans for the future are to finish
his college education. So far Nathan is enjoying his week
in Italy and said the La Conca circuit has become one
of his favorites but still ranks the Kartodromo Viana
Circuit, home of the 2006 Rotax Grand Finals, as the best.
In every year but one that the Grand
Finals has used a spec chassis, CRG has been one of the
manufacturers involved. Giancarlo Tinini is the owner
of CRG and is proud of his company’s history with
the Grand Finals. This year, all three brands used at
the Grand Finals, CRG, Maranello and Zanardi, are produced
in the CRG factory. And for extra good measure, the new
DR (Danilo Rossi) brand of karts is also being introduced
here.Giancarlo has been involved since the beginning when
what is now known as CRG started life in 1974 as Kali
Kart. In 1986 CRG began in association with Kali to produce
the direct drive chassis while Kali produced gearbox chassis.
In 1991 both divisions were combined under the CRG banner.
This is an exciting time for Giancarlo and his company
as they are just about to move into a new 10,000 square
meter (100,000 square foot) state-of-the-art facility
to produce kart and karting components.
Floridian Bill Wright is the organizer
of the Florida Winter Tour, the largest Rotax race series
in the world. In 2008 the FWT averaged 228 unique entries
in each of the three rounds of racing. The tour consists
of six races over three weekends at Homestead (Miami),
Palm Beach and Ocala. The Winter Tour is also a Grand
Final Qualifying series with one spot available for each
class.Bill used to race karts himself for eight seasons
before taking a break from the seat. He came back to win
a six-hour Rotax enduro two years ago. But, in his last
driver he was involved in a serious crash and decided
he’d stick to organizing races in the future.
Joey van Splunteren is making his first
trip to the Grand Finals after a karting career that has
so far spanned seven years. The 16-year-old from Zaandam,
Holland is very dedicated to the sport and says he can
usually be found either in the gym working on his fitness
or in the shop working on the kart.
When asked about his future goals he
said Formula One would be his choice but that is too far
off. Right now he’s concerned with finding the necessary
funding to put together a proper race program for 2009.
Likewise, he’s tested well in a formula Ford but
says there’s no money for that at the moment.
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