GRAND FINAL 2008 - Day 30.11.2008
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.
Sunday at the La Conca International
Circuit dawned bright with a cool, crisp feeling in the
air. Everywhere around the paddock the low murmur of voices
were heard as the teams quietly set about the day’s
preparations. One could easily sense the energy of what
was about to take place, for this was the most serious
of days at the 2008 Rotax Max Grand Finals.
The morning track action started with
the Junior Max warm up to be followed by the Max class
and DD2. For most drivers it was a time to do last minute
checks and make adjustments to settings. However, there
were still many teams making wholesale changes to their
karts in an apparent Hail Mary to find more speed. While
a few teams we talked to said their kart was fine, they
just wanted their drovers to take a few laps to burn off
some nervous energy.
The Junior Pre-Final got underway exactly
on time and featured what is arguably the most talented
field of young drivers in Grand Finals history. In the
12-lap race none of the leaders ever had a safe margin
to second place. And at the checkered flag, the top three
were covered by less than a second. Those three that will
lead the final are Rio Haryanto of Indonesia, Kevin Korjus
of Estonia and Japan’s Keishi Ishikawa.
After winning all three of his heat races,
the United Kingdom’s Ben Cooper had the pole position
for the max Pre-Final. The 18-year-old from Kent was looking
to pull a “Ouellette” and win all of his races
on the way to a world championship. By the end of the
Max Pre-Final he certainly looked on his way as he led
unchallenged for all 16 laps. Just over three seconds
behind Cooper were Holland’s Hannes van Asseldonk
and Chris Lock of the UK.
In a way it’s a shame the DD2 Pre-Final
wasn’t the Final because the battle for the front
was one of the best we’ve ever seen at the Grand
Finals. From pole position led the defending champion,
Canada’s Pier- Luc Ouellette, followed closely by
New Zealand’s Ryan Urban and Frenchman, and fellow
double heat winner, Damien Vuillaume. Just before halfway
Ouellette signaled Urban past and followed closely while
Vuillaume gained ground. A few laps later Ouellette once
again took the lead right before Vuillaume made his charge
for the front. With Vuillaume leading it looked like Ouellette
was content to conserve for the final but with two laps
to go he re-took the lead going down into turn one. From
that point the two drivers passed and re-passed each other
a handful of times before the end of the race with Pier-Luc
prevailing for the win by a scant 0.057 of a second.
Between the Pre-Final and the Final is
a chance for all drivers at the event, those still in
competition and those out, to don their driving suits
and make way onto the front straightaway for the drivers
parade. This is one of the biggest moments of the week
as it creates a very colorful spectacle.
After the festivities of the driver’s
parade were over, it was time to get down to what everyone
had anticipated all week, the Finals. Leading the pack
of 34 karts in to turn one was Rio Haryanto followed on
his tail by Kevin Korjus. For the next 20 laps, we were
treated to one of the best 4-kart races for the lead we’ve
ever seen. Nobody had enough fingers and toes to count
all the passes among the top four.
Impressively, Facundo Chapur of Argentina
had worked his way up through the pack and by halfway
had taken his share of the lead. Not to be outdone, defending
champion Korjus took it off him in a daring move into
turn one the next lap. On the final lap a minor bumping
session separated the top four a bit and the order ran
out, Chapur as World Champion, Korjus second and Paul
Fourquemin of France for the final podium spot.
After winning all his heat races and
the Pre-Final, all eyes were on Kent, UK’s Ben Cooper
to see if he could sweep ever race he ran. Although his
fellow countryman Chris Lock kept him honest for the first
few laps, by lap 6 of 24 Ben had separated himself from
the pack and was off to his first Rotax World Championship.
Also impressive was Martin Pierce’s run through
the field in the Pre-Final and Final to finish on the
podium in third and win the Max Masters championship.
It would appear that there are era’s
for Rotax Max Grand Finals success. First it was South
Africa, then Holland. Now we’ve seen wins by British
drivers the last two years. It’s worth noting that
this year, all three podium finishers in the Max class
were of British origin. But, before we hand over the torch
to the UK, South Africa is back on the rise as Johannesburg’s
Leeroy Poulter came victorious in DD2.
Poulter’s win, while not shocking,
did catch some people off-guard. Leeroy had been lurking
at the front all week long while others were taking the
glory with heat race wins. As such, most people were expecting
either defending champion Pier-Luc Ouellette, Ryan Urban
or Damien Vuillaume to stand on top of the podium when
all was said and done. However, Vuillaume never got the
chance, having gotten turned around on the first lap.
This left Poulter in the lead with Ouellette
on his heals. Pier-Luc did manage to get by for the lead
once but Poulter was not to be denied and re-took the
lead on the next lap. At the finish the Canadian did make
an attempt for the top spot but Leeroy was ready for it
and made sure the road was blocked. At the finish Poulter
was DD2 World Champion by .271 seconds. Holland’s
Maik Barten came third on the road but was penalized 1o
seconds for a jumped start. This put American Stuart Marsell
into third, the best Grand Finals finish ever for his
country’s team. Unfortunately for Stuart, the change
in positions took place after the prize giving, so he
did not get to taste the champaign. However, we’re
sure he’ll enjoy his accomplishment for years to
come.
The DD2 masters title went to Dennis
Kroes of the Netherlands in his second Grand Finals appearance.
Second was America’s Curtis Cooksey. The two actually
got to fight for the title on the track as both drivers
were spun on the first lap together. They then spent the
rest of the 24 laps fighting with each other for the Masters
title.
The final event of the 2008 Rotax Max
Grand Finals will be the wrap up party to be held tonight
at 9:00 PM. Lots of stories will be told. Some will celebrate
victory while some drown their sorrows. Also, worth looking
forward to is the final of the Tire Changing contest.
For all the team members, it will be one last chance to
say goodby to new friends and vow to be back next year,
ready to challenge for Rotax glory again.
P I T B I T S
Leeroy Poulter, the newly crowned DD2
World Champion, started racing 18 years ago at the age
of eight. During that time he has seen a lot of success
in racing, including a podium finish in the very first
Grand Finals. He also was a competitor in Viana, Portugal
in 2006.
Back home in Johannesburg, South Africa,
Leeroy has a kart shop that sells Birel chassis. He also
races touring cars in the South African National Series.
When asked about racing heroes, Leeroy was the only one
this week to name a non-F1 driver. He said he’s
always admired World Rally driver Sebastian Loeb.
The 2008 Grand Finals had two female
competitors this year. One of them was 20-year-old Alexandria
Asmasoebrata. Alexandria has been racing since 2001 and
is in her second Grand Final having also competed in 2005
in Lankawi, Malaysia. She says her favorite track is the
Shanghai circuit in China.
In addition to Karts, Alexandria also
competes in Asian Formula Renault but still plans on running
karts again in 2009. Like many of the drivers here at
La Conca, Alexandria gives credit to her father for getting
started in karting, as he was also a racer himself.
Mikhail Mitrokhin hails from St. Petersburg
in Russia and has been racing karts for 20 years having
started at the age of six. This is his second trip to
the Grand finals, his previous effort was in 2006 when
he finished third in Viana do Castello, Portugal in the
Max class.
This is Mikhail’s first trip to
Italy and he says he’s really enjoying the experience.
As for next year, his plans are to stay in karts even
though he does have some recent experience racing Formula
BMW in Germany.
This is the third trip to the Grand Finals
for Gravesend, Kent UK’s Ben Cooper. The 18-year-old
driver has been racing for 10 years and is currently working
on a Master’s degree in Motorsports Engineering
at Oxford University, having already received a national
Diploma in the same subject.
When asked about his future, Ben said
he’s always looking forward to the next challenge,
but like many races he’s hamstrung by the lack of
proper funds. There’s no doubt he has the talent
to go far in racing having just become the2008 Rotax Max
World Champion. We are hoping that this result will gain
him some extra credit back at Oxford!
Dennis Kroes of Amsterdam in the Netherlands
is the 2008 DD2 Master’s World Champion for drivers
over the age of 32. He’s raced karts since 1995
and his girlfriend, Marjolein, also raced for Holland
in 2006 in Portugal.
He said they actually met at Zandvoort
in Holland when they were both reading the same book about
Ayrton Senna. Dennis says he remains a huge Senna fan
and still places the Senna “S” logo on his
helmet. He added that to become World champion was a hard-fought
battle and wishes to give thanks to his whole team.
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