Makos Motorsports Website -- News Articles 2007

Race Report: Florida Winter Tour -- Round 3 -- Group B
Points Preview
March 17, 2007

The focus of North American karting is squarely on Ocala, Florida, this weekend as the Formula Kart Productions Florida Winter Tour wraps its 2007 Championship for Group B. Presented by Tony Kart Florida, the final race weekend has attracted 122 entries, with a truly international flavour in the paddock. Along with the expected masses from the United States and Canada, karters have also arrived at the final round from: Puerto Rico, Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, Aruba and the Dominican Republic. While the event is serving as a final tune-up for some, others have a championship in their sights and the contenders quickly found the front in qualifying.

With one allowable drop figured in, eKartingNews.com Rising Star Award recipient Michael Vincec entered with the point lead in FirstKart.com Pro-Shifter, but hot on the heels of his Cameron Motorsports/CRG were Jonathan Branam for Tony Kart, David Jurca for Italian Motors/Italkart, and DL Racing’s Keith Spicer, who won race four, then followed with a pair of wins at the WKA Man Cup opener at Jacksonville last weekend. Saturday qualifying saw Vincec drop a 35.619 second lap early in the session while Jurca countered one lap later with a 35.665 to complete the front row. Canadian Pier-Luc Ouellette (Arrow) slotted third, just edging PSL/CRG’s Jan Velez Walter and Mike Giessen, who was back again competing for MRP Birel. Despite matching Giessen’s 35.8 second time, Branam was mired in ninth as one-tenth of a second covered positions five through twelve. The defending Champ would have work to do in looking to keep his hopes of repeating alive.

The prefinal was an orderly affair up front as Vincec went flag-to-flag from pole position and Jurca went the distance second. After the demise of Velez on lap five, Ouellette and Hayden Duerson (Italkart) settled a scrap for third with the Canadian Rotax Champion keeping his spot from qualifying. Branam looked strong in climbing all the way to fifth, just behind Duerson, and Spicer came from 18th to cross tenth, setting the stage for the main event. When the green flew for real, Jurca grabbed the holeshot and never looked back, working his way four seconds clear of the field in going flag-to-flag. Vincec fell to third at the start, yet took second back through the middle stages until Branam came calling on lap sixteen. Needing to cross ahead of Vincec to gain ground, Branam took the spot and held to the checker with the point leader finishing third. After settling into fourth and fifth near half distance, Ouellette and Duerson rounded the top five. Showing speed that will bold well for Sunday, Velez came from the back of the 23-kart grid to finish an impressive sixth.

As the Pro-Shifters head to the final round Sunday, Vincec continues to lead with 375 points, dropping 38 from race three. Branam remains second with 360, his low mark being 65 from race four, and the ever-consistent Jurca has to drop 75 points, his new tally being 355. The fight is very much alive with positions in the top ten being separated by five points, the winner taking an additional five. A Sunday win by any of the above trio could likely lead to the championship, with the grid full of spoilers. If you’re within driving distance, get in your car.

After going 2-2-1 on the BTK/Arrow Racing Karts JICA podium through the last three races, Tony Kart’s Gustavo Menezes was firmly in the driver’s seat heading into race five. He was thirty points clear of FirstKart.com’s Spencer Pigot, and 45 up on both PSL’s Mikael Grenier and Tony Kart’s Jarvis Gennari - but that’s why they run the races. All four found the first three rows of the grid from qualifying where FirstKart.com’s Brendan Langlois threw his hat in the ring by taking pole. Puerto Rican Chemill Mercado showed he wanted his Tony Kart to be included as well, qualifying third behind Menezes and leading Gennari, Grenier and Pigot on the grid. If the field didn’t take notice then, they certainly did after the prefinal when Mercado edged Thomas Silva (SSC/CRG) to create the front row for the main event. Gennari and Langlois would take row two, followed by Menezes and Grenier. David Ostella entered the fray in climbing from 14th to 7th, while Pigot’s championship hopes took a hit when he crossed 22nd.

In the main event Mercado was dropped to third early but quickly worked back to the point and held it from lap seven to the checker, taking 100 big points in the process and barging into the championship chase. The fight for the remainder of the top five was epic, made even more thrilling by retirements with massive championship implications. Silva was running second on lap 19 when he fell by the wayside, two laps after Menezes had done the same. In marched Gennari to take the second step on the blocks - and the championship lead in the process. David Ostella inherited third at the same time, while Canadian Tyler Wheeler moved to fourth in huge run from 12th. Ostella actually began a line of five straight Canadians, as following Wheeler were Langlois, Grenier, and Remo Ruscitti, who continues to progress in his rookie JICA campaign with Italian Motors.

Heading to the final race, Gennari now unofficially leads with 325 points. Mercado’s second win of the Tour moves him to second in points at 317, and Grenier’s sixth moves him forward to third in points at 305. Pigot drops his finish to remain at 305 as well, while Menezes does the same and is then forced to keep his opening round 22nd. Menezes now sits fifth in points with 301. Sunday will surely be a pressure cooker for the top juniors in the nation.

CMW Engines ICA was a quiet affair early, with pilots firing shots in qualifying before minding their business in a polite prefinal. PSL/CRG’s Jake Rosenzweig took pole, followed by Cameron Motorsports/CRG’s Cody Jolly. The new Indie Race Development squad out of Indiana owned the second row with Dominic Scheer and Federico Montoya, and James Kennedy completed the top five for Sodi Kart. While the field minded their noses and bumpers in the prefinal, the same can not be said of the Main event.

After Jolly got a great start and assumed the point, he and Rosenzweig were 1-2 when they tangled working lap eight and took each other out. Scheer then stepped into the void and took a big win for his new MRP/Birel works operation, just edging the rest of the podium with all three crossing within a second. Brandon Jones was an impressive second, fresh from winning the TaG senior race on a day he covered 50 laps back-to-back for Arrow USA, and Xavier Coupal was third as he rounds into form with SH/Tony Kart heading to Norman, a race he won in 2005 as a junior. Nico Silva (SSC/CRG) was fourth while a former Stars of Karting Western ICA Champion Kevin Glover was fifth in his return to ICA for Genesis/CRG. Nothing changes in the point tally as leader Victor Cabrera (J3/Kosmic) drops a 16th and Rosenzweig does the same with his 17th. Cabrera leads into Sunday with 355 points while Rosenzweig has 325.

In Shockwave Karting Cadet Tristan DeGrand (J3/Kosmic) continues to be in a league of his own as he took pole, cruised to the prefinal by nearly five seconds and then ran free in the final, winning by nearly seven seconds - his third win in five starts. The battle in Cadet would be for second place. Tony Kart’s Nick Neri took the spot in the prefinal, edging Canadian Garett Grist who was making his first start of the season for Cameron Motorsports/CRG after rehabing a broken wrist over the winter. Austin Self (Birel) was fourth in the prefinal followed by Anthony Furfari for Juncos Competition.

While DeGrand was up the road in the main event and Neri had problems that dropped him in the order, a trio of Canadians teamed up to draft clear of the pack. Grist and Furfari were joined by Julius Makos, another Cameron/CRG kid who was making his first foray at the sharp end of a National pack. The leader of the trio was routinely picked off at the end of the straight by the other two and with two laps to go Grist and Furfari went by Makos. One lap later, Furfari and Makos went by Grist, and the final order was set: DeGrand, Furfari, Makos, Grist, and Venezuela’s Rumil Leal for Juncos Competition. The win keeps DeGrand in firm control of the Cadet Championship with 385 points heading to the sixth and final race, while second is very much up in the air. Jacques Saurino (Birel) is second at 325, Neri keeps third at 319, Furfari moves into fourth with 310 and Carlos Abreu (Nevoso) is fifth with 305 points.

As mentioned, Brandon Jones raced ICA coming from a win in J3 Competition/Kosmic Kart TaG Senior. The margin was nearly six seconds, and Andy Lee (Tony Kart) was second ahead of Kyle Herder (Arrow) who was seeing his first action of the season. Garrett Olsen (Kosmic) led the RDD Motorsports podium in TaG Heavy, scoring a three second win over Brad Smith (CRG) and Fabian Valencia (PCR). In MRP Motorsports Masters Shifter Kelly Baker (Italkart) took checkers from Eduardo Martins (Tony Kart) and Jason K. Lee (Birel). Tom Mounce (Tony Kart) was king in International Racing Spec Moto, scoring the win followed by Alvaro Frias (Birel) and Tony Roubicek (CRG).

The entire operation fires up again Sunday when the Championships will be ultimately settled. Stay tuned to the forums where the EKN team will keep you up to date with the latest as soon as karts cross the line.