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| Features |
| EKN Awards 2010 |
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For the Official Discussion Thread for the EKN Awards 2010, click HERE
 | Driver of the Year - Daniel Formal
(Photo: Cody Schindel - Autosports Media) |
Driver of the Year
There is no arguing that the former winner list of the Driver of the Year category is a who’s who of karting from the past dozen years. Most, if not all, could be considered to be some of the best talent the sport has ever seen. Most hold a strong CV from their karting years, highlighted by multiple titles and victories, some still adding to their resumes over the past few seasons. The state of the sport has changed in recent years, with an emphasis turning more to the Touch and Go categories in the country. The Rotax program is certainly on the rise and is becoming one of the primary places to see the best of the best compete. Among those talented drivers is Daniel Formal – the eKartingNews.com Driver of the Year for 2010.
Competing throughout the 2010 season at the age of 14 (Daniel turned 15 in December 2010); Formal’s accomplishments have only increased his potential. His size, however, puts him at a disadvantage as he looks like he could be playing as a power forward in basketball or a defensive lineman for a high school team. Through plenty of laps and a deep understanding of the skills he needs to go fast, Daniel has done extremely well thus far in his young career.
The 2010 season began at the Florida Winter Tour program. In the stacked international field, which included multi-time champions from different countries, Formal came within 32 points of claiming the championship - losing out to former Rotax World Champion Pier-Luc Ouellette. Formal also added a vice-champion prize in the Pro Rotax division during the series Formula Kart weekends.
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Team of the Year
Success, professionalism, and team management. These three elements help define the characteristics of our Team of the Year category. For teams to be successful, they must hold their standards to the utmost level and have the correct personnel in place to guide them in the right direction. While the 2010 season saw a number of operations excel throughout the season, the BTK Motorsports/Arrow Racing Karts squad stood out among this elite group and, as result, they have earned the honor of the eKartingNews.com Team of the Year award.
The 2010 season was a strong one for those flying the Arrow colors, the chassis brand from Down Under. Terrence McCall and his BTK Motorsports have been behind the Arrow brand in the United States since 2005, always with the goal of expanding the Australian-manufactured brand all across the country. Thanks to the efforts of McCall and team manager Eric Jones, the Arrow brand brought home its share of titles this past season.
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 | Rising Star - Sam Beasley
(Photo: On Track Promotions - otp.ca) |
Rising Star
In karting, drivers between the ages of 15 to 17 years old are quite interesting to watch, especially considering the progression that each driver experiences during that time. Making the transition from competing against drivers similar in age to racing with pilots who have years of experience equal to the age of these young graduates is certainly a tall feat to master. The 2010 season was an interesting one for Sam Beasley, juggling the final year in the Junior ranks and making his Senior debut, but he excelled in both to earn the 2010 EKN Awards Rising Star honor.
Beasley turned 16 last March, giving the Ohio driver the option to compete in the Junior categories in the World Karting Association organization while still moving up for other events across the country. The 2009 WKA Triple Crown winner repeated the same feat in 2010, scoring three WKA Manufacturer’s Cup Series championships. Competing in the four Junior categories, Beasley won the title in Komet Jr. Lite, Yamaha Jr. Lite, and Yamaha Jr. Heavy with a vice-champion honor in Komet Jr. Heavy. In 19 feature starts, Beasley stood on the podium in all 19 races with eight victories and eight runner-up finishes. His lowest finish was fourth (twice) in the Komet Jr. Heavy class, losing the championship to Nick Neri (the EKN 2010 Young Driver of the Year) by just 10 points.
The 2010 season also marked the first season that Beasley would compete as a Senior driver, running other karting events not sanctioned by WKA. At the Florida Winter Tour, Beasley captured the Pro IAME Senior title while placing fourth in Pro Rotax championship chase.
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 | Road Racer of the Year - Chuck Gafrarar
(Photo: WKA) |
Road Racer of the Year
The Road Racer of the Year category was added to the EKN Awards program in 2001, thanks in part to the strong contingent of talented drivers tied to this distinct form of karting. Reaching speeds well above 100 mph on tracks two miles or longer - including historic facilities such as Road America, Mid-Ohio, Daytona and others - drivers need to be at their best in order to be the first to reach the checkered flag. To further establish the number of talented pilots in road racing, the award now welcomes its tenth different winner in as many years, this season going to WKA Road Racing champion Chuck Gafrarar.
While entry numbers may not be as high as they once were in the road racing events across the country, the Touch-and-Go classes continue to show larger numbers when compared to other categories. While drafting plays a big part in this type of racing, chassis handling and engine reliability are also key elements that are required in order to be successful. Gafrarar excelled in all these aspects during his campaign of the WKA Dunlop Tire Road Racing Series Driven by Mazda. ‘Chuck G’ made a combined 26 starts in the Stock Leopard Sprint, TaG 1 and TaG 2 categories over seven weekends, winning 17 of his races to earn the championship in all three classes.
The Stock Leopard championship included two races per weekend and Gafrarar was stellar in earning nine victories in 13 start, taking home double wins at Carolina Motorsports Park, Road America, and Putnam Park. Chuck was three-for-six in the TaG 1 win column to earn the championship with victories at Daytona, CMP, and Mid-Ohio. The TaG 2 chase showed an even better percentage with five wins in seven starts (CMP, Roebling Road, Mid-Ohio, Road America, VIR). In total, Gafrarar stood on the podium in 23 of his 26 starts with a worst finish of fifth on the year in his WKA campaign. These are truly remarkable stats.
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 | Young Driver of the Year - Nick Neri
(Photo: On Track Promotions - otp.ca) |
Young Driver of the Year
The Young Driver of the Year category has honored a number of incredibly talented pilots throughout the history of the eKartingNews.com Excellence Awards program. Many have built strong karting resumes, taking it to the next level in motorsports. In the 12-year history of the EKN Awards program, only one driver has ever earned the honor in back-to-back years, and he just signed to run a full season on the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series trail with Turn One Racing. That driver is Cole Whitt. This particular statistic has now changed, however, as we are proud to announce Nick Neri as our 2010 Young Driver of the Year. Neri was our 2009 YDoY as well, and he didn’t lift off the throttle at all this past season.
In 2010, the Palmetto, Florida driver put in a year-long performance that was similar to his 2009 season. The year kicked off with a second-straight Florida Winter Tour championship in the Rotax Junior category. With three wins and two runner-up finishes in six features, Neri won the title by 238 points. Neri also added a Pro Rotax championship - which included Junior and Senior drivers - during the Formula Kart weekends of the FWT program.
Neri also contested the full 2010 WKA Manufacturer’s Cup Series in all four Junior categories. The season started out well in Daytona with two wins and four podiums - earning him the EKN Driver of the Month for December 2009. When the season concluded, Neri had racked up more victories than he did the previous year - eight overall. In total, Neri stood on the podium 17 times in 20 feature races over the course of the season. Neri took home the gold in the Komet Jr. Heavy division, while earning the vice-champion award in the three other categories. Neri also earned championships in the Florida Karting Championship Series program (Komet Piston Port Junior, Yamaha Junior).
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EKN Awards Week 2010 Set For Mid-February
Each year, through the EKN Excellence Awards program, eKartingNews.com identifies those drivers and teams who we believe stood out during the previous season. The program, which was launched back in 1999 by EKN Publisher Rob Howden through his popular Shifter Kart Illustrated magazine, has evolved over the course of the past 12 years with the consistent goal of honoring the sport’s best. During the week of February 14-18, the website will host ‘EKN Awards Week 2010’ to recognize the five winners from the past season.
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