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| February 12, 2012 News |
| Event News: Florida Winter Tour - Homestead - Formula Kart Weekend - Saturday Report |
| Article by: Ken Johnson and Bill Wright |
After an extremely successful pair of opening weekends to the 2012 Florida Winter Tour season last month in Palm Beach, Formula Kart Production’s Florida Winter Tour presented by SPORTALITY moves to the Homestead Karting circuit just South of Miami for the midway rounds of the 2012 FWT. This weekend the on-track action features the Formula Kart Racing program comprised of TaG and shifter classes.
The Miami rounds are back on the Tour schedule after a two year hiatus. Coming back to Miami is a popular decision among the competitors. One of the reasons for this is the reputation of this area as a tourist destination. With great racing, warm weather and lots of things to do for the family away from the race track, the Florida Winter Tour is proving once again it is “THE Winter Place To Be”!
The Homestead Karting circuit is a unique layout set in the shadows of the grandstands at the Homestead-Miami race track best known for it’s NASCAR, Grand Am and IndyCar events. The karting circuit features two long straights and multiple passing areas that lend to some great racing. When we asked some of the drivers what the keys to getting around this circuit quickly, the most common answer was the need to be aggressive on the curbs.
In ZCD Autosport’s sponsored TaG Senior, The driver doing the best on the curbs and getting around very quickly was Danny Formal (USA). Danny was the class of the field as he set pole position, won the Pre-Final and the Final. Coming second and third to round out the podium in the Final was Luis Schiavo (Venezuela) and Robert Bujdoso (USA).
 | Danny Fomal dominatred TaG Senior
(Photo: Ken Johnson - studio52.us) |
Running at the same time as TaG Senior was the Keane Racing sponsored TaG Masters class. After his dominant performance in Palm Beach, Chuck Gafrarar (USA) was looking forward to more success. But, a broken throttle cable in qualifying put him back in the pack. Chuck’s teammate Jim Russell Jr. (USA) was able to set pole position in a gutsy performance while nursing a broken rib. However, in the Pre-Final it was John Dixon (USA) who looked untouchable in his win over Carlo Rinaldi (Venezuela). In the TaG Masters Final it was Dixon with another strong performance to take the victory over Chris Koster (USA) and Phil Kirby (USA).
During the AM Engines sponsored TaG Junior Pre-Final, the rain that had been predicted for today started to make an appearance but stopped as quickly as it began leaving dry conditions throughout the remainder of the competition. Taking advantage of the great track conditions were Zachary Claman DeMelo (Canada) and Kyle Kirkwood (USA) who fought their own battle at the front of the field. In the Final these two were at it again and put on a heck of a race.
In the beginning of the Final, Claman DeMelo was able to break free but by halfway Kirkwood had caught him and the two ran so close it looked like DeMelo was pulling a trailer. On the last lap Kyle got a run on Zach into the middle hairpin but DeMelo held the lead. Through the next series of corners Kyle gathered himself back up to make a run on the back straight and got close enough to knock on Zach’s back door a few times leading into the last corner before the checkered. Going through the last corner Zach went a touch wide and that was all the opening Kyle needed to slip underneath. The pass wasn’t done though as Zach tried to close the door late and the two touched coming to the finish line. At the finish it was Kyle Kirkwood with the victory by just 0.063 of a second over Zachary Claman DeMelo with Dan Roeper (USA) in third.
 | Zach Claman DeMelo (13) and Kyle Kirkwood (28) battled all the way to the checkered flag on Saturday
(Photo: Ken Johnson - studio52.us) |
The biggest class at The Formula Winter Tour’s Formula Kart races is DeFrancesco Racing sponsored Formula Vortex TaG Cadet class with 28 strong entries. These kids always go at it 100% and are a delight to watch. In qualifying Darren Keane (USA) proved to have the goods as he put his kart on pole position. In the Pre-Final Darren once again came out on top and looked a likely winner for the Final too. However, things don’t always go as planned and Darren lost a chain in the final leaving Devlin DeFrancesco (USA) and current Mini Rok World Champion Logan Sargeant to battle for the win.
Lap-after-lap the two Floridians traded the lead as they pushed their karts to the limit. For a while Anthony Gangi (USA) and 2011 FWT Micro Max Champion Rasmus Lindh, returning to the FWT from Sweden, stayed in striking distance of the top two. At the checkered it was Logan taking the win by a couple tenths of a second over Devlin with the Swede Lindh third.
The last race of the day featured the fastest karts of the Florida Winter Tour, the combined Formula Open Shifter and Masters Shifter classes, sponsored by Euro Motorsports. Setting the fastest time of all in qualifying was Nicholas Latifi (Canada) who got around the seven tenths of a mile circuit in 45.904 seconds. In the Pre-Final, Nicholas battled with fellow Canadian Zachary Meyer and Jamaican Collin Daley Jr for the top spot in an awesome battle that saw the competitors passing and re-passing for the lead. With a few laps to go, Latifi took the lead for good and the win would see him on the pole for the Final.
 | Logan Sargeant jumps the curb en route to the TaG Cadet victory
(Photo: Ken Johnson - studio52.us) |
In the Final, Latifi bogged at the start allowing Daley to take the lead and Meyer to slot in right behind. Also making a strong start was Nick Neri making his first start in a KZ-Powered shifter kart. After the first few laps it was the Nick and Nick show as Latifi and Neri pulled clear of the field. For a while is looked like Nick Neri could win on his debut, but just before halfway Latifi started pulling away for a well-deserved win.
In the Master’s shifter class, Tim Ulmen (USA) was the class of the Masters as he took the pole position and won both the Pre-Final and Final. Behind Ulmen in the Final was David Levy (USA) and George Moss (USA).
As with all Florida Winter Tour events, those that were not able to attend could watch the racing from the comfort of their homes on FWT LIVE!, the sports only live video, live timing and audience interactive broadcast. Live coverage begins Sunday at 10am eastern. Additionally, check out the FWT at http://www.FloridaWinterTour.com and facebook.com/FloridaWinterTour for FWT information and news. |
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