Double Podium for Anthony Martella at the ROK Cup USA Florida Winter Tour
Martella earns first trip to FWT podium at difficult Piquet Race Park
Anthony Martella had a career-best weekend in Florida, earning second and third place podium results
(Photo: Canadian Karting News)
It was a career-best weekend for Canadian Anthony Martella as the Speed Concepts Racing driver earned a pair of podium results this past weekend at the ROK Cup USA Florida Winter Tour. Taking on the ROK VLR Junior and ROK Junior classes at the Piquet Entertainment & Race Park facility in Loxahatchee, Florida, Martella left Florida with second and third place results as he shifts his focus to round three in March.
“What a weekend for myself and the Speed Concepts Racing program,” explained Anthony Martella. “St. Pete was my first experience with the team, and I was in love right away. We had the speed to win, but the luck was not on our side. This weekend, we had both speed and luck and that was proven with the hardware I was able to bring home to Canada.”
With his first podium result coming in the ROK VLR Junior class, Martella turned his third-place qualifying effort into second, fourth and second place results in the heat races to earn an outside front row starting spot for Saturday afternoon’s prefinal. Falling back at the start due to the lack of grip on the outside of the first corner, Martella put his head down and drove back to his original starting position to cross the line in the second position.
On the ROK Junior side of the program, a fourth-place qualifying effort was followed by tenth, twenty-first and ninth place results in the heat races as some contact relegated the Canadian down the order on more than one occasion. Classified in the thirteenth position after the heat races, Martella had some work to do in the prefinal as he started on the inside of row seven.
Martella added, “I had a good start and just moved forward whenever an opportunity presented itself to finish third. It was my best drive of the weekend and provided some confidence and momentum heading into the main events on Sunday.”
Returning to the track Sunday, Martella would score his first podium of the weekend and first career Florida Winter Tour podium in ROK VLR Junior. Again, forced to start on the outside of the front row, Martella was able to slot in line and battle hard in the top-five. Looking to keep pace with the leaders, the SCR driver could only muster enough speed and pace to cross the line in the third position, his first ever Florida Winter Tour podium in only his second weekend with Speed Concepts Racing.
With momentum on his side and a short break before his ROK Junior main event, Martella shifted his focus to the afternoon finals. Starting the main event from the third position, the young Canadian pushed his way to second at the start and defended for the opening complex of corners. Once in a rhythm and able to break away from the hungry field behind him, Martella was able to driver to a second-place result and celebrated on the podium for the second time on the day.
Martella continued, “A huge thank you to Speed Concepts Racing, Mike, Alex, my mechanics, and teammates for the help and support all weekend long. For always pushing me to do be better each time on track. Also, thank you to NIN Transport for their continued support. I can’t wait to try and improve on these results at the final round of the Florida Winter Tour in just a few short weeks.”
Next up for Anthony Martella and Anthony Martella Racing will be a trip to the Orlando Kart Center for the opening round of the United States Pro Kart Series (USPKS) followed by the final round of the Florida Winter Tour and then the opening round of the Superkarts! USA (SKUSA) Pro Tour.
For more information on Anthony Martella and Martella Motorsports, please contact Tony Martella via email at Tony@SkilledLabourOfCanada.com or by phone to 647.564.0874
