Beasley, Costa triumph in pro classes 

Orlando, FL (January 10, 2010) - The 12^th annual Formula Kart Productions Florida Winter Tour continued its Formula Kart season opener at the brand new Orlando Kart Center in Orlando, Florida. Saturday's rain and dark clouds gave way to clear skies and sunshine on Sunday. Cool temperatures weren't enough to extinguish the thrilling afternoon of racing served up by the world class drivers participating in this year's Florida Winter Tour.

During yesterdays awards ceremony FWT promoter Bill Wright doubled the weekend cash payout for both Pro Rotax and Pro IAME Senior as a way of showing gratitude to the pro class supporters, Needless to say, this was an extremely popular announcement with the Pro class drivers. The weekend's total cash payout exceeded $10,000 for the two classes. 

Without a doubt, the race of the day was the absolute classic delivered by the Pro Rotax class sponsored by Ocala Gran Prix. Turn 1 in the main was chaos when polesitter Victor Pedrosa was joined by the four karts immediately behind him in sliding way wide, allowing most of the field to pass by. Pedrosa, Danny Formal, Nick Neri, Sam Beasley and Wes Philips then got down to the business of closing the gap back to leader Thiago Parazinho, who went from sixth to the lead in that first corner. 

The field sorted itself out as the laps progressed, and soon there was a five kart breakaway of Kenneth Hildebrand, Nicolas Costa, Formal, Pedrosa and Davey Koch. With two laps to go, Hildebrand and Costa staged a titanic dual for the lead, swapping the top spot throughout the .7 mile OKC facility. Costa's last lap move sealed the win, as Saturday winner Hildebrand had to settle for the runner-up position by a mere .137.

For the second straight day, the Energy/Vortex of Brian McHattie was the class of the field in TaG Masters. His five second margin of victory in the pre-final removed much of the drama from the main, as McHattie then went on to win the main by over two seconds. However, Brad Sanders and his Sonic-powered Gillard showed strongly on the day and finished in the second position, well clear of Rob Maier in third. Taken as a whole, it was a strong statement by McHattie, proving his worth in both wet and dry conditions, and he has to be considered the early favorite for the series championship.

A close and exciting pre-final in PSL Karting.com IAME Junior set high expectations for the main event, especially after the Kosmic of Alessandra Madrigal narrowly edged the FA Kart of Dore Chaponick, Jr. When the green flag came out for the final, Alessandra converted her pole position into the lead, with Chaponick close behind and Shawn Sharkey and Austin Self in tow. That quartet instantly distanced themselves from the field during the opening laps. Madrigal asserted herself in the second half of the race, reeling off consistent laps and slowly edging away from the pack, eventually taking a clear win by almost two seconds. Dore's challenge faded as the laps accumulated; he finished fourth while an inspired and always improving Sharkey came home in the second spot, with Self rounding out the podium.

The FWT debut weekend for De Francesco Racing / FA Kart USA-sponsored Vortex TaG Cadet was one of the big talking points of the event. This new class showed very strongly with twelve entries, and instantly provided some of the closest racing on both days. Sunday's final was absolutely first rate stuff, as Lance Stroll and Ashley Rogero staged a race-long battle for supremacy. The duo ran nose to tail for most of the 14 lap main, culminating in a last-lap climax in which Rogero made her move on the long straight between Turns 7 and 8. Ashley dove to the inside and got almost alongside; Stroll glanced over twice and pinched her to the inside line. Running out of space, Rogero had to relent and settle for second place as Stroll took the victory by less than two tenths of second. Zachary DeMelo finished a distant third.

Italian Motors Pro IAME Senior was the story of a trio of drivers: David Jurca, Sam Beasley and Sean Meier. Jurca, having won the final just a day before, appeared poised to repeat on Sunday especially after winning the pre-final. And the early laps of the final only reinforced his strength, that is, until a problem with the throttle cable forced David to finish the race operating the throttle by hand. That left Beasley in control, and the Arrow/Comet driver put the hammer down and disappeared into the sunset. Meier could only watch as Sam logged a 14 second victory, while Armando Arends finished a further nine seconds back in third. Jurca soldiered home in fourth.

In the combined shifter kart classes, the dominant drivers from Saturday found themselves outmatched on Sunday. In Masters Shifter, it was a dominant drive by Robert Francis that culminated in a seven second win for the Floridian pilot, with Michel Legrand and Ed Oberholtzer rounding out the podium. Stock Moto was the domain of Jim Machul, as his seven second triumph proved that the Arrow chassis, renowned for its Rotax prowess, is no slouch in the gearbox classes.

In a somber post-race note, FWT owner/promoter Bill Wright addressed the incident that occurred on the last lap of the Pro Rotax final, in which a driver willfully and deliberately collided with another racer in a successful maneuver to remove him from the race.

"I want to personally apologize to the participants, spectators, viewers, and fans of the FWT who were forced to see what transpired here this afternoon. I'm especially saddened that our cadets and juniors, who look up to the senior drivers, witnessed such a reckless and unsafe act. The offending driver was immediately placed under the supervision of the on-site law enforcement officer and escorted off the premises. I have banned the driver from any future Formula Kart Productions events. This sort of behavior will not be tolerated at any Formula Kart Productions events."

Florida Winter Tour action continues this coming weekend at the Orlando Kart Center, as the FWT Rotax Max Challenge opens with its first race of 2010. The FWT RMC looks to continue its status as the largest RMC in the world, as a record number of drivers have pre-registered for this year's Rotax series.