Ouellette wins last lap thriller, Brit Barlow rallies for junior victory

Palm Beach, FL (February 20, 2010)

Goodwood Karting/Intrepid Rotax Senior

Almost 45 drivers in the Rotax Senior class were whittled down to a 34 kart main, and anticipation was high as the crowd waited for the final to begin. As the de facto headliners, the seniors set a rather poor example for the other classes with four attempted starts and no green flag to be found. An inverted first row seemed to solve the matter, much to the eventual peril of polesitter Fabio Orsolon.

The green flag finally made an appearance and it was multi-time shifter kart champion Gary Carlton who made the most of it, dashing into an early lead. Close behind was the Advanced Karting/Tony Kart of Daniel Formal, and then things fell apart for Orsolon. After being swallowed on the start, Fabio got tangled in a heated battled within the top ten and found himself mowing the infield grass. He dropped down to 24th, the first slip of the season for the 2009 champion.

Up front, the action was befitting of senior talent. Formal took over the lead by the third lap, with Carlton, Pier-Luc Ouellette, Philippe Gelinas, Jay Howard, and Victor Pedrosa all packed into a six kart train. This is what the customers had paid to see.

Behind them, IRL driver Dan Wheldon was up to seventh from his starting position of 13^th, though he couldn't make a dent on the gap to the six pack of leaders. Just past the halfway point and things began to intensify at the front: Carlton made his bid for the lead, Formal was forced to relent. Sitting in third and watching closely was Pier-Luc. More on that later.

After running as high as third in the early laps, Howard was now sliding down the order within that top six, any hometrack advantage seeming to fade. The laps began to dwindle, and now it was just three karts at the front, with Carlton, Formal, and PLO covered by a blanket, and no doubt in anyone's mind that Danny had a card left to play.

White flag, and Formal made his move. Down the inside into Turn 3, he got next to Carlton and they went two-wide through the corner. Neither gave an inch, and eventually the real estate ran out. They collided, slowed, recovered... and watched Ouellette scamper past and into the lead. Pier-Luc never had it so easy as he closed out the lap and took the win aboard his CRG/PSL Karting.com entry, Carlton in second, Formal in third.

RDD Motorsports Rotax Junior

The crowd had no sooner caught its breath from the thrilling senior finish than they were treated to another superb battle in Rotax Junior. Pre-race buzz was all about the massive field of 55 drivers, combined with the arrival of two British champions from the Formula Kart Stars program, as both Jack Barlow and Matt Parry were making their FWT debuts.

Their pedigrees were substantiated by the end of the first lap, as Parry led Barlow in a UK one-two. By the third lap and Barlow was into the lead. Behind them, the FWT regulars were in a dogfight to see who would take the challenge to the invaders. First it was OGP/Tony Kart's Nick Neri, then it was the Kart Mini/RDD Motorsports entry of Sebastian Ordonez. Shawn Sharkey also joined the lead pack.

On the seventh lap, the Brits made it entertaining with apparent contact between the two. Parry slipped to 12th, Barlow dropped to fourth, and up front it was now Neri, Sharkey and then Ordonez. The party was just starting.

Barlow made short work of Sebastian and Shawn on consecutive laps, and now began reeling in Nick. Eight laps to go and they were nose to tail, Neri's pace through the Turn 1-2 complex barely keeping him out front. Twice, Barlow almost lost control through those same corners. Twice, he caught it.

Two laps to go and Barlow got it right, closing on Neri out of Turn 11 and then making a successful bid for the lead. Nick could not respond, and Jack crossed the stripe with four tenths in hand, followed by Neri, Sharkey, Ordonez and Austin Self.

PSL Karting.com Mini Max

Over 45 karts attempted to make the main in the Mini Max category, but only 34 can make the show. And when the green flag came out, it was Lance Stroll who took charge, followed closely by Dalton Sargeant and Logan Sargeant. Lap 2 and Dalton grabbed the lead, Stroll took it back a lap later, four corners later and Dalton was back on top! Logan temporarily demoted Stroll to third, Lance recovered and snatched the spot back a corner later.

Lap 5 and Logan spun going into Turn 1, and somehow the field avoided him as his kart sat stationary in the middle of the track. At the front and Stroll had resumed his position as the leader, Dalton remained glued to Lance's bumper, and behind them Kyle Kirkwood, now in the third position, was hoping to make this a three kart fight.

That never materialized. Slowly but surely, the lead duo began to inch away, and at halfway Dalton made another stab at the lead. He held it for a corner, blew the exit, and Stroll took it right back again. That settled the matter; Lance slowly inched away and earned the win, while Kirkwood drove a brilliant final few laps to snatch second spot from Sargeant on the very last turn.

SH Karting DD2

It wasn't the start that he wanted when polesitter Kyle Herder got punted from behind as the DD2 field entered the first turn; Herder's PSL Karting/CRG got rammed and was pushed up and over the Birel of Michael Vincec. Both drivers were okay but out of the race, an unfortunate early end for them both.

From that chaos, the OGP/Tony Kart of Cody Hodgson emerged in the lead. It was short-lived, as he relinquished it on Lap 2 when Tyler McEwen took over the top spot and would hold it for the next six laps. Hodgson retook the lead for another lap, and then, up from sixth spot, Daniel Morad took his Goodwood Karting/Intrepid into the fore. This was clearly the best DD2 race of the season.

Morad, as ever, was cool and calm in the lead. Hodgson held down second up until the 18th of 20 laps, when some banging and barging jumbled the order. The end result was a nine position penalty for Hodgson, Curtis Fox finished second, then Eric Gerrits, Eric Simon and Tyler McEwan rounded out the top five, all behind a Morad victory.

Ferrari North America Rotax Masters

It was an all-American affair in Rotax Masters during Saturday's action. Transplanted Californian and now Texas resident Robby Mott took his Margay chassis and crushed the field, comfortably taking the pole, then winning both the pre-final and final. He was never really challenged at any point on the day.

Behind him, things were more interesting. Points leader Scott Holmboe held down the second position through the early laps, before giving it up to Andre Martins around the halfway point. The battle for fourth was a four kart free-for-all with Guy Savard, Keith Karr, Eduardo Martins and James Vance-Lousada duking it out.

The top three remained unchanged to the checkered, with Robby, Andre and Scott filling up the podium positions. Eduardo Martins and Vance-Lousada rounded out the top five.

MRP/GoRotax.com Micro Max

It was a diminutive Venezuelan who dominated the Micro Max proceedings. Sebastian Fernandez took his Birel to a strong victory, as he took over the top spot on Lap 4 from polesitter and early leader Joshua Sirgany.

Fernandez then proceeded to drive away from the field, while points leader Anthony Gangi recovered from an early mishap to finish a solid second. Sirgany grabbed the final podium spot, while Gian Franco Mazzaferro and Kami Moreira-Laliberte rounded out the top five.

FWT Live!

Just past the halfway point of the 2010 season, and viewership numbers of FWT Live! powered by Supertune USA and DeFrancesco Racing have equaled the entire 2009 tally. On Saturday's Rotax broadcast alone, over 30 countries tuned in to watch the series' unique blend of live streaming video, race calls by famed announcer Tony Modica, live timing and scoring, and an audience interactive blog.

Coverage continues Sunday with live video coverage starting at 11:45 AM EST. To tune in, visit www.floridawintertour.com.