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| June 22, 2009 |
| Team News: Alonso Kart USA - RMax Challenge South Florida Report |
 | | Chaponick ran to back-to-back top fives in Junior |
In its first weekend as a full team operation, DeFrancesco Racing / Alonso Kart USA scored three podiums at the Rotax Max Challenge South Florida recently. In making seven race starts over two days at Homestead Karting, the FA Karts finished top-six every time out and across three different Rotax classes.
Rotax Junior was the only class with a pair of FA Karts in the field as Dore Chaponick Jr. and Jack West gradually worked the kinks from their new mounts. Chaponick was on blue both days while West put the finishing touches on a new FA Kart Saturday night in time for race four on Sunday. Racing in a field of twelve in the first start of the weekend, Chaponick started from P10 and got quicker as the day progressed. He was up to seventh by the end of the prefinal, and never took a backward step in the feature as he moved through the field. He set his best lap of the day in the main event, finishing fourth as he began to find a groove.
Back for day two and race four, Chaponick qualified sixth but fell back in the prefinal to line up eighth for the main. In it, he came forward for the second straight day as after dropping one spot at the start he climbed back to take his second consecutive top five, finishing fifth. He followed West across the line, as after qualifying in seventh spot West quickly made amends in his first run for FA Kart. After a great first lap in the prefinal the reigning FWT Mini-Max Champion was fifth, and he took another spot on the way to the checker to cross fourth. He dropped that spot early in the final, but quickly had it back and ran to the final flag there. The points have West in the same position of the championship with 641 points from four starts while Chaponick follows in fifth with 541.
 | | Sobel was third on Sunday in Rotax Mini-Max |
Devlin DeFrancesco hit the blocks on both days, and the pilot with the most experience aboard an FA Kart fought at the front Saturday before storming to the podium on Sunday. The weekend began with P3 from qualifying on day one, and DeFrancesco advanced to second in the prefinal to start off-pole in the feature. After a great opening, he took the lead and held it to half distance before dropping to second for the back-half of the race, crossing behind FWT Champion Logan Sargeant. A driving penalty dropped him a step on the podium, the spot he’d take on Sunday in much different fashion. After qualifying fifth on a changed layout from day one, DeFrancesco was fourth after the opening pair of laps of the prefinal but was knocked backward in a twelve-kart field on lap three and had to endure the rest of the way with a warped nose cone. It meant for work starting eighth in the final, but the nine-year-old was up to the task. Already seventh through one lap, DeFrancesco took another pair on two and did the same again on seven to move into podium position. By then the lead pair were gone, and he took third with his best lap of the day on the time charts. Despite missing race two, DeFrancesco sits fourth in the championship with 515 points, just 62 shy of second place.
Derek Sobel was the lone FA Kart entry in Mini-Max and he produced the third podium run on Sunday. After qualifying fifth, he was third after the opening lap of the prefinal and kept the spot for the rest of the afternoon in fighting for a higher spot on the blocks. Saturday required a little more work as after qualifying sixth, Sobel found himself seventh after the prefinal and sitting ninth halfway through the main event. He then took a pair back covering lap seven, and got another spot post-race to finish classified sixth. Though he didn’t race the opening two rounds in South Florida, the pair of starts from the weekend have Sobel eighth in the championship with a pair of starts remaining.
The Rotax Max Challenge South Florida resumes July 12th with the final round set for August 8th at Homestead Karting. |
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