Official Discussion Thread: Florida Winter Tour - Ocala #1

Rob Howden

Hello EKN.ca and EKN.com viewers!

With this year's Florida Winter Tour set to cap things off over the next two weekends here in Ocala, Florida, the international eKartingNews team is primed and ready to bring you all the action, right from the track. Our EKN Trackside coverage will be placed at eKartingNews.ca for these rounds and will be managed primarily by the EKN Canada staff of Elena Maurini and Jason Holland. I'm going to be pretty slammed announcing the event, while also updating eFormulaCarNews.com with all the goings on at Sebring, so I'll help out when I can. Elena and Jason will be leading the program.

As such, we'll be directing the readers of eKartingnews.com over to teh Official Discussion Thread on EKN Canada to get all the updated news and instant top-fives via the forum. Should be a great opening weekend, with the championships on the line.

Let the discussion begin! If you have any questions, feel free to ask away...we'll do what we can to answer them for you.
_________________
Rob Howden
Publisher / Editor-in-Chief
Howden Media Group
www.eKartingNews.ca
www.eKartingNews.com
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Marc Miller · Joined: 08 Nov 2006 Posts: 4

Good luck to everyone down there.. it should be a barn-burner. Brett Smrz will be running DD2 in a Birel - so hopefully he does well!

Have fun Elena keeping everyone happy with IMMEDIATE updates. everyone wants it NOW NOW NOW!!!

Very Happy

_________________
"Luck is when opportunity meets preparation"

www.themarcmillershow.com

David Cole · Joined: 09 Aug 2006 Posts: 321

Hey Marc,

I know your busy and excited to see Smrz run the DD2 here on the East side, but he'll have to wait until next weekend. This weekend is the Shifter and TaG divisions along with JICA and Cadet.
_________________
David Cole
eKartingNews.com

Mike Adams · Joined: 10 Aug 2006 Posts: 564

First time at this track must say it is a nice facility with lots of parking. For those who have been to www.ocalagranprix.com the track is being run backwards or clockwise. With the hair pin and the cicane. Tomorrow they are forcasting rain and the weekend is looking clear.

Unfortunately for Gelina will not be running so he will be out of the running for the championship.
_________________
Mike
www.dettmertire.com
www.zainostore.ca

Rob Howden · Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2007 7:10 pm Post subject:

Mike is right...nice facility here.

I'll be online tomorrow to give an update of the paddock chatter and we'll have a look at the primary players as well. EKN.com and EKN.ca will have their separate previews, then we'll team up to give you the best coverage we can.

RH - EKN
_________________
Rob Howden
Publisher / Editor-in-Chief
Howden Media Group
www.eKartingNews.ca
www.eKartingNews.com
www.eFormulaCarNews.com
www.eSportsRacer.com

Rob Howden · Posted: Fri Mar 16, 2007 1:59 pm Post subject:

EKN Paddock Update:

I just worked through the pit area here in Ocala to get a grip on things. I’ve been told that the entry list is looking good, with 26+ expected for all the major classes. We got hit by hard rain last night, so the track surface was cleared of rubber, dropping the grip and the lap times by over a half-second.

The ICC class looks very good, CRG pilot Michael Vincec is primed to go after the class championship. After a double-win weekend to kick things off in January, he struggled slightly in February with a pair of top-10s. Championship leader Jon Branam is very focused on winning the title, having spent the past week testing here at OGP. Branam looked good in today’s practice session aboard his Tony Kart and will be strong this weekend. After running a Kosmic at the first two events, the final title contender – Keith Spicer – will be on an Intrepid this weekend. Spicer’s team – DL Racing – is now an Intrepid dealer.

An interesting addition to the ICC field will be Round #2 double ICA winner Michael Giessen, who will run a Chris Lobaugh-tuned Birel this weekend in both classes. Lobaugh told me that it took just four laps in the ICC and Giessen was ‘on the gas’. Although focusing on stock car racing right now, Giessen was a top 80cc Junior shifter racer in SKUSA ProMoto Tour competition. Jonathan Vitolo is also making his ’07 debut, now running a new Tony Kart.

In ICA, PSL Karting’s Jake Rosenzweig (CRG) was quickest in the session that I watched, while rookie Victor Cabrera (J3 Kosmic), the point leader, was just a little off the pace. An exciting entry is former Stars ICA champ Kevin Glover, who is in town with Genesis Racing, aboard a new CRG. Glover is fast, and he knows how to race.

In JICA, I’ve been told that Chemill Mercado (Tony Kart) is leading the way, while Spencer Pigot (First Kart), Gustavo Menezes (Tony Kart), Nico Silva (CRG) and Jarvis Gennari (Tony Kart) are quick as well. In TaG Senior, point leader Brandon Jones (Arrow) leads the way, while Conor Daly (Birel) and Zach Beard (First Kart) are both in the fray.
_________________
Rob Howden
Publisher / Editor-in-Chief
Howden Media Group
www.eKartingNews.ca
www.eKartingNews.com
www.eFormulaCarNews.com
www.eSportsRacer.com

Jason Holland · Posted: Fri Mar 16, 2007 2:51 pm Post subject:

Unofficially here are the top five in the 'Stars' classes with each drivers lowest points score removed. The FWT uses Stars scoring with 100, 90, 85, 80...

ICC
290 Michael Vincec
270 Jonathan Branam
265 Keith Spicer
255 David Jurca
240 Danilo Dirani

ICA
280 Victor Cabrera
250 Jake Rosenzweig
235 Joe Paterson
209 James Kennedy
200 Mike Giessen

JICA
280 Gustavo Menezes
250 Spencer Pigot
235 Mikael Grenier
235 Jarvis Gennari
230 Thomas Silva

Cadet
285 Tristan GeGrand
275 Nick Neri
250 Jacques Saurino
245 Carlos Abreu
230 Santino Ferrucci

Jason Holland · Posted: Fri Mar 16, 2007 7:28 pm Post subject:

Here are your unofficial top five from Friday:
(Canadians in bold)

Pro Shifter
1. Danilo Dirani
2. Jonathan Branam
3. David Jurca
4. Hayden Duerson
5. Stuart Marsell
6. Pier-Luc Ouellette

9. Michael Di Meo
10. Michael Vincec
12. Gianmarco Raimondo
14. Tom Cadieux
15. Curtis Fox
19. Josh Adams
20. Mitchel Lacombe

Jason Holland · Posted: Fri Mar 16, 2007 7:31 pm Post subject:

ICA

1. Jake Rosenzweig
2. Michael Hogg
3. Jacob Neal
4. Hunter Short
5. Federico Montoya

9. Xavier Coupal
13. Christophe Boisclair
18. Kevin Glover
25. Luke Behnke

Jason Holland · Posted: Fri Mar 16, 2007 7:33 pm Post subject:

JICA

1. Chemill Mercado
2. Spencer Pigot
3. Gustavo Menezes
4. Thomas Silva
5. Mikael Grenier

8. Brendan Langlois
11. Remo Ruscitti
13. David Ostella
14. Michael Furfari
19. Tyler Wheeler
22. Connor Carrothers
25. Tommy Beshro

Jason Holland · Posted: Fri Mar 16, 2007 7:36 pm Post subject:

Cadet

1. Garett Grist
2. Tristan DeGrand
3. Nick Neri
4. Anthony Furfari
5. Carlos Abreu

14. Julius Makos
16. Reid Arnold
17. Matteus Makos
18. Scott Nagel
21. Joey Furfari Jr.

Jason Holland · Posted: Fri Mar 16, 2007 7:41 pm Post subject:

TaG Senior

1. Ariel Castro
2. Kyle Herder
3. Andy Lee
4. Brandon Jones
5. Andre Martins
6. Pearce Herder

Jason Holland · Posted: Fri Mar 16, 2007 7:44 pm Post subject:

TaG Heavy
1. Carrett Olsen
2. Fabian Valencia
3. David Rubens

Masters Shifter
1. Alvaro Frias
2. Tom Mounce
3. Tony Roubicek

Masters Shifter
1. Kelly Baker
2. Eduardo Martins
3. Paul Walker

Jason Holland · Posted: Sat Mar 17, 2007 8:45 am Post subject:

Here are your unofficial qualifying results in Pro Shifter

1. Michael Vincec 35.619
2. David Jurca 35.665
3. Pier-Luc Ouellette
4. Jan Velez Walter
5. Mike Giessen

8. Gianmarco Raimondo
11. Curtis Fox
15. Michael Di Meo
17. Tom Cadieux
19. Mitchel Lacombe
22. Josh Adams

Jason Holland · Posted: Sat Mar 17, 2007 8:48 am Post subject:

Here are your unofficial qualifying results in JICA

1. Brendan Langlois 38.086
2. Gustavo Menezes 38.163
3. Chemill Mercado
4. Jarvis Gennari
5. Mikael Grenier

8. Tyler Wheeler
9. Remo Ruscitti
14. David Ostella
17. Michael Furfari
23. Tommy Beshro
24. Connor Carrothers