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Driving his brand new Peter de Bruijn ‘Maddox’ chassis for the first time at round 2, last season’s Belgian champ Maik Barten (PDB Belgium-DFK/Maddox) struggled somewhat to find his pace earlier in the week, but it all came together when it counted. Having some running issues that took a little time to overcome, the team finally got the package to work like a charm and Maik took pole position (58.140) in qualifying Friday ahead round one winner Ralph Odendaal (Korridas/Intrepid) by 0.016 of a second.

The 18-year old Dutchman took the win in two of the qualifying heats, suffering an early retirement to the pits when his rear axle moved in the third race. However, the final went his way in convincing style so he’s sitting at the top of the series points as the new leader over Odendaal. Fresh from his 3rd place at the Spanish round, Daniele Maccini (TJ Emma/VRK) flew the Italian flag in Busca to start on pole for the pre-final, after running in the top 3 in each of Saturday’s heat races.

The balance of rows 1 and 2 were filled with South African drivers Odendaal, who had a race win, plus Birel team-mates Ian Young (Kalman Motorsport/Birel) and Justin Allison (Kalman Motorsport/Birel). Odendaal not only set the best lap of the heats, but he was the first to break into the 57-second times and consequently the fastest for the meeting overall.

2008 third- placed DD2 Euro entry Denis Thum was starting from P9 behind Barten in the first of the finals, having two wins as well, but a missing jet in his new carby saw him excluded from one heat the day before.

Warm, sunny conditions at Kart Planet were ideal for the pre-final, as the pace-setter slowed the field for the start. A coming together on the tight first corner caused some initial chaos, with the front-runners unaffected. Maccini lost the lead to Young and they traded places again as Allison and Tiago Ribeiro (Korridas/Intrepid) got involved, as did Damien Vuillaume (Freeekart Racing/CRG), who was quickest on lap 5.

Both Odendaal and Young lost places in their fight for positions, however a red flag following a dramatic collision between Clement Traglia and Danny Brand that brought the race to a standstill. The restart was repeated after Patrick Pearce, Dennis Kroes and Mirco Rossi failed to get through the first corner, but they were back on track for the final later in the day.

Ribeiro was too good for Maccini this time around, taking the lead off him on lap 2, ahead of Barten, Young and Arthur D Huy (MD Competition/Tonykart) in 5th. Odendaal had damaged a rim in the previous part of the race and found the going difficult towards the end in the battle for positions. Thum also had no glory, spending some of the race sidelined on the infield. When the two races were combined, Maccini was declared the winner from Ribeiro, Barten and Young, ahead of Vuillaume and D Huy. The best lap was set by Robin Unger (Team Norbert Bruckner/CRG).

Luckily for everyone, the DD2 final was more of a thriller due to the action-packed racing and not the unfortunate situation that saw the prior race restarted twice on this occasion. Barten off the second row was quick to grab the lead from the pole man, who also lost 2nd to Young, while Ribeiro recovered from a poor start back in 6th.

French driver Antoine Ferret (MD Competition/Tonykart) suddenly appeared in 4th, before taking another place and competing with Young for second, until he fell back to 6th. The pace was fast and Vuillaume was all over Maccini in 3rd, while he fought off a challenge from Seweryn Szczepanik (Schepers Racing/Zanardi). Ferret pounced on the Polish driver as the two gave each other no relief. Maccini bid to take 2nd from Young until they pushed too far, both losing vital positions with only 4 laps remaining. It was all to Vuillaume’s benefit, unable to catch Barten nearly 4 seconds ahead, but now a clear gap from Ferret in P3 then Maccini.

Szczepanik held 5th from Dennis Ladefoged (Swiss Hutless DK/Spirit), with a brilliant drive from Thum to take 7th from P28. Crossing the line 8th was a disappointed Odendaal followed by ’07 British DD2 champ Tiff Chittenden (SFP Parolin/Parolin) and Young in 10th.

The slightest sprinkle of rain made the Kart Planet Ciruit even faster in the closing stages, as Ribeiro did a 57.996 nobody could match. 1 and 2 – Barten and Vuillaume, were both pretty excited as they took the chequered flag.

For Maik Barten, it was almost the fairytale final where he only had to overtake the polesitter at the start:

“It was unbelievable! It’s really great to win the second round here in Italy. I had new tyres for the final so after 4 or five corners I was in the lead. I was pushing really hard… the grip was good, so was the engine and the kart also. I saw the gap I had over second place, so I drove a little easier to the end. The pre-final was crazy but to finish 3rd on the old set of tyres was good. We’ve been quick so I was confident we could win today. I want to thank the De Feyter Karting Team from Belgium; they built up the new Maddox DD2 chassis for me last week and it was unbelievable!”

The DD2 Masters class was won by the Rotax World number one from the year before last Christophe Adams (GKS- Gem Sport/Birel), with first round winner Danny Brand (VZ Racing/Maddox) in 2nd and Tiff’s sister, Tamsin Germain (DG Racing/Intrepid) 3rd. Adams doubled-up in the DD2 and Max Masters, but explained that he would like to be more competitive in the gearbox class:

“It’s a good result that doesn’t come easy when you race in two categories in this type of championship. We’ve improved our engine power throughout this meeting, so in Sosnova I think we’ll be more competitive. I would like to finish in a better position in the overall class as well.”

Photo by Bas Kaligis