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Rounds 3&4 of the 2009 Formula Kart Productions Florida Winter Tour, presented by TonyKart Florida, are officially in the books after an exciting weekend at the Homestead Karting facility. Nearly 200 karters returned to the freshly paved circuit to do battle for FWT supremacy. The clockwise track provided new obstacles for drivers, but received great reviews by the weekend’s completion.

SH Karting Rotax DD2
After dominating the opening rounds of the FWT, A1GP Team Lebanon pilot Daniel Morad opened the door for the other drivers when he could not compete. Stepping up and taking charge, Jeffrey Petriello jumped back into a kart for the first time in over a year and did not disappoint. After just missing the pole position in Saturday qualifying, Petriello jumped out front in the pre-final and cruised to the win. Grabbing the holeshot in the final, Petriello held off an early fight from Richard Boake before laying down consistent fast laps to take the win. In the closing laps of the final, Boake was chased down by a couple of past Canadian Champions for the second position. Eric Gerrits and Darren White put the pressure on Boake but after a failed attempt to pass Boake in turn two, Gerrits left the door open for White to grab the spot and the final podium position.

Returning Sunday, Petriello looked to complete the weekend sweep and kicked it off by snagging the pole position in qualifying. After a rough start in the pre-final, Petriello again took control and solidified his pole position for the final. A “push from behind” ended Boake’s chances of taking a shot at Petriello in the final as he was forced to start the final in the last position. The action in the final looked very similar to Saturday’s as Petriello jumped out front early. Putting his SRA/Arrow in cruise control, he took the win and completed the weekend sweep. The action for second again heated up in the closing stages as Boake drove the wheels off his Goodwood/Intrepid to battle with Gerrits for the second position. Holding him off at the line, Boake took the second step on the podium followed by Gerrits.

BTK Motorsports/Arrow Racing Karts Rotax Senior
On Saturday morning, Lorenzo Mandarino placed his Vemme Kart on the pole in Rotax Senior. This was the first FWT race for the Vemme Kart, which was designed by Lorenzo and his father Vince and built in Italy. However Mandarino was caught out by the CIK-style speed-limited starting procedures implemented at the FWT starts and the time penalty imposed by officials placed Mandarino fifth on the grid for the final after finishing second. Starting on the pole for the final, round one winner Fabio Orsolon jumped out to the early lead with Rodolfo Camrillo and Michael Self in tow after a wild opening lap. The front two pulled away while Mandarino disposed of Self on lap five. From there, the front three went uncontested and Orsolon earned his second FWT win of the year.

Returning on Sunday morning, Pier-Luc Ouellette placed his PSL/CRG on the pole as the only driver to break the forty-eight second mark. Returning to the front in the pre-final, Orsolon earned the pre-final win ahead of Mandarino and Ouellette. The start of the final was wild as karts powered into turn two. Getting the worst of the events was Lorenzo Mandarino as he ended up on the outside and done for the day. Upfront Orsolon continued his strong pace and pulled away from Victor Pedrosa, Marco Di Leo and Ouellette. On lap eleven, contact between Di Leo and Pedrosa sent Pedrosa off into the marbles and back to ninth leaving Di Leo and Ouellette to battle for second. As the duo swapped to spot lap after lap, Orsolon drove away to take the win. Ouellette scored the second position at the checkered with Di Leo third. However, following the race, the race director assessed Di Leo a four-position penalty for the contact with Pedrosa, handing the final podium position to Christophe Boisclair.

Goodwood Kartways/Intrepid Canada Rotax Junior
Nick Neri placed his OGP/TonyKart back up front in Rotax junior qualifying, narrowly edging Birel mounted Daniel Formal for the top spot. But in the pre-final, Steven Szigeti drove a stellar race from his fourth place starting position to take the heat victory and the front row position for the final. As the karts entered turn one for the start of the final, a major incident ended many top drivers races early. A complete restart was ordered and all drivers made it through the second time. Szigeti jumped to the early lead with Neri and Sebastian Ordonez in tow. But it didn’t take long for Neri to take control up front as he grabbed the lead on lap four. Just as Neri began to pull a slight lead, a driver error ended his chances of winning as he pulled the choke too long. Szigeti took full advantage of this opportunity and cruised to victory. After starting dead last, Daniel Formal drove a stellar race to finish second place when the checkered dropped, however a penalty for hitting a marker cone kept him off the podium. Rounding out the top three were Reid Arnold and Jaime Ortega.

Looking for redemption on Sunday, Neri posted the fastest time in qualifying with hopes of sweeping the day’s events. But after a disaster on Saturday, Jesus Rios Jr stepped up and scored the pre-final victory ahead of Formal and Szigeti. Rios controlled the final from the drop of the green, with Szigeti holding second and Formal, Neri, Ordonez and Ortega all dicing it out for the final podium position. With Rios and Szigeti checked out, Formal looked to have the third spot locked up in the closing laps, but a last lap maneuver by Ortega resulted in opening the door for Neri to jump in and take the third position.

SKF Bearings Rotax Masters
A “Texas Tornado” showed up at the FWT, as Collin Lynn layed down a blistering fast time in qualifying to place his MRP/Birel on the pole in Rotax Masters. After grabbing the holeshot into turn one in the final, Lynn overshot his entry on lap two allowing Rene Martinelli, Tim Hannen and Jim Busby by. From there Martinelli lead the way as Lynn battled back toward the front. It was very noticeable that Lynn was geared just a little too low as the leaders pulled him in the tight sections of the circuit, but Lynn managed to carry his speed through turns one, two and three to catch back up each lap and make his moves. With three laps to go, Lynn made his move on Martinelli with Hannen and Busby following him through. Pointing to his mechanic as he crossed the finish line, Lynn finished up his Rotax debut by earning his first FWT win in the Rotax Masters class. Busby scored the second spot on the podium and Hannen finished third.

Brent Harper placed his CMC/Swiss Hutless on the pole in Masters qualifying on Sunday edging out Todd Ulmen and Hannen. But a tough pre-final placed Harper well down the charts in 19th spot when it ended. Capitalizing in the pre-final was Martinelli and Eric Beltrami. Beltrami got the holeshot into turn one and paced the field for the opening laps. However, exiting the track on lap five, Beltrami handed the lead to Scott Holmboe. Battling with Lynn and Mario Garcia Cantu, the three put on a battle for the ages. Returning to the front, Harper disposed of Lynn and looked to Cantu as the laps winded down. Holmboe took the checkers and his first FWT win. Joining him on the podium was Cantu and Holmboe after the two diced it out in the closing laps.

GoRotax.com/MRP Motorsport Rotax Mini Max
The drivers in the Rotax Mini Max class had their hands full this weekend as a majority of them completed three finals. After multiple red flags in their round 2 pre-final and final resulted in a dangerous lack of light the round two final was added to round three’s Saturday’s schedule. Jumping out and taking the pole position in qualifying, Jack West placed himself on the inside of row one for Saturday’s pre-final. Dore Chaponick, Jr. stormed to the pre-final win, but the defending FWT class champion couldn’t hold off West in the final as West posted consistent fast times. Cruising to victory, West crossed ahead of Jesse Lazare and Chaponick.

Chaponick got the holeshot for the second final of the day, but it was Lazare who inherited the lead when Chaponick and Dalton Sargeant collided in turn one. From there, Lazare held his own as the sun set for the evening, and he crossed the finish line with the entire SH Karting team cheering him on. After many on-track incidents, Kyle Kirkwood and Nelson Gonzalez kept their noses clean and finished second and third respectively.

Returning on Sunday, Dore Chaponick was the only driver to break the fifty-second barrier and with that, earned the pole in qualifying. After earning the pre-final win, Lazare lead the way in the final. The action up front was wild as Sargeant took the lead on lap two with Lazare taking it back on lap three. From there, Lazare led the way with West, Santino Ferrucci and Sargeant in tow. With two laps to go, West made his move and brought Sargeant with him. Cruising to the finish line from there, West earned his second win of the weekend. Sargeant finished second and Lazare finished third. However, in post tech inspection, Lazare was disqualified giving the final podium position to Grant Quinlan.

FirstKart.com Rotax Micro Max
Lance Stroll continued his strong pace in the Micro Max class by posting the fastest time in qualifying on Saturday but a technical infraction placed Stroll at the back for the start of the final. Logan Sargeant took control of the start but a red flag on the opening lap brought all the drivers back together for a restart. Sargeant again took the lead when the karts were restarted but was followed closely by Devlin DeFrancesco. An error by DeFrancesco on lap three sent him spinning in turn one ending his chances of a podium finish. While Sargeant held the lead up front, Stroll was making his way through the field and by lap five he was up to third. Quietly sitting in second place, 2008 FWT champion Patricio O’Ward waited until the last lap to make his move for the lead. Making no error, O’Ward made the move stick and held off Sargeant for the win. Following Sargeant across the line was Stroll.

Using the momentum from his win on Saturday, O’Ward posted the fastest time in qualifying to edge Stroll for the pole by six-hundredths of a second. The two swapped positions in the pre-final as Stroll earned the win ahead of O’Ward and Jimmy Cabrera. Still seeking his first FWT win, Stroll took the lead into turn one in the final. The SH Karting pilot cruised to an early lead when O’Ward and Mauricio Baiz swapped the second position back and forth in the opening laps. By lap ten, Stroll had checked out, and O’Ward safely held the second position. As the checkered flag flew, Stroll finally earned his first FWT win with O’Ward and Cabrera completing the podium.

Adding to the already enormous prize packages, Chris Wheeler of Impact Racing Products offered any driver that won two finales a free Impact Racing helmet. After dominating their respective classes on the weekend, Fabio Orsolon, Jack West and Jeffrey Petriello each were awarded the new Euro Shark helmet from Impact.