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MRFKC Rok Cup Report – De Tullio and Soumvalis Dominate
Menezes and Lemieux top in Junior; Medeiros and Magro take the wins in Mini
Rok Cup Canada racers returned to the Mosport Karting Centre for the second time in a month for stop number two of the Motomaster Ron Fellows Karting Championship over the weekend. Running races three and four and getting to the halfway point, the championship picture has started to form in a number of categories.
After blazing-hot temperatures hit the Mosport region for testing during the week, cooler and more bearable temps arrived just in time for the weekend competition.
Rok Senior – Du Tullio steps up and sweeps in the absence of Woods-Toth
There was a new Prime Powerteam driver to dominate on the weekend in Rok Senior as Alessandro de Tullio (Prime/BirelART) took control with his teammate shifting his focus to car racing.
It was a perfect weekend for de Tullio who swept all six competitive sessions, cruising to relatively easy victory in both Finals and jumping out to the championship lead.
Behind him, it was a smooth weekend for his teammate Nolan Bower (Prime/BirelART), who managed to finish second in every session. It was only in Sunday’s Final that closed in on de Tullio late in the race but never got close enough to compete for the win. He now has three runner-up finishes and is second in the standings.
The battle for the final step of the podium went to Gianluca Savaglio (PRO/CL Kart) on Saturday and Frankie Esposito (Prime/BirelART) on Sunday after some intense battling in the Finals.
Rok Junior – Menezes and Lemieux share the wins
The championship battle in Rok Junior is as close as ever at the halfway mark of the season as this weekend’s race winners, Christian Menezes and Antoine Lemieux, exit the event separated by only 1 point after four races.
Menezes (Kevin Glover Racing/CRG) waged a great battle with Pearce Wade (Prime/BirelART) in the Saturday Final until late in the race when Jensen Burnett (REM/Kosmic) tracked the lead pair down and joined in the action.
With Wade leading most of the race, Menezes regained the top spot on lap fourteen and Burnett also slipped by Wade on the same lap. It would all come down to the final three corners and with Menezes defending to the inside, Burnett tried the over-under. It didn’t quite work and this left him with one last effort up the inside of the final corner. However, he ran out of room, bounced over the curb and ended up in the scale line a lap early. Menezes exited the corner with the checkered flag in sight and took the win while Wade and everyone else behind elevated up a position the final lap with Burnett not making it to the finish line.
On Sunday, Menezes was once again the early race leader in the Final. Major Makovskis (PRO/CL Kart) had a great start and moved into second place early on until Antoine Lemieux (REM/Kosmic) came charging forward.
Lemieux ran as low as sixth place on lap two but was up to second place by lap five and had his sights set on Menezes, who did have an early lead built up. As Lemieux got faster, Menezes’ pace started to fall and at the halfway mark the race lead changed. Menezes was unable to keep pace and Lemieux drove off to victory.
Burnett was also able to chase down Menezes in the late laps and overtake to cross the finish line in second place, but he received a pushback bumper penalty and that knocked him off the podium.
When all the dust settled, Lemieux was joined on the podium by Makovskis in second and Menezes in third after he received a penalty for scrubbing his tires after the formation line.
VLR Senior – Perfect weekend for Soumvalis extends his point lead
Putting in his best drives when it mattered most, Joshua Soumvalis (NBM/BirelART) notched two race wins in the VLR Senior category to extend his lead in the championship.
Saturday’s race saw Aidan Shimbashi (VRS/CL Kart) put the pressure on early and even take the race lead. Soumvalis regained his composure, set up a nice pass, pulled it off, and then drove off to a 2.4-second margin of victory. Shimbashi ran alone for the rest of the race to hold on to second place while Frankie Savaglio (VSR/LN Kart) completed the podium with a third-place drive.
On Sunday, Savaglio found some speed and drove a PreFinal win to start the main from the pole position. Leading the opening few laps, Savaglio looked in control until Soumvalis decided it was time to take the lead on lap four. Savaglio fired back on lap five and the two traded the top spot for the next three laps. Soumvalis would take the lead for good on lap eight and maintained his pace while Savaglio started to fade.
The pair would separate by two seconds at the finish but it was a great battle while it lasted. Shimbashi wound up third for his second podium appearance of the weekend with Christopher Mitchell (Prime/BirelART) and Nuwan Wijeratne (PRO/CL Kart) completing the top five.
Rok Mini – Medeiros grabs another win Saturday; Magro shines on Sunday
Cole Medeiros (PRO/CL Kart) was able to notch another race win in the Saturday Final of the Mini Rok division after a great race with his championship rival Jackson Morley (Prime/BirelART).
The two have gone toe-to-toe in the first three races of the year and this time it was Morley who led early, but Medeiros got to the lead just before the halfway mark and controlled the race from there.
It all came down to the final lap and Medeiros didn’t falter. Giving Morley no easy chances to make a pass the pair rounded the final corner side-by-side, with Medeiros getting to the finish line first by a mere 0.055 seconds.
An awesome battle for third place saw Massimo Lorusso (KGR/OTK) fend off Decklan Deonarine (VSR/TonyKart) and Niko Werner (VSR/TonyKart) to notch his first trip to the MRFKC podium of the season.
On Sunday it was a completely different story. The grid was shaken up a little bit and the Final had Morley on the front row with Deonarine alongside while Medeiros was starting back in P6.
Morley was the early race leader until Lorusso took his turn up front, knocking Morley back to third on lap five. The next time by, Medeiros looked for a bold pass up the inside of corner three and it didn’t work out, sending him to the grass and eventually out of the race, while knocking Morley back to eighth after the contact.
The passes continued from there with Deonarine taking a turn in the lead before Ryker Magro (Prime/BirelART) arrived on the scene, getting his first taste of the lead on lap ten. Lorusso didn’t let him stay there long and took back control on lap eleven. Morley battled his way back to the race leaders and got all the way to second place before he found himself off-roading again, this time on the outside of the bowl and falling back to eleventh.
With two laps to go, Magro made his move for the lead on Lorusso and made it stick to regain control. He wouldn’t surrender it from there and held on for his first MRFKC race win of the season. Lorusso added his second podium of the weekend with a second-place result. Deonarine did make it to the finish line in third but received a penalty for ‘failure to leave racing room’ and this elevated Christopher Jacinto (GP Kart) to third place to join Magro and Lorusso on the Sunday podium.
The series will shift to the new Hamilton Karting Complex for round number three on July 22-23. The circuit is currently extending its configuration and completing a full repave ahead of three major events this summer including the CKN Dash for Cash and the MRFKC in July and the Canadian Karting Championships in August. Registration will open soon on the http://ronfellowskarting.com website.
