06-01-05

ROUND 2 of the 2005 ROTAX MOJO MAX EURO CHALLENGE

Newark, Great Britain, May 30th, 2005 - Sportimage.net- The region of Nottingham, Great Britain welcomed the competitors of the 2005 « ROTAX MOJO MAX EURO CHALLENGE » as Round 2 of the karting series was held on P.F. International’s circuit located three hours North of London. The spectacular facility includes a state-of-the-art 1100-metre long circuit that hosted the Rotax Max Junior, Senior and RM1 races this past weekend. The championships are far from being decided as many front runners ran into problems and unexpected drivers drove the race of their lives.

First of all, there were several surprises in the Rotax Max Junior category. Many competitors who performed well in the opening round in France did not repeat their shining act in Great Britain. Facing all sorts of problems, several unlucky drivers decided to simply drive for championship points. British driver Ben Cooper, well known on the international karting scene, was dominant all week-end long, taking pole position in the qualifying heats and the pre-final before claiming victory in the final. However, action raged behind him.           

Belgian Christian Van Balen – the winner of the first race in France – was plagued by problems, allowing Sam Tordoff, Jack Howksworth, Kazuki Hiramie, Guiliana Steel and Mats Van Den Bran to battle fiercely in the leading pack. Mats Van Den Bran, second on the points' table and 4th on the grid for the final, was forced to retire during the first lap of the race. Playing cat and mouse, the three drivers fought fiercely. Tordoff was running in second place when he lost three sports in the closing laps the race, giving second place to Jack Hawksworth of Great Britain and third place to Steel Guiliana of Australia. Despite his problems, Christian Van Balen managed to take the start of the final. He started in 12th place and finished 6th. “I don’t understand what happened this weekend,” he said after the race. “In France, everything went according to plans. Here, I had two bad qualifying races, ruined by two collisions. After that, I just took it easy to score valuable championship points. The third race in Austria will be very important.”

Another British driver, Oman Tristam claimed victory in the Rotax Max Senior category. Frenchman Johais Frédérick and Swiss Ken Allemann finished second and third respectively. This class was hotly disputed with 52 drivers fighting hard to be part of the 34 starters of the pre-final and final events. With just two sets of new tyres for the entire meeting, competitors had to manage their speed out on the track. “This is a very good rule because motor sport is made of many factors that are equally important,” said Johait Frédérick. “To be a good driver is one thing but you must be able to extract the best from every factor to be able to score good results.”

In the pre-final, Ken Allemann started in 10th place and made good progress to cross the line in second place, just in front of Japanese driver Kimia Sato and behind Oman Tristam. “My engine, my tyres and my chassis were working perfectly,” said Allemann. “I was confident to do well and to capture a good starting position for the final. However, 2nd place puts me on the outside of the track when we will reach the first corner. I’ll have to be careful.” South African racer Wesleigh Orr, second in the provisional standings before the race, endured a very frustrating and disappointing weekend. He finished 26th in the pre-final and took 20th place in the final. Frenchman Benjamin Salvatore – the 2004 World Rotax Junior Champion – also experienced difficult times. Salvatore was 6th in the pre-finale and was involved in a race incident in the final, arriving home in 19th place. But the Swiss driver was right. The first corner proved to be catastrophic for some competitors and highly beneficial for others. Bean James, 4th in the pre-final, finished 7th in the finale, allowing Irish drivers Romkema and Glandsdorp to move ahead of him in 5th and 6th place.

In the RM1 category, Karline Shtala of Latvia attracted the attention of the medias and the spectators in Great Britain. Christiano Morgado of South Africa dominated the field, claiming pole position as well as first place in the pre-final and final. After the first practice sessions, Karline Shtala declared she liked the race track and that she was in a good position to beat Morgado.

“The track is perfect,” she said. “It suits well my driving style. From the first practice sessions, I knew I was able to race with the leaders.”

Unfortunately, a small mechanical problem ruined her efforts. During the qualifying heats, Shtala made fantastic starts but slid down the field after her kart became suddenly slower without apparent reasons. With Shtala slowing down, Lindberg Niclas of Sweden and Nartus Burt of Belgium gained positions for the pre-final and the final.

Against all odds, Karline Shtala managed to clinch 5th place in the pre-final, finishing in front of Morgado, Tumulty, Lindberg and Tramariadakis. In the final, she took another unbelievable start and she was able to pull away from her pursuers. Her goal was to pass Morgado as quickly as possible. She outbraked him in the hairpin corner but Morgado quickly put the power down and the South African racer was back in front. The incident cost Shtala a few hundreds of a second and she was forced to drive harder than before to catch Morgado. Unfortunately, her kart unexpectedly began to slow down again. She lost several places and crossed the line in 11th position. That promoted Tumulty James to second place and Tramariadakis to third position.

Next round:
After France and Great Britain, Austria will be the stage of the 3rd round of the ROTAX MOJO MAX EURO CHALLENGE which will be held July 29-31 on A1 Speedworld-Pachfurth’s karting circuit.

Results
Max Junior Engine/Tyres/Chassis
1 – Cooper Ben G.-B. Rotax/ Mojo/ CRG
2 – Hawksworth Jack G.-B. Rotax/ Mojo/ CRG
3 – Guiliana Steel Australia Rotax/ Mojo/ Vanspeed

Max senior Engine/Tyres/Chassis
1 -Oman Tristram G.-B. Rotax/ Mojo/ CRG
2 –Johais Frédéric France Rotax/ Mojo/ Sodi Kart
3 –Allemann Ken Switzerland Rotax/ Mojo/ CRG

RM1 Engine/Tyres/Chassis
1 -Morgado Cristiano South Africa Rotax/Mojo/RM1
2 –Tumulty James Ireland Rotax/Mojo/RM1
3 –Tramariadakis Manolis Greece Rotax/Mojo/RM1

2005 race schedule
ROTAX MOJO MAX EURO CHALLENGE
March 25-27: Salbris (France) www.sologne-karting.com
May 26-29: PF-International, Brandon (U.K.) www.tvkc-pfi.co.uk
July 29-31: A1 Speedworld-Pachfurth (Austria) www.a1speedworld.com
September 16-18: Genk (Belgium) www.kartinggenk.be

The second edition of the ROTAX MOJO MAX EURO CHALLENGE is sponsored by MOJO tyres, BENGIO seats, MOTOREX oil, SNIPER alignment tool, RED BULL energy drink, DENSO spark plugs and Unstoppabulls.

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