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| March 26, 2010 News |
| EKN Awards 2009: Driver of the Year - Marco Di Leo |
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 | | Driver of the Year - Marco Di Leo |
Over a six-week period from early February to late March, the eKartingNews.com Awards 2009 program will honor six winners in as many categories as one winner will be announced each week, beginning on February 17. The staff at the website produced five nominations for each of the six categories and then gave EKN’s viewers two weeks to submit their ballots to determine the winners in each category. The votes have now been tabulated and EKN is proud to release the winner of each category.
The Driver of the Year category is the final award to be handed out for the 2009 eKartingNews.com Awards 2009. Since the programs inception back in the pages of Shifter Kart Illustrated, the Driver of the Year alumni has grown into what could be considered the ‘Dream Team’ of karting drivers from the past 10 years. Certainly there are a number of drivers that could be considered among the best yet the nine previous winners of the DoY category each performed at the top of their game in their respective winning years. The tenth member of the elite Driver of the Year club - Ontario’s Marco Di Leo - is the 2009 eKartingNews.com Driver of the Year.
Racing has been a big part of Di Leo’s life and his family. The current President of Goodwood Kartways/Intrepid Canada, Di Leo has lived motorsports since the age of six when he first entered the karting scene. Since then, Di Leo earned a number of club, regional and national titles - including the 2004 Rotax Senior Canadian Championship and the 2005 RM1 Canadian Championship. From 2005 to 2007, Di Leo progressed through the open wheel ranks of Bridgestone F2000 Series, Skip Barber National Championship and the Star Mazda Championship. His big moment came at the ’07 Star Mazda season opener when Di Leo scored the victory at the Sebring International Raceway during the annual 12 Hours of Sebring.
Moving away from cars, Di Leo took on his new role with Goodwood Kartways and their new partnership with Intrepid. He returned back to his roots, managing the day to day operations of the track and guiding the karting team at events throughout Ontario. After a part-time schedule behind the wheel of a kart in 2008, Di Leo entered the 2009 season with full steam.
The year began with a solid effort in what was the 2009 season debut, WKA Daytona KartWeek 2008 with the Manufacturer’s Cup Series. Against one of the toughest fields in the event’s history, Di Leo recorded two runner-up finishes. Staying in Florida, Di Leo was a consistent front runner in the Rotax Senior division of the Florida Winter Tour. Against a solid international driver line-up, Di Leo ended the three-weekend program fourth in the standings.
Following the adventures in Florida, the season focus turned to claiming the TaG title in the WKA Man Cup Series. Round two at South Bend saw Di Leo claim a double win weekend, besting a field of 30 karts in both features to move the top spot in the championship chase. Further extending his lead, the series traveled to Road America in July where Di Leo recorded a hard fought third place on day one and runner-up on day two.
Back home in early August, the Goodwood Kartways hosted the Canadian National Championships and in addition to making sure the event went off smoothly, Di Leo was among the favorites in the hotly contested Rotax Senior division. Overcoming some early adversity, Di Leo battled back to a runner-up finish and earned his third trip to the Rotax Grand Finals. While showing he had the speed to contend at the December event in Egypt, Di Leo ended up 25th in the Senior main event, something he will look to improve in 2010.
 | Di Leo and his Goodwood Kartways-Intrepid-Rotax package was fast all season long in 2009, scoring the WKA TaG championship
(Photo: On Track Promotions - otp.ca) |
Back to the task of the TaG title in WKA, Di Leo traveled to New Castle Motorsports Park for the fourth round of the series. Getting the best out of his Intrepid/Rotax package in day one, Di Leo outran another stacked field to sweep the day’s action to earn win number three on the year. The following day, Di Leo was in the hunt for the win until contact on the final circuit put him back to sixth in the final tally, recording his worse finish of the year and ending his podium streak at seven. With the title nearly wrapped up, Di Leo went to the series finale at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in November looking to secure the title quickly. Fast was the word on day one as Di Leo was just that, scoring the victory in a come from behind drive that would clinch the title. With the following day just formality, Di Leo ended the year with a runner-up finish to score podium number nine out of the ten features, a remarkable stat for any driver.
A stout season that Di Leo notched in 2009 helped propel him to the top of the eKartingNews.com TaG Driver Rankings for the first time to cap off the year. Di Leo’s inclusion into the DoY club makes him the first driver to be recognized as the first not competing in a shifterkart category, though like many of the other members of the Driver of the Year club he has experience aboard a number of karting packages. eKartingNews.com would like to congratulate Marco Di Leo for being selected to the EKN All-Star Team and named Driver of the Year for 2009.
Former Driver of the Year Award Winners
2008 - Michael Vincec
2007 - Gary Carlton
2006 - Gary Carlton
2005 - Alex Speed
2004 - Bobby Wilson
2003 - Alan Sciuto
2002 - Ron White
2001 - Scott Speed
2000 - Kyle Martin
1999 - Darren Elliott
Click over to the EKN Awards 2009 page for all information on this year's program |
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