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| February 03, 2012 |
| Team News: Overdrive Motorsports - Gatorz Challenge of the Americas Tucson Report |
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Round 1 is in the books for the Overdrive Motorsports crew at the Gatorz Challenge of the Americas. 1 podium and some solid finishes were all a part of the first chapter of 2012 Rotax racing in Arizona.
DD2 driver Austin King led the way in his first 2 speed effort. On Saturday’s qualifying he slotted into 4th position. During the Pre-final he advanced 1 spot for a 3rd place starting position for the main event. Saturdays run was completed with a solid 2nd place run aboard his PCR Advance chassis.
Sunday was a new day and with some small tweaks to the Overdrive tuned DD2 engine, King was to be a contender. Provisional pole sitter for most of the qualifying sessions, Austin would sit on the front row for the pre-final where he would slot behind Fritz Leesmann and shadow the veteran champion for the first dozen laps until King pounced on an opening and grabbed the first place spot. King stretched his lead to a small gap and lead the next six laps until the final circuit when the leaders encountered lap traffic that lost the young drivers momentum and allowed Fritz to grab the win. The final was a trying race that saw King and Burkett battle for 2nd spot while Leesmann drove away. Multiple incidents followed and King recovered for a 4th place finish.
In DD2 Masters “new comer” Mark Wheeler, also aboard a PCR Advance chassis, scored consistent 2nd position finishes in each qualifying, prefinal and final on both days to set himself up for a points scoring weekend.
Jim Mckinney would carry the flag as the official Overdrive Motorsports powered driver in Rotax Junior. Both days were a success starting with a 8th place finish on Saturday. Some chassis tweeks were in order to help consistency for Sundays events. His father/tuner Mike rolled the kart out of the trailer and Jim entered the top 5 in qualifying. A 7th place performance solidified his inside row starting position for the final where he would battle back and fourth to a good 6th position finish.
Austin King had to roll up his sleeves as he still had another 50 laps of racing each day in the Senior Max category aboard his PCR MXK8. Saturday started off with 13th position in the field of 35. Smart racing advanced him for 12th and 11th position finishes in the pre-final and final respectively. On day 2 King qualified 29th as a mechanical glitch in qualifying lost some power and added some excitement as he made a remarkable charge to 13th in the heat race. A few adjustments by tuner Ryan Ruth helped King crack the top 10 in the Final with a good 9th place result.
Looking back on the weekend the entire team at Overdrive Motorsports contributed to a well prepared and efficiently run weekend. Engine tuner, Coach and Team Manager Joey Guyon was surrounded by a great staff including head mechanic and DD2 supervisor Jesse McEwan along with Chassis tuner, data and video analyst Ryan Ruth to form one of the most head strong and professional teams on the West Coast.
Overdrive Motorsports’ national level racing team is branded as Team ODkarts.com/Scuderia PCR. The Canadian based operation travels events throughout North America including the Gatorz Challenge of the Americas, Superkarts! USA SuperNationals and the ASN Canada FIA Canadian National Championships. Spots are still available to join us for Western Canadian Championships and Overdrive is looking for independent drivers to represent their Engines and Chassis at every event!
Visit http://www.overdrivekarts.com or http://www.facebook.com/overdrivekarts for more information |
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