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| January 19, 2005 News |
| EKN Trackside - Rotax Max World Finals - Day 1 |
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 | | Defending Rotax World Champion Cristiano Morgado and Jordon Musser together in practice. |
Greetings from the Gran Karting Club in Lanzarote (pronounced Lan-Zar-O-Tay) where the fifth annual Rotax World Finals is now underway, set to crown the Senior and Junior Rotax Max World Champions. Tuesday was the first day of on-track action and the American and Canadian teams were hard at work with their RM1s and CRG karts.
In the RM1 class for senior drivers, three-time American champion Jordon Musser led the way for North America by setting the seventh fastest time overall in a session marked by light sprinkles towards the end. Jordon's time of 50.97 seconds is just 0.35 seconds off the day’s top time, set by Spanish driver Omar Martin, who topped the time sheets with a 50.62-second lap. Second quick in the North American squad was Canadian Scott Campbell with a lap at 51.12.
Although Tuesday was the first day of on-track action, it's actually our third day here in Lanzarote. We began our travels on Saturday when we first flew to Chicago to meet up with the rest of the American squad. Then, we were off to Madrid to catch the flight to Lanzarote.
While leaving Chicago, things started looking a bit dodgy as our flight was delayed three hours while mechanics were trying to sort out a glitch on the Iberian Airlines Airbus. It seems that, while all the cargo bay doors would close fully, a cockpit warning light was lit indicating one of the doors was still open. While we waited on the plane, the mechanics went about determining the problem. At the two-hour mark there was some talk from the flight attendants that we might have to be put up in a hotel overnight, as that was the only Iberian plane in Chicago. This didn't go over too well with the team. Nor did it suit 38 other passengers who had already spent an extra day in the Windy City because of a glitch on the plane the previous day.
 | | Michael Johnson and his father Tom prepare their RM1 |
Finally, the fault was traced to a bad wire. The wire was changed and we were off. Unfortunately, the three-hour delay put us in Madrid just as our flight to Lanzarote was taking off. In the end, this wasn't such a big problem as we were able to catch a later flight.
Once in Lanzarote, we checked into our hotel and proceeded to catch up with other Rotax racers from around the globe who we knew from previous World Finals. Jordon Musser, Justin Melton and I took a taxi to the track to check out the layout and run some rental karts around the venue. Just as in America, the rental karts were slow, clunky, and handled - well - like rental karts. No matter, any time on a kart around a world-class facility is a good time. While we were at the track, others set about finding restaurants around the hotel.
The Hotel Beatriz Playa is right on the beach and surrounded by small shops, restaurants and clubs. Just as in Egypt, every building here is painted white. Also, just as in Egypt, the wind is blowing quite hard. Yesterday, Chad Miller and I found a British sports pub where the bartender said we were in the middle of the worst sandstorm he'd seen since moving there. Fortunately, it shouldn't last long and, in fact, on Tuesday the sun was out for a while before the sprinkles came.
Monday also afforded some of us the opportunity to rent some cars and drive around the island. They weren't so much cars, as they were 4-door Daewoo chick-magnets - yes, I know you're all jealous. Our trip around the island gave us the chance to see a very unique area of the world. Lanzarote is part of the Canary Islands and is only 60 kilometers wide at its largest part. Surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, this tiny island is made mostly from volcanic rock and the beaches are black sand. There are lots of open, undeveloped areas dotted with small communities full of shops and restaurants. As you can imagine, prices for food here is quite high. This is mostly a combination of a weak dollar and the fact that everything is flown in. As an example, an 8 oz. Coke Lite at the track is two Euro (about $2.50). The best advice is to drink slowly.
After a night out on the town on Monday evening, Tuesday morning came pretty early for some. Once at the track, the acquisition of karts was pretty smooth and the teams set about making adjustments and fitting seats. In addition to the action noted above, American team members Justin Melton, Nick Weil and Michael Johnson - along with Canadian drivers Sylvain Clair and Marco Di Leo - were on-track working on getting to better know both the track and their karts.
In the Junior Rotax class, Canadian Christopher Boisclair led the way for North America in ninth with a time of 55.45, just 0.41 second off the fast time of the session set by Adam Christodoulou of Great Britain. Christodoulou was the junior sensation in Egypt, regularly lapping a full second clear of the field only to be let down by a fouled plug in the final. Other junior drivers included Tim Megenbier and Mike Herda from the USA and Hugo Ouellette and Kevin Poza from Canada and they finished the session in 20th, 21st, 23rd and 24th respectively.
Tomorrow will see much more action on the track and we'll have daily updates provided here on EKN.
- Ken Johnson - EKN Correspondent
EKN Rotax Max World Finals Photo Gallery at EKN Home Page in Photo Section
RM1 - Session 1
| Pos. | Driver (Country) | Lap Time| 1st | Omar Martin (Spain) | 50.62 | | 2nd | Ayra Setyaki (Indonesia) | 50.89 | | 3rd | Cristiano Morgado (South Africa) | 50.91 | | 5th | Jordon Musser (USA) | 50.97 | | 8th | Marco DiLeo (Canada) | 51.37 | |
RM1 - Session 2
| Pos. | Driver (Country) | Lap Time| 1st | Wesleigh Orr (South Africa) | 50.71 | | 2nd | Satrio Harmanto (Indonesia) | 50.76 | | 3rd | Cenel America (Netherlands) | 51.02 | | 7th | Scott Campbell (Canada) | 51.12 | | 13th | Justin Melton (USA) | 51.51 | | 16th | Sylvain Clair (Canada) | 51.68 | | 29th | Nick Weil (USA) | 52.56 | | 31st | Michael Johnson (USA) | 53.68 | |
Junior
| Pos. | Driver (Country) | Lap Time| 1st | Adam Christodoulou (UK) | 51.27 | | 2nd | Nicolas Dezutter (Belgium) | 51.48 | | 3rd | Benjamin Salvatore (France) | 51.48 | | 9th | Christopher Boisclair (Canada) | 51.68 | | 20th | Tim Megenbier (USA) | 52.04 | | 21st | Mike Herda (USA) | 52.08 | | 23rd | Hugo Ouellette (Canada) | 52.10 | | 24th | Kevin Poza (Canada) | 52.11 | |
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