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| November 24, 2005 News |
| EKN Trackside: Rotax Max Grand Finals - Day 2 |
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 | The Langkawi facility in Malaysia
(Photo: Ken Johnson) |
Wednesday saw the first "official" on-track action at the karting circuit here in Langkawi, Malaysia. Each of the three Rotax classes received three sessions of 20 minutes each. The first two sessions were not timed while the last was supposed to be on the clock. However, there was a problem with the scoring and timing loop in the track, possibly due to the rains that came, and this prevented us from getting any official times for the day.
The day started out dry and overcast, with heavy moisture in the air. The Juniors hit the track at 10 AM (9 PM Eastern back home) with Americans David Holland, MacKenzie Johnson and James Kennedy looking good as they each worked through traffic quite well. I'm hesitant to make great predictions of success at this early stage. However, I will say our junior crop looks quite strong this year. During the Juniors’ third session, it started to rain during the first of the two groups to go out on track. Immediately following that session, the track went quiet with no activity. At this point, there was a bit of confusion on the circuit. In the media room, we were told practice was cancelled due to a lack of rain tyres. This seemed an unbelievable oversight for an event of this magnitude, especially when you consider the local climate of Malaysia. Back in the pits, the drivers were being told they had plenty of rain tyres but not enough rims. This was more plausible, yet still you had to figure they had rims too. Finally, the planets all aligned and there were tyres and rims for everybody and after an hour delay the second group of junior drivers hit the track.
 | MacKenzie Johnson
(Photo: Ken Johnson) |
They say rain is the great equalizer and even though the Rotax karts are all even, once the grip was taken out of the circuit you could see an even greater margin between those that have the goods and those that don't. Christopher Boisclair, a top junior driver from Canada, had acclimated himself very well to the wet and was looking quite good. Roughly three tenths faster than Boisclair, Johnson was running a very tradition rain line through the sweeping corners of the 19-turn track.
The Senior class had some good running today as the drivers continued to work on their setups. Americans Stuart Marsell and Wesley Phillips both sought to find the right combination on a track that has a lot of grip in some areas and is quite slick in others. In fact, there are a few corners here that have a decent amount of grip on entry, then at the apex there's a large patch with no grip, followed by high grip at the exit of the corner. This has led to some drivers taking some very interesting lines through these areas as they look to find the quick way around.
 | Stuart Marsell
(Photo: Ken Johnson) |
After the third session which ran in the rain, I had a talk with Phillips about his karting career and where he wants to go. As with many of the drivers here, Wes has been considering running the 4-race Rotax Euro Challenge next year. The 2006 season will be the third year of the Euro series and it's becoming quite popular. But next year is just that and, focusing on the moment, Wes and his mechanic were busy stripping their kart down to the frame, cleaning and inspecting every part. This is the type of preparation and effort you'd expect at this level yet not everyone had taken it as far as they had. In fact, by the time I was leaving the circuit, only two garages were still active: Wes Phillips and one of the groups from South Africa.
To be fair, not everyone had a clean up job to do. Many competitors didn't even go out in the rain. Stuart Marsell was one of these, preferring instead to save the laps on his rain tyres in expectation of more rain later on. He's probably right. And, coming from Florida,
I'm going to guess he has plenty of experience in the rain.
The last group on track was the RM1s. American drivers Justin Melton, Nathan Mauel and Jonathan Beason, along with Mexican Mauricio Carillo and Puerto Rican Gonzalo Aponte, are all competing under the "Team of the Americas" banner proudly displayed in the paddock.
 | Wes Phillips
(Photo: Ken Johnson) |
Canadian Marco Di Leo is also competing here, back for his second run in RM1 after being in Lanzarote last year. Marco is not the only driver to return and as you walk through the paddock many faces are recognizable from previous years. In fact, our entire RM1 squad of Justin, Nathan and Jonathan have been to the Grand Finals before and have become very familiar on how things are run here. After the last practice, I spoke with each of them about how their day was going. None of them seemed pleased nor disappointed with the way they were running. I think they were more concerned about which direction to go with chassis setup. Will it rain? Will it be dry? These are all questions we'll answer tomorrow. Tomorrow's practice gets underway with two sessions for each group then qualifying later in the afternoon.
For those that care to follow what's going on at the circuit, EKN has a thread running in the Rotax Max area of the forums. Andy Seesesman has been helping make quick updates with his unofficial times and what he hears in the pits. I'll also be posting short messages as things happen. There is supposed to be live timing and scoring on http://www.morac.com. And we've been told there will be a live web cast of the finals Saturday. So, be sure and stay up late to tune into the Rotax Max Grand Finals from Langkawi, Malaysia.
To check out all of our weekend coverage, head to the Rotax Max Grand Finals Event Page which can be reached via our Features section on the homepage.
Ken Johnson
EKN correspondent
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