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| November 26, 2005 News |
| EKN Trackside: Rotax Max Grand Finals - Day 5 |
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 | James Kennedy posted the best result of the North American contingent, taking a fine sixth in the Junior category
(Photo: Ken Johnson) |
Selamat Datang (‘Welcome’) from the Morac Karting Circuit in Langkawi, Malaysia. After four days of clouds and rain, Saturday's action was run under bright blue skies and lots of sunshine. Today's schedule called for two RM1 heats followed by the Prefinals and Finals for all three classes. On Friday night, SSC Racing hosted a Thanksgiving party for all members of Team Americas. It was great to spend time with our teammates from Costa Rica and Mexico. It must be said that qualifying to come to a race like this is very special and it's more than just the racing. Joe Ramos and Joe Ramos Jr. of SSC Racing really go all out to make sure that this will be an event to remember and for those that have not qualified, you really need to make one of these races some time.
As has been the case all week, the American juniors were to run strong in their races and during the pre-final all were looking forward to good runs. Unfortunately, as this report is being written, we're within an hour or so of the media room being closed and, at this point in time, we still have no official result sheets for the final in the Junior class. This is due to a protest being filed. However, lack of results being presented to the media has been a major problem all week. Hopefully we'll get results soon. Either way, we'll have a final write up of the event early next week on ekartingnews.com.
 | Estonia's Kenneth Hildebrand - the 2005 Rotax Max Junior World Champion
(Photo: Ken Johnson) |
From what I could see on track, James Kennedy put in a gritty performance to finish sixth. David Holland was never far behind and worked his way into tenth. Mackenzie Johnson started at the tail of the field after getting knocked off in the pre-final and drove into the top 20. It was great to see good results for all these guys and our junior squad really did look impressive this year.
Christopher Boisclair ran in the top ten for a while and eventually fell back to about 12th at the checkered. Although there is a protest still under way, one thing is certain, the 2005 Junior Rotax World Champion is Kenneth Hildebrand of Estonia. This marks the first time there has ever been a motorsport world champion from Estonia. Good going for them!
We do have the final results for RM1 and Rotax Senior, however. RM1 was yet again another dominating performance by South Africa as Wesleigh Orr became the first repeat World Champion in Rotax Grand Finals history. From the drop of the green flag, Orr was on a mission and set about showing that he was the best. As about half the pack got tangled up in turn two of the first lap (a very popular place to crash this year), the top five sped away with Wesleigh at the front followed by Alex Engels of Belgium and Cristiano Morgado.
 | Wesleigh Orr - 2005 Rotax Max RM1 World Champion
(Photo: Ken Johnson) |
On lap two, Cristiano got around Engles but by that point Orr was out in front to stay, eventually winning by over nine seconds. At the checkered, the top five were Wesleigh Orr (South Africa), Cristiano Morgado (South Africa), Alex Engles (Belgium), Ben George (Austria) and Michael Van Rooyen (South Africa).
The RM1 final was a particularly rough race for the American squad as all three drivers retired from the race with crash damage. Jonathan Beason was the first to go out with a bent axle. Next was Nathan Mauel, who I believe suffered a puncture. Last, but not least, was Justin Melton, who got run into on the straight and suffered steering damage that prevented his kart from turning to the right. Upholding honor for the North American's was Marco Di Leo of Canada, who ran well to finish tenth out of 34. In the final results, Melton, Mauel and Beason were 27th, 29th and 30th.
Rotax Senior was an excellent race and all eyes were on Tristam Oman (UK) to see if he could be World Champion after having to start from the back in all his heats. Tristam was one of a few that narrowly missed weight in qualifying, but that's just the beginning of the story. Apparently, after qualifying, the organizers realized the scales weren't up to spec and changed them. So, was he legal? Was he not? No one will know. What we do know was his performances in the heat races coming from the back were awesome to watch. And after a run from tenth to fifth in the pre-final, things were looking good for him.
 | Luuk Glansdorp - 2005 Rotax Max Senior World Champion
(Photo: Ken Johnson) |
At the drop of the green flag, Indonesian driver Rama Danindro got the jump and led the pack through the first lap. By the middle of lap two, Oman was right on his bumper with Martin Pierce (UK) and Luuk Glansdorp (Holland) following closely. The photographers on the circuit were taking bets on when Tristam would get around but after about five laps it started to look like he might not do it. Oman was right on Danindro's bumper, but it just didn't look like he was able to pressure the Indonesian driver. About this point, Glansdorp started making his charge and got past Pierce for third. He then set about putting pressure on Oman and by lap 15 made a nice move down the inside of turn six. One lap later Pierce also got by for third as Tristam was beginning to struggle.
With three laps to go Glansdorp was right on Danindro's rear bumper through turns one and two and sliced cleanly by going into turn four. Although Danindro tried to counter the move, Glansdorp was in the lead to stay and finished the race 1.241 seconds to the good to claim the first Rotax Senior World Championship for himself and for Holland.
Team Americas driver Juan Sanso ("I am Sanso!") really got with the program in this one and charged through the field to take eighth at the flag. Stuart Marsell of Florida also got a good start only to get run into a few times and pushed back through the field. At the end he was 19th out of 34.
At the time of writing this, the results for the Junior class have yet to be posted and the media room is about to close. So, check back Monday on EKN for final results and more photos.
Ken Johnson
EKN Correspondent
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