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| January 24, 2006 News |
| EKN Trackside: Florida Winter Tour #1 - Homestead - Sunday Report |
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 | Capitalizing on contact between the leaders, Keith Spicer bagged the Sunday Pro Shifter main to sweep the Homestead weekend
(Photo: Todd McCall - otp.ca) |
Sunday’s feature events at the opening round of the Florida Winter Tour in Homestead put the cap on what was truly an amazing event. Thrilling wheel-to-wheel racing highlighted a great day to competition that came to a conclusion just as a threatening weather front made its arrival and as the teams vacated the paddock bound for home, the atmosphere was extremely positive. As the premier ‘spring training’ series on the East Coast, this three-weekend, six-event series looks poised to kick off 2006 in a big way.
In the headline Pro Shifter category, the fence lines were packed four-deep as 23 racers took the green flag to begin their second main event battle of the weekend. Saturday winner Keith Spicer held the pole after qualifying on top of the charts, using that speed to win the Prefinal as well. Running his own team under the Jon Branam Racing banner, Florida veteran Jon Branam (Birel) launched from the outside of the front row and the fight began quickly as Spicer assumed the point to begin the fight. Branam attacked quickly and made a strong move to take over the lead, pulling away to a slight cushion while Spicer settled into second.
 | Jonathan Branam showed well in Homestead, taking second in Pro Shifter after last-corner contact with Daniel Morad following an amazing race
(Photo: Todd McCall - OTP) |
The man to watch, however, was Saturday pole winner Daniel Morad (First Kart). After a catastrophic engine failure in Sunday qualifying put him at the tail end of the Prefinal grid, Morad moved with calculated aggression to eighth at the end of the short 10-lap sprint, giving him row four starting spot for the main. To begin the final, Morad snagged two positions with a good launch off the line and he quickly went to work moving into the top five, sitting on the rear bumper of Branam’s JBR teammate Kyle Wharff (Birel). Morad worked past Wharff in short order and found himself staring down the duo of Wesley Boswell (Birel) and the moto-powered Carlos Fonseca (Birel).
Morad’s advance got a little easier when Boswell and Fonseca made contact in the double right-hand Carousel on the interior of the track, handing third to the young Canadian. Both Boswell and Fonseca would continue, losing only a couple of positions. From there, Morad set out for Spicer, who had dropped to at least five lengths off Branam.
 | Canadian Daniel Morad turned up the excitement on Sunday, putting on an amazing display in Pro Shifter that came up just short of the win
(Photo: Todd McCall - OTP) |
Branam was running strong up front, turning consistent laps to maintain his gap on Spicer, but Morad was charging and caught Spicer just after the halfway point. Morad’s car was particularly free in the first 180 hairpin and he deeped Spicer for the position on lap 14 to assume the challenge position. At this point, it began to get interesting.
The paddock emptied onto the sidelines, as it became apparent that a battle for the win was at hand. Morad’s deep braking closed the gap between the lead duo with every successive lap and with just two to go, the sophomore pilot had planted his First Kart on the rear bump of Branam’s Birel. Beginning the final lap, Morad tried a move to the inside in turn one but Branam held the braking insanely late to thwart the attempt and Morad suffered a poor exit as a result. This threw away any opportunity in the next two hairpins as the gap was simply too much for even a bonsai move. Spicer was now a little closer, and this would play a big part in the end result.
 | Wesley Boswell overcame early race contact to post a top five in Pro Shifter
(Photo: Todd McCall - OTP) |
Morad hung it all out over the next five corners in a last-ditch effort to get close enough for a move at the end of the long shute that leads to the final corner, a 90 left-hander to the stripe. Rolling through the fast double-lefts that lead onto the backstraight, Branam moved to the inside of the track after his exit to guard the inside as Morad drew closer heading to the braking zone. As Branam drifted slightly right to prepare for the turn, Morad went for the opening and stuck his kart to the inside, making contact with Branam, sending them both off the track. Branam frantically hammered the shift lever to find first gear as Spicer powered through from third on the inside, taking advantage of the contact to win the drag-race to the line. This was not the first time that Spicer had won a race in this fashion, having capitalized on the battle between Kyle Wiegand and Jan Velez in the Stars of Karting round at New Castle last summer. At that event, Spicer had slipped through on the inside in the final corner after Wiegand completed a big slide job to take the lead. With no exit speed, Spicer cut back quickly and outran Wiegand to the flag.
With the particular Sunday win, Spicer swept the weekend’s mains in Homestead, bagging another $1500 from the event purse to make it an even $3000 for the outing.
To complete the Pro Shifter order, Fonseca would finish third ahead of Stuart Marsell (Arrow) while Boswell and Wharff came home in fourth and fifth. For his part, Morad was able to keep his car rolling after sliding through the tires as he powered up pit lane and back onto the track to cross the line in sixth. After receiving a two-position penalty for his move on Branam, Morad was dropped to eighth in the final tally. Interestingly, EKN has learned that Branam would likely have been given a one-position penalty for blocking on that last lap as he made two moves from the racing line, one to move to the inside groove and a second to prepare for the turn-in on the last corner. This would have moved Morad to the win as a result, but this ending was far more exciting.
Race Director Chris Egger has consistently highlighted his intention to enforce the blocking rule in this Tour this year and he did so in the JICA main as well, handling a one-position penalty to on-track winner Sergio Pena (Maranello), giving Victor Cabrera (Kosmic) the win. In ICA, British invader Alexander Sims (CRG) completed a sweep of the weekend proceedings with another main event win, once again maintaining a cushion over new Margay recruit Chris Larson. Colby Jenn (Italkart) rebounded from warm-up lap contact with Jake Rozensweig (CRG) to garner third at the line.
Full results from the weekend are available via the EKN Trackside Event Homepage.
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