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| January 25, 2006 |
| Team News: MRP-Birel AMERICA – FWT Homestead |
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 | In his second year, Jonathan Vitolo works toward securing future podium positions
(Photo: Todd McCall - otp.ca) |
Birel showed not only muscle, but also great presence this past weekend at the opening round of the Florida Winter Tour at Homestead Speedway. The MRP-Birel AMERICA engineering team was on hand to assist dealers and Birel drivers in technical support and the results were fantastic in all categories.
Though several classes saw Birels take the top step on the podium, the Pro Shifter class saw the largest Birel presence. In Sunday’s event, Birels made up six of the top eleven spots and three in the top five.
"We debuted the new CRx32 this weekend with strong results," said Chris Lobaugh, MRP-Birel AMERICA lead engineer. "Both Lynn (Haddock) and I worked with test driver, Wesley Boswell, and we know we are just at the tip of the ice-burg. This kart has tremendous forward bite and will be very good for all types of tracks."
Boswell debuted the kart to a fourth place on Saturday and a fifth on Sunday against a very tough 25-kart Pro Shifter field. Jon Branam had a solid weekend aboard a new CMx32 and after a few days of intense testing, nearly took home top honors in Sunday’s Pro Shifter main event. Branam was on hand debuting his Jon Branam Racing (JBR) team program. JBR is a full service prep shop and up-scale arrive and drive program that will also act as an MRP-Birel Works team effort in the Southeast.
“The new 2006 chassis have been great so far,” said Branam. “We ran the long wheelbase that is available on the new CMX and CRX karts on Saturday. Both Tim Lobaugh (on hand to work with the JBR team) looked at that and decided to shorten it up for Sunday and for this track, it helped us out. We were leading until last corner contact from behind from a hard charger Morad. I am anxious to test the new CRx32 that Boswell was on this weekend, it might be the kart to have.”
 | Ruben Seibold looked good all weekend - winning the Expert Shifter Heavy race on Sunday
(Photo: Todd McCall - otp.ca) |
JBR team driver Doug Cox went three for three on the weekend taking first in Masters Shifter both days and winning the Expert Shifter race on Sunday. Ruben Seibald took the Expert Shifter Heavy feature win on Saturday followed by teammate Vince Diaz and also finished third on Sunday. Kyle Wharff made a return to karting after a two-year hiatus and picked up right where he left off. With no testing, The JBR team driver took sixth place on both days in the Pro Shifter event.
Good results were achieved by several customers of Florida’s MRP-Birel dealers; Advanced Karting, Homestead Karting and RYSA Racing, particularly utilizing the Birel-Rotax combination. Both Daniel Formal (Mini Max) and John Brown, Sr. (TaG Heavy) took double victories in their class running out of the Advanced Karting team.
Gabriel Chavez took second in Mini Max for RYSA Racing both days behind Formal. Matt Mair went into his first major karting event this weekend and took home the top step on the podium in Rotax Jr. out of 33 karts. The team was excited about his feat. Also a RYSA Racing customer, Mike Winchester achieved podium success on both days in the Stock Moto class, finishing third on Saturday and second on Sunday.
Homestead Karting also had a strong presence with Nadir Magsi taking the win in Saturday’s Expert Shifter Heavy race and second on Sunday. Jorge Audino sat on the pole in Expert Shifter on Saturday, and finished second in Sunday’s race and Javier Larrauri took third in Sunday’s Masters Shifter class, all of them aboard a Birel.
 | Rusty Ferguson took the win in Expert Shifter
(Photo: Todd McCall - otp.ca) |
In addition to Boswell’s solid debut of the CRx32, MRP-Birel AMERICA assisted other drivers to good showings. Jonathan Vitolo took seventh in Sunday’s Pro Shifter final in his second season of competition. Garrett Boone made his rookie debut in Pro Shifter as well and is using the Florida Tour as a warm-up for STARS competition. He took 10th and 11th place finishes on the weekend. Rusty Ferguson had a great showing as well, taking a big win in Expert Shifter on Saturday.
Full results of the event can be seen at ekartingnews.com The MRP-Birel AMERICA team will next head to the round two of the Florida Winter Tour at Moroso Raceway before moving on to testing and SW Regional Cup events in Texas and Oklahoma. Contact us now to start your program right!
For more information MRP Motorsport or MRP-Birel AMERICA race program, call (269-756-9133) or contact online at http://www.mrpmotorsport.com Information regarding the 2006 championships may be found at: http://www.starsofkarting.com , http://www.swregionacup.com , http://www.floridawintertour.com & http://www.worldkarting.com |
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