A new era began last weekend as the inaugural Cold Stone Florida Winter Tour Rok Cup USA series kicked off the program, which is now under the guidance of MAXSpeed Entertainment. The second half of the 2015 FWT campaign was completed this past weekend, as the Rotax Max Challenge formula took its turn circulating the Homestead Karting facility.  Almost 200 drivers took part in the opening rounds of the program, welcoming a number of international drivers, including top factory pilots from a variety of brands. Americans stood strong in the Senior and Junior divisions, with Ocala Gran Prix drivers Kyle Kirkwood and Austin Garrison opening up the series with their first Senior Max FWT victories, as did Sting Ray Robb and Anthony Gangi Jr. in Junior Max. UK driver Jordon Lennox returned to the United States after a strong 2014 effort, and he added two more victories with wins in DD2 as part of his debut with Birel ART. Masters competition went to Brazilian Leonardo Nienkotter and Frenchman Christophe Adams, and a good crop of young drivers impressed in Mini and Micro Max, the latter being the biggest field in the paddock.

Ocala Gran Prix swept the 31-driver Senior Max category, this time with the new young guns of the stable. Kyle Kirkwood was a contender during his rookie season, but was not able to stand on top of the podium during the 2014 edition of the FWT. Austin Garrison was a winner in Junior Max last season, and claimed the US Rotax Grand Nationals title as well. Both pilots opened up their 2015 season with a victory in Homestead. Kirkwood set the pace in Tony Kart for Saturday’s round, landing the fast time in qualifying with a 47.351-second lap. UK driver Ed Brand, making his CRG debut, was second, off by only seven thousandths. Italy native Alessandro Bressan put the CompKart third while last year’s champion Oliver Askew was fourth in his Birel ART debut with Andersen Racing. Kirkwood went wire-to-wire in the 14-lap Prefinal, with Brand bouncing back to second after falling down to fourth early on. Brand got the jump on Kirkwood early to take over the point at the start of the Final, dropping the polesitter down to fourth behind Askew and Zachary Claman-Demelo (FA Kart). Kirkwood fought his way back to the point, reclaiming the position by lap seven. From there, he stretched out to a three-second advantage over the fight for second. Brand took advantage of contact between Garrison and Demelo to assume the position. 2014 Team USA driver Dan Roeper (Birel ART) took advantage of the fight to inherit the third spot, while Garrison recovered for fourth ahead of Brazilian Luca Travaglini (Kosmic) in fifth.

Kirkwood swept the qualifying sessions on Friday, earning the fast time for Sunday’s round of racing as well. This time, it was Askew in the second spot, off by 16 thousandths, as the top-five was separated by just 99 thousandths. The Prefinal went down to the wire, with Kirkwood edging out Garrison by only one thousandth of a second at the line with Askew trailing. Askew got the jump on his two former teammates to lead the first 10 laps of the Final. Garrison, however appeared to have the fastest kart on the track. He followed Kirkwood through, pushing Askew back to third and then took over the point on lap 13. From there, he laid down consistent laps to score his first Senior Max victory. Kirkwood made it an OGP 1-2 while Askew stepped onto the podium for the first time wearing the Birel ART colors. Brand drove to fourth and Roeper added another top-five result.

Tony Kart swept the victories and podiums in the highly competitive Junior Max division, which featured 44 drivers, highlighted by second-year Junior pilots Sting Ray Robb and Anthony Gangi Jr. recording their first victories at the FWT. Mathias Ramirez (Tony Kart) set the pace for the opening round, qualifying first for Saturday’s action with a 48.500-second lap, before leading all 14 laps of the Prefinal. Canadian Roman DeAngelis won the battle for second, and started the Final from the outside of row one. Nick Brueckner (Tony Kart) was able to steal the lead from the front row drivers, and showed the way for the first eight laps. Meanwhile, Robb (Tony Kart) started 12th and slowly crept up the running order until reaching third on lap seven. On lap nine, Robb was able to go from third to first as Brueckner and DeAngelis fought for position. Once in front, Robb stretched out to a one-second advantage to score the victory, with DeAngelis second in his Koene USA entry and Brueckner on the podium in third with Orsolon Racing. Javier Gonzalez (Tony Kart) was fourth with Michael d’Orlando (Tony Kart) an impressive fifth in his first Junior Max main event.

Robb was able to grab the pole position during Friday qualifying for the Sunday round of racing, edging out Brueckner for the fast time with a 48.367-second lap. The Prefinal was another exciting event, with Robb leading the opening two laps before getting shuffled back. Gangi (Tony Kart), who started seventh, would find his way to the point, and fought for the win with Brueckner. Eventually, Gangi claimed the position and scored the race win, with Brueckner back to fourth behind Gonzalez and Robb. From the pole position, Gangi made it look so easy, driving away to a three-second advantage for his first Junior Max FWT victory. The fight on-track was for second, with Darren Keane (Tony Kart) coming through for the runner-up spot over Gonzalez. David Malukas (Top Kart) was the only non-Tony Kart in the top-five all weekend in fourth and Brueckner finishing fifth.

In his debut with Birel ART, 2014 SKUSA S1 Pro Tour champion Jordon Lennox returned to the States to lay down another display of skill and ability, sweeping the DD2 main events. Lennox opened the first round of competition with the fast time in qualifying on Friday, laying down a 46.060-second lap against a star-studded 24-driver field. SuperNationals XVIII KZ winner Paulo de Conto, one of the newest drivers at the CRG factory and former Birel ART driver, was second with defending US Rotax Grand Nationals champion Nick Neri in third, making his debut with Birel ART as well. All three drivers were within four hundredths of a second. Neri proved to be the quickest of the three in the 14-lap Prefinal, leading the last 11 laps for the win over Lennox and de Conto. The first half of the Final was Neri, before his UK teammate took over the point and showed the way to the checkered flag in his Birel ART debut. Neri made it a 1-2 finish for the new collaboration, while Frenchman Anthony Abbasse wheeled his Sodi Kart to the third spot. 2014 Rotax Challenge of the Americas DD2 champion Gavin Reichelt was an impressive fourth, beating out his CRG teammate de Conto.

Abbasse, the former two-time SKUSA SuperNationals KZ winner, was able to better the two Birel ART drivers for qualifying on Sunday. During the Friday session, Abbasse posted a 46.009-second lap, with Neri and Lennox coming in within 96 thousandths of his time. De Conto was the driver quickest early on, taking over the lead in the Prefinal after starting fourth. He led until Lennox took the spot on lap 10, scoring the win over the Italian. The main event saw Lennox and Abbasse exchange the lead until the UK driver claimed the spot on lap 10. From there, Lennox drove off to a seven-tenths of a second advantage for his second victory of the weekend. Abbasse settled for second as Swedish driver Douglas Lundberg put his Intrepid on the podium in third. Neri drove to fourth with de Conto fifth.

Brazilian driver Leonardo Nienkotter gave CompKart its first victory at the Florida Winter Tour, and its first double win weekend ever by pacing the 16-driver Masters Max division. A 48.582-second lap in qualifying edged out fellow countryman Raul Costa for the pole position by 87 thousandths of a second. Costa kept the pressure on in the Prefinal, but Nienkotter still scored the win. Costa got the jump on Nienkotter to begin the Final, leading the first five circuits. But the three-time SuperNationals winner took back the point on lap six, going on to lead the rest of the way to complete the opening round sweep. Carlos Fonseca (Intrepid) was able to slip into second, dropping Costa to third while Americans Mike Jones (Sodi Kart) and John Dixon (CRG) rounded out the top-five.

Sunday began much like Round One, with Nienkotter on the pole position for the Prefinal after a blistering 48.630-second qualifying lap. Troubles struck the Brazilian, however, as the chain popped off his Rotax engine. Quick to react, he reattached the chain before the field lapped him, and drove up back to the 11th spot. Up front, Frenchman Christophe Adams (Birel ART) won the battle ahead of Jones and Costa. Nienkotter showed he was the driver to beat, climbing his way to the front in the main. The CompKart driver was into the top-five early, and was third by lap five. Adams and Costa paced the field but Nienkotter was hot in their tracks. With two laps remaining, Nienkotter had caught the lead duo and took over the lead, driving off to the victory. Adams settled for second with Costa third. Jones finished fourth and Fonseca fifth.

Christophe Adams ran double duty at the FWT Rotax opener, competing in the 12-kart DD2 Masters division as well. The Frenchman swept the opening round on Saturday, leading the category from qualifying to the checkered flag in the main event, and went on to double his win total on Sunday. Adams (Birel ART) edged out 2014 Rotax Grand Finals champion Mikko Laine (Maranello) and Andres Fonseca Grajale (CRG) by 76 thousandths in qualifying. Adams led all 14 laps of the Prefinal, but was challenged by Laine in the main event. Laine led the first 10 circuits before Adams reclaimed the spot. Adams then stretched out to a two-second advantage. Laine was second until mistakenly pulling off the course a lap early, handing second to Christian Cornejo Canales (Praga) and third to defending series champion Luis Schiavo (Intrepid). Canadian Olympic figure skater Elvis Stojko was fourth with his Maranello North America teammate Stuart Clark in fifth.

Laine started Sunday’s action on top after securing the fast time in qualifying, as the Finnish driver posted a 47.097-second lap. Adams, however, found the way to the front and won the Prefinal. Adams fell back to third early on in the Final, but returned to the point by lap 13. From there, he led the final five circuits to bag his second victory of the weekend. Laine finished in runner-up position as Canales earned another podium finish in third. Clark improved one position to fourth with Mexican driver Salvador Bortoni (CRG) crossing the line in fifth.

Mexican driver Sebastian Alvarez doubled up on the weekend as well, piloting the new PSL MiniX-2 chassis to victory both days in the 22-driver Mini Max category. Nicholas d’Orlando (Tony Kart) left Friday as the top qualifier for Saturday’s round of racing, laying down a 50.938-second lap to secure the pole position over Sebastian Rodriguez (Tony Kart) and Emiliano Richards (Birel ART). Alvarez qualified fifth, but came up late in the Prefinal to challenge d’Orlando for the win, although the American fought back his competition to score the win. Alvarez proved too strong in the Final, however. D’Orlando and Harry Coulton (Birel ART) fought for the lead early on, until Alvarez took over on lap eight. He led the remaining circuits to score the victory. Coulton was runner-up with Rodriguez on the third step of the podium. D’Orlando fell to fourth with Columbian Juan Jose Diaz Rodriguez (AM Kart) in fifth.

Three different drivers led the way on Sunday, with Sebastian Rodriguez starting the Prefinal from the pole position, edging out Alvarez by just 62 thousandths of a second. Rodriguez led the Prefinal until the final few laps. Alvarez took the point, but d’Orlando stole the spot on the final lap to score the win. D’Orlando led the first four laps of the main event until he was shuffled back, and then eventually pushed off course and out of the top-10. Alvarez took over the point and led the remainder of the race for his third victory in four Rotax races in the month of January, including his win at the Challenge of the Americas opener n Tucson. The Columbian Rodriguez fought his way up to second with 2014 US Rotax Grand Nationals champion Dylan Tavella (Tony Kart) landing on the podium in third. Arias Deukmedjian (Tony Kart) and Canadian Matthew Latifi (Tony Kart) completed the top-five.

Jak Crawford (Benik) and Cody Krucker (AM Kart) split the victories in the record-breaking 46-driver Micro Max division. Crawford swept the opening round, qualifying on the pole position, winning the Prefinal and scoring the Final victory. It was a photo finish with Reece Gold (Tony Kart) placing runner-up and Krucker third on the podium. The rest of the podium saw Sebastian Montoya (Birel ART) in fourth and Rafael Chaves Camara (AM Kart) in fifth. Gold was the top qualifier on Sunday, and went on to edge out Jade Hubert (Benik) for the win in the Prefinal. Gold led the first nine laps of the main event, getting heavy pressure from Montoya when Gold got sideways and Montoya got into the back of him. They went spinning and Rafael Chaves Camara (AM Kart) made contact with Gold and flipped over. Thankfully, everyone was checked out to be fine. Up front, the incident put Alessandro de Tullio (AM Kart) at the point in a fight with 2014 Pan American Challenge winner Ugo Ugochukwu (Tony Kart), as well as Krucker. On the final lap, Krucker was able to steal the lead into turn one, holding on the remaining corners for the victory. Ugo won the drag race to the checkered flag for the second spot by two thousandths of a second over de Tullio. Montoya fought back to fourth from his incident, with Gabriel Bortoleto (Kosmic) in fifth.

Next up for the Florida Winter Tour is a return trip to the Orlando Kart Center, with the Rotax Max Challenge portion of the program scheduled for February 27-March 1.

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