Easykart Drivers Race at Ocala Gran Prix FKCS

Ocala, FL – Race number four of the Florida Karting Championship Series sponsored by Andersen Racepark, Ocala Gran Prix and Easykart Distributors held at the Ocala Gran Prix on June 12th & 13th, saw front runners in classes stack up just as they are in the points in the six event series for a few Easykart classes. This would also be the second of four races in which Easykart drivers would race for the chance to take home a new BMB Easykart chassis and motor!
Easykart 60 saw Orlando winner and overall points leader Michael DeQuesada take pole once again with a time of 42.434,  0.433 over 2nd in points Brian Lockwood on the newly paved Ocala track. Followed by third in points Mayo Livingston, 0.572 seconds back from Lockwood. The trio would start lap one of the pre-final in the same order and hold their positions until lap five when Lockwood would make a pass on DeQuesada going into turn one and hold on to the lead for the remaining three laps for the pre-final win. DeQuesada would also pickup quick lap and the quickest lap of the weekend on lap seven with a lap of 42.394. The 60 final start would come on the second attempt at a green flag due to a few drivers not being inline at the start line. But immediately after the green flag DeQuesada would start to pull away from Lockwood, Livingston and the rest of the pack. At the finish DeQuesada found himself 1.3 seconds ahead of Lockwood and 11 seconds ahead of Livingston in 3rd. The rest of the top five were Sebastian Sagarra in 4th and Chris Maxson in 5th. DeQuesada continues to gain ground in his points lead over Lockwood which is now 35 points.
The Easykart 100 class grew by one in Ocala as a total of eight drivers would post time in Sunday’s qualifying round. Oveido, FL’s Jonathon Kotyk would capture pole position with a lap time of 39.331, which would be 0.248 quicker than outside pole-sitter Nicholas Shealey of Tallahassee, FL and 0.259 quicker that Orson Meyreles. Rounding out the top five were Jorge Sagarra in 4th and Collin Warren in 5th. At the drop of the green flag Shealey would fall back to fourth as Meyreles and Warren would get by in the opening corners. Shealey would fight back to third after getting by Warren on lap three, while hard charging Jorge Sagarra would recapture his fourth place starting position by passing Warren. Meyreles ran unchallenged for second and was unable to make a move on Kotyk who would lead every lap of the pre-final. The final was full of excitement as nothing went as predicted as second place pre-final driver Meyreles would capture the lead on lap one. Kotyk would fall from second on lap one to fourth on lap six before taking the lead on the same lap! Contact between Sagarra, Meyreles and Shealey would fall back to second thru fourth respectively. Coming up thru the field was Monticello Karting’s Tim Venable whom would battle with Tallahassee’s Nicholas Shealey for third and wind up fourth at the drop of the checkered. Kotyk held on to the lead, followed by Sagarra, Shealey, Venable and Drew Kimbrel. However everyone would gain a spot was final winner Kotyk would end up disqualified due to an out of spec exhaust header.
The Easykart 125 Lite class is still looking for more young talent to contend and once again consist of the same drivers from Palmetto, Homestead and Orlando.  The class would once again run with the TAG1 class on Saturday. Qualifying rounds were held before noon on a somewhat green track. Michelle Hummel would capture pole with a time of 38.699 ahead of Orlando winner and pole sitter Joffrey Amaya by 0.533 and 0.564 over Jamie Shahan in third. At the start of the pre-final Amaya would get the jump on the field and take the lead of the multi-class field. But it was short lived as he would fall back into the clutches of Pace, FL’s Michele Hummel. The battle would continue until TAG1 driver Chris Grektorp would squeeze in between the two. Shahan would also get past Hummel and finish third and capture quick lap with a 39.272. The final was some of the best racing of the weekend as Hummel and Amaya would lock into a battle that would last the entire 10 laps. Hummel was quicker overall but Amaya proved to be very hard to pass. After a bit of bumping in turn one Hummel found herself turned around in turn four. Shahan would get by to finish 2nd and Amaya would drive off for the win.
Easykart 125 Heavy Orlando winner Nick Rickert found himself a half pound underweight after crossing the scales and posting a time of 39.067. Rickert relinquished pole position to West Palm Beach’s Todd Kovi.  Rickert would start at the rear of the field and catch and pass Kovi on lap one and setting off to battle with the Rotax Senior drivers in the group. Rickert would lead all laps, but once again find himself underweight at the scales. Rickert would redeem himself in the final after gaining the lead on lap two and pulled away to a 14.1 second gap on Kovi. This time Rickert was able to cross the scales above the class minimum weight to take his 4th win in as many races.

Orlando Kart Center Hosts Round Three of FKCS

Orlando, FL – Round number three of the Florida Karting Championship Series sponsored by Andersen Racepark, Ocala Gran Prix and Easykart Distributors was held at the Orlando Kart Center on May 22nd and 23rd, located just miles away from the gates of Disney and Universal Studios. Easykart drivers began the first of a four race series within a series as the points leader in each Easykart class over the next four FKCS races will take home a new BMB Easykart chassis and motor!
Michael DeQuesada would take pole in his Easykart 60 by 1.077 seconds over Brian Lockwood at the Orlando track as many drivers were unable to cope with the track conditions. DeQuesada’s lap in qualifying of 58.029 was the quickest lap of the weekend for the 60cc’s, and he was the only driver in the 58’s. Taking third in qualifying was Sebastian Sagarra with a 59.874. The eight lap pre-final was all DeQuesada as he opened up a 10 second lead to take the win over 2nd place Sebastian Sagarra and 3rd place Brian Lockwood whom would battle the entire race with Sagarra for the position. Following Lockwood in 4th was Mayo Livingston and Kodi Snapp in 5th. The final would be a carbon copy of the pre-final for DeQuesada as once again he would check out on the field. The battle for 2nd was a three-way battle between Sagarra, Lockwood and Livingston as the rest of the field would settle in behind them.  A last lap, turn 8 pass by Mayo Livingston on Brian Lockwood would put Livingston on the podium in 3rd, but was unable to catch Sagarra whom would finish 2nd.
Race schedule dictated that Easykart 100 would run on Sunday and a few more competitors would show up chasing the allure of a new Easykart. Homestead pole sitter Jorge Sagarra Jr, would repeat his performance and capture the pole by .405 over Bryan Horowitz and .460 over Nicholas Shealey, with a 54.297. The racing was close in the pre-final as Nicholas Shealey would set quick lap chasing Orson Meyreles running 3rd with a lap of 54.560, but Sagarra would win by 2.381 seconds over Horowitz. Shealey would once again set quick lap in the final with a 54.485, but was unable to challenge for the lead and would finish 3rd just .300 back from Horowitz whom would finish 3.470 seconds behind Sagarra as he led flag-to-flag to take the top step of the podium. The Orlando race would also see the return of 2007 60cc Easykart Grand Final winner Drew Kimbrel return to racing and debut in FKCS competition in 2010.
The Easykart 125 Lite class would once again consist of the same drivers from Palmetto and Homestead and would once again run with the TAG1 class. A .805 spread from 1st to 3rd would cover qualifying as Joffre Amaya would capture the pole with a time of 51.961 over Michelle Hummel by .370 and Jamie Shahan whom would qualify 3rd. Amaya would again contend with the TAG1 drivers and eventually finish 2nd overall and 1st in class in the multi-class field. Shahan would finish 2nd as Hummel would fall victim to mechanical woes and finish 4 laps down. Amaya found himself fighting with TAG1 driver Chris Grektorp for most of the race and would finish 1st in class, just tenths behind Grektorp. Hummel would make a daring pass on lap 8, with two to go to take 2nd away from Jamie Shahan. This win makes it three in a row for the south Florida driver Amaya.
A few more Easykart Heavy drivers made the trip to Orlando as Palmetto and Homestead winner Nick Rickert would take pole with a lap of 52.395, 2.212 seconds over Todd Kovi whom would be 2nd 1.214 over Michael Curran.  Kovi would run into mechanical issues during the pre-final and finish 4th after only four laps, leaving Claudio Rodriguez and Michael Curran to try and chase down Rickert whom lead from the drop of the green flag, setting a fast lap of 53.003. Rodriguez would finish 2nd with Curran a few corners back. Curran would find a bit more speed in the final and mount a challenge to Rickert mid-race running lap times within a tenth of Rickert and finish 4.868 seconds behind Rickert whom would chalk up his third win in a row. Kovi would finish 3rd as Rodriguez broke on lap two to finish 4th.

Homestead, FL – The Florida Kart Championship Series sponsored by the Ocala Gran Prix and Easykart Distributors stopped in Homestead on April 10th & 11th for round number two of the six event series. Most had not had a chance to run on the repaved track in 2010, but a few drivers picked up right where they left off at Palmetto in February. Easykart 60 ran on Saturday and ten competitors took the track with Palmetto winner Brian Lockwood from Tallahassee taking pole position by 0.578 over Michael DeQuesada with a lap time of 56.393. Kodi Snapp would take 3rd with a lap of 57.713. The Pre-Final ran after lunch and Lockwood would jump out to a lead and never look back coming away with a win by 14.424 seconds over Snapp and Justin Gordon in 3rd, with Chris Maxson 4th and Deso Kovi 5th rounding out the top five.  A turn one scuffle left Kovi, Maxson and Gordon falling back to 6th, 7th & 8th respectively, leaving Mayo Livingston room to jump into third. Snapp would fall back to 4th on lap 3 as once again Lockwood would set sail to a 5.270 lead over 2nd place DeQuesada and 3rd place Livingston. DeQuesada would capture quick lap in the Final with a time of 56.399.
Easykart 100 would run Sunday and competitors would only receive one round of practice due to rain and lightning in the area. The weather would clear in time for dry tires in qualifying and local driver Jorge Sagarra Jr would take pole by 0.689 over Orsen Meyreles, Jonathan Kotyk and Bryan Horowitz with a lap time of 52.707. Kotyk would run into problems in the Pre-Final and drop out on lap four and leave Sagarra Jr to run away with the win by just over 10 seconds, with Horowitz coming in 2nd followed by Meyreles, whom made the pass on Horowitz on lap three. Times continued to drop as the competitors gained experience on the track and each had dropped into the 51’s. Kotyk would jump into 2nd for six laps until Meyreles would pass him. Kotyk would drop out on the last lap with mechanical problems. Sagarra would take the top spot again and capture quick lap of 51.301, with Meyreles taking third and Horowitz filling the last spot on the podium.
The Easykart 125 Lite class consisted of the same drivers from Palmetto and would once again run with the Rotax Senior class. This time there was no rain in qualifying and a different driver was on pole as Pompano Beach’s Jamie Shahan would set a pole time of 50.843. Joffre Amaya of Miami would be 2nd with a 51.048, 0.205 back and just 0.019 back from Amaya was Pace, FL’s Michelle Hummel. The Pre-Final showed the parity of the spec karts as each driver’s fast laps were within a tenth of a second. Joffre Amaya would take the lead on lap one and hold onto the top spot while running third overall in the multi-class field. Shahan and Hummel would fight it out for 2nd and Hummel would capture the position on lap 5 and finish there. Both Hummel and Shahan would run into problems in the Final, with Shahan dropping out on lap 4 and Hummel on lap 5. This relegated Amaya to the win, whom would finish the race 4th overall and with a quick lap of 50.513.
Only two drivers took the track in Easykart 125 Heavy, as none of the local contingent showed up. Palmetto winner Nick Rickert of Dayton, TN would not make qualifying due to a broken flywheel and FKCS Senior 2 Cycle Representative, Todd Kovi from West Palm Beach would set a pole time of 55.573, running his first laps in his kart since Palmetto. Rickert would move into 1st on lap one and run behind the Rotax competitors not wanting to mix it up. Kovi would come across the line some 6 seconds back in 2nd. The Final would be a duplicate of the Pre-Final with Rickert taking the checkered first, setting his quickest lap of the day of 51.434.
For more information on the FKCS series visit www.flwkasprintseries.com.

Anderson Racepark in Palmetto, FL was the site of the 1st round of the 2010 Florida Kart Championship Series, presented by Ocala Gran Prix and Easykart Florida. Most drivers had not been to the track before and those who could adapt to a new track and setup the chassis to the conditions were rewarded with good finishes. The track was technical with many slow speed corners that eventually lead onto a long straight running the full length of the complex. This event would be the first of six in the FKCS series, with the eventual class winner taking home the prized trip to the Easykart World Finals in Italy this October.

Easykart 60 qualifying was on a wet track as the skies opened during Saturday morning practice. Six of the nine competitors took to the track to contest for pole in the less than ideal conditions. Last years class winner Tallahassee, FL driver Brian Lockwood, Dezo Kovi and Justin Gordan would not run in the qualifying session and would start from the rear of the field. After the checkered flag fell newcomer to the FKCS ranks Kodi Snapp was on pole with a lap of 1:01.859, besting second place Michael DeQuesada by 2.358 seconds. Following in third place was Bainbridge, GA driver Mayo Livingston with a 1:05.515. For the pre-final the track would be would drying which would lead to some great racing. Brian Lockwood, starting from the back row after missing qualifying would move up to 5th in lap one and then battled with Mayo Livingston for the next six laps. Michael DeQuesada would take the lead on lap one from his outside pole position and pulled away from eventual 3rd place driver and pole sitter Kodi Snapp to win by 6.309 seconds over Lockwood who would make the pass on Snapp for 2nd on lap nine. DeQuesada would once again take the lead in the final with Lockwood hot on his heals. Livingston and Snapp continued the battle for 3rd until Livingston made a pass going into turn one at lap two. One lap five DeQuesada would set fast lap of 52.264 but loose the lead to Lockwood after which he would set sail to win the final by 6.683 seconds. The top five were Lockwood, DeQuesada, Livingston, Justin Gordon and Chris Maxson.

Easykart 100 would race on Sunday and be blesses with perfect weather. Colin Warren would make the move up to the Junior ranks and set a time of 48.628 on his fourth lap good enough for 2nd. Bryan Horowitz would battle with Orson Meyreles and Jonathon Kotyk to eventually take the 3rd spot with a 49.378 just 0.291 quicker than Meyreles. Kotyk found himself at the back of the field after a DQ for non-spec fuel. But at the end of the session Tallahassee, FL driver Nicholas Shealey would grab the pole by 0.178 over Warren with a 48.450 lap. Warren would take the lead on lap two of the pre-final with Shealey hot on his heals. The pair would pull a two-second gap on the field by the final lap as neither driver put a wheel wrong in some close racing action. Jonathon Kotyk after his DQ came thru the field, passing Aubrey Duncan on lap two, Horowitz on lap three and Meyreles on lap four for a great piece of driving! The first lap of the final found Warren leading Shealey by inches, but Shealey would capture the lead on lap two. It soon became a three-way battle for the lead as Kotyk moved up into 3rd and eventually into 2nd after a controversial pass in turn six. By the last lap Shealey had held on to just enough to pull away for the win, with Kotyk and Warren in tow. A call from the race director deemed Kotyk gained a position after avoidable contact and Kotyk was docked one position, giving 2nd back to Warren. Finishing 4th was Horowitz, followed by Duncan and Meyreles.

The young guns of Easykart classes proved again that the 125 Lite is full of competitive drivers. The class would run on Saturday as a combined group with TAG1, providing some heated battles between classes. Qualifying was run under a light rain with puddles forming on the track. South Florida’s Jamie Shahan would capture pole with a 56.060 in the worsening conditions just 0.138 over Pace, FL driver Michelle Hummel, followed by Joffre Amaya and a run of 56.571. A drying track and rain tires provided the venue for the pre-final as drivers hunted for water to cool their tires. Amaya would get the start of a lifetime as he moved from the last row of the Lite group to 2nd in the overall pack by the end of lap one. Shahan, Amaya and TAG1 driver Jacob Duval would battle for the lead for the entire race, with each driver showing a move at one spot on the track. By the end of the pre-final Amaya would end up 1st overall followed by Duval and Shahan to capture 2nd in class, with Michelle Hummel a few seconds behind. Driver Fernando Aguaye would fall victim to a DQ after loosing his air box mid race. The final provided some of the best side-by-side racing of the weekend as the combined class structure put Easykarts with TAG class karts. Amaya once again would have to battle TAG1 driver Duval and now Christopher Grektorp whom had moved up in the pack.

The three drivers again put on a show for the crowd with positions changing multiple times per lap. Hummel and Shahan would settle back to run for 2nd on the class as Aguaye would fall out due to mechanical difficulties. Hummel would eventually capture the position and move into the fray with Amaya and the TAG1 drivers by the end of the race Amaya who was running on a spec harder compound tire, would be passed by Grektorp , but still captured the win in Easykart 125 Lite. Hummel crossed the line 1.873 seconds behind Amaya and Shahan another 4.628 seconds behind. With Amaya’s run against the TAG1 karts, it proves the competitiveness of the Easykart package against more expensive models.

The Easykart 125 Heavy class saw 2009 Easykart 125 Lite runner-up Nick Rickert make his Heavy debut after a wintering of regular gym workouts, the 17yr old, Dayton, TN driver now tops the 180 lbs min. weight requirement. Rotax Senior drivers would also be included in the combined race group providing for some exciting laps. Qualifying for Heavy would also be wet, but in the worst conditions of the morning as puddles became small lakes. Rickert would set a quick lap on lap one good enough for pole, but would continue to drop time to settle on a 53.225, some 2.835 seconds quicker than the Lite class and 3.006 quicker than closest Rotax Senior driver. Claudio Rodriguez would take 2nd with a 57.591 followed up by Peter Pestano in 3rd and a 1:00.356. Rickert would drop to 2nd at the start of the pre-final behind Rotax driver Emily Lander and then back to 3rd when passed by Rotax driver Kyle Connery. At halfway it was Rickert, Rodriguez, Pestano and Todd Kovi, with each set of Easykart drivers being separated by a Rotax driver. Ricker would finish the pre-final 12.271 seconds ahead of Rodriguez with Pestano behind him and Kovi having mechanical issues. With daylight running short the final would be shortened to five laps. Lap one saw Rickert punted off the track by Rotax driver Lander after making it thru the first 8 corners. Pestano and Kovi also had difficulties, but would end their races on the side of the track. Rodriquez would capture the Easykart lead at lap one, running third overall until two Rotax kart got by on lap three put him back in the clutches of Rickert who was setting a blistering pace coming thru the field some 1.5 seconds a lap quicker than Rodriguez. Rickert would catch and pass him on the last lap going into turn one for the win. Rickert would also set his fast lap on lap five, just 0.020 slower than the Lite quick time.

For more information on the FKCS series visit www.flwkasprintseries.com.

Easykart Scores TAG Win in FKCS Race

Anderson Racepark in Palmetto, FL was the site of round one of the 2010 Florida Kart Championship Series, presented by Ocala Gran Prix and Easykart Florida. The track proved to be a well suited for the Easykart chassis with its tight and slow speed infield section followed by a single long straight.

Twenty-three drivers took the track in TAG on Sunday with highs near 60, sunshine and a constant breeze, in contrast to rain and overcast skies for Saturday’s racing. Things weren’t working as planned for Monticello Karting/Easykart driver Nick Rickert of Dayton, TN as right off the bat things went wrong. Within only a couple of turns of start-finish Rickert found himself with a bent sprocket, broken sprocket carrier and had the chain come off after dropping a wheel. Rickert was eventually able to put the chain back on and make one flying lap, good enough to capture a 2nd place qualifying position with a 46.345 lap (0.002 back) after the tech barn. The top five drivers were covered by a narrow 0.308 gap.

The pre-final start was clean but only after one missed start and saw a few bumps as pole sitter Gleisner got off to turn three untouched and outside pole sitter Rickert dropped back to fifth having gotten stuck on the outside line thru the three right hand turns. Rickert would gain one position before the stripe and lap one was lead by Leopard of Greg Gleisner, followed by James Perkins running a Leopard, the Andersen/Birel/Leopard of Austin Miles, Rickert and the Tony Kart/Leopard of Brandon Salyer. Rickert would get by Miles on lap three and set his sites on Perkins. Unable or unwilling to make a move on Perkins, Rickert settled for 3rd as the finishing order settled with Gleisner taking the win followed by Perkins, Rickert, Miles and Salyer your top five. Charging from the rear of the field after his qualifying DQ was Jacksonville, FL driver Jacob Duvall, whom finished and impressive 8th after starting shotgun on the field.

The start of the TAG final was impressive for such a big class, as Glen Biggs, FKCS Race Director had spoken with the first four rows, driving home the point that he wanted a clean, uniform start the first time by. It was a textbook start with no jumping or drivers coming out of line. Gleisner held onto the lead and Rickert was able to move into 2nd after a push at the start from Salyer. Rickert hooked up with Gleisner and pushed him down the straight-away for six laps pulling out a 2 second lead over Perkins running in 3rd place. Salyer would make a move on Miles for 4th on lap five until fast charging Duvall would take 4th on lap nine. Rickert had attempted a pass going into turn one on lap five but thought better of the move. Gleisner had the power to pull a kart length away from Rickert on the short infield straight between turn four and seven, but Rickert had top end and was quicker thru the infield twisty stuff. At the beginning of lap six Rickert drafted past Gleisner going into turn one after the long front stretch. Rickert would hold on to the lead, set quick race lap on lap 11 of 46.116 and capture the win by 0.651 at the line, followed by Gleisner, Perkins, Duvall and Salyer.

The win is not the first for the Monticello Karting/Easykart driver Rickert and the Easykart brand in FKCS TAG competition. The 2008 season saw Rickert and Easykart pilot Dane Irena battle for poles and wins all year with Irena walking away with the TAG title in his Easykart. Rickert would also set a track record in 2008 at the Monticello track in his Easykart/TAG kart.