Alonso Kart USA

The best Rotax Max Challenge drivers in the United States converged on Oklahoma last week as the 2009 US Rotax Grand Nationals were held at Oklahoma Motorsports Complex in Norman. The week-long affair brought a variety of challenges on track and off, but when all was said and done the team from Alonso Kart USA had a podium, top five, and two top-ten finishes - each coming in very different fashion. Primed for Championship Saturday after coming through the formation stages with heat wins and poles, the team was left fighting back to the front in a number of classes when the final flags waved.

Devlin DeFrancesco was the youngest in the group, and the only FA Kart in a Micro-Max field of twenty-one. After coming to grips with the track and posting the second-fastest time in final practice, mother nature rained on his parade for qualifying and the result was P13 heading into three heat races. A bigger concern was a blown seal on his race mount, and as the crew at Alonso Kart USA set to righting the situation through three heat races they did so while keeping Supertune’s Ben Cruttenden on his toes. The nine-year-old DeFrancesco got quicker with every heat, and promptly posted finishes of 5-4-2 through Thursday and Friday to get right back in the thick of the hunt heading to the final day. He stayed at the sharp end through the prefinal, and as the US National Final took the green DeFrancesco was lined up on the inside of row three. He jumped to second on the first flying lap, and then led the next three as the track began to dry. A scrap for podium positions ensued, and when the checker waved after fourteen laps, DeFrancesco added third from the US Nationals to his Canadian National Championship secured in August.

Mini-Max had a pair of FA Karts in a field of forty-one, and teammates Derek Sobel and Cole Glasson had their paths cross many times, seemingly always on different trajectories. Each gained direct transfer to the prefinal, Sobel at the top of the list after posting 2-2-1 in the heats to take pole position, and Glasson in the final spot after a charge to sixth in heat two healed the damage of being taken out in heats one and three just enough for a direct pass. In Saturday morning’s prefinal, Sobel slotted into third in the formation stages before working back to the head of the line and leading under the white flag. That’s when things got wild, as the Mini-Max brigade produced a pair of pile-up’s on the final tour. In the end Sobel had been dropped to P19, while Glasson came through both to sit P9! The Texan had started 28th and quickly moved forward. He was eight spots up through the first three laps, and ran down gaps to another pair as things progressed toward the final lap and a big jump into the top ten.

Derek Sobel
(Photo: On Track Promotions - otp.ca)

In the final Sobel was already twelfth through one and took another spot each lap over the next three to sit ninth through four. He then continued forward, and as the race began the second half of eighteen laps he had reached seventh and was right behind Glasson in the top ten. The pair were running second and third in a four-pack of karts trying to run down a lead pack of four just ahead, and by the end of lap twelve the front line was eight karts long! The FA Kart pair swapped spots on thirteen, and working fourteen Sobel moved into fifth. The final laps were wild at the front, and Sobel crossed fifth four laps later, all five karts crossing within three-tenths of a second. Glasson was in a battle himself heading to the checker, and the next trio also crossed within three tenths, Glasson taking eighth in his first US Grand National and earning Alonso Kart its third top-ten finish from three starts.

The lone Junior Rotax entry from FA Kart was at the feet of Dore Chaponick Jr. where a promising run turned sour in a hurry on Saturday. After posting three heat runs inside the top ten, highlighted by a third in heat two, Chaponick sat tenth on the grid for the prefinal but was knocked down to twenty-eighth on the first lap. He ran down the line and worked his way back to twenty-first over eighteen laps, only to have the same thing happen in the main event! With hopes of climbing back into the top ten, Chaponick never saw the exit of turn one and took in the main event from the sidelines.

Andrew Hawkins was the only FA Kart senior driver at the US Grands, and started very well when he posted the fastest time in session one of qualifying. The time held for eighth overall, and Hawkins continued to shine through the heats when he posted 4-4-2 and added a race fast lap. Sadly, his prefinal mirrored that of Chaponick’s when he was dropped to the back on lap one. A charge followed for the sixteen-year-old as he took chunks from the field lap after lap. Sitting P27 through one, Hawkins stormed forward and was just outside the top ten when the field hit half distance. He found a top-ten spot before the checker, and continued on in the main event. Eighth through one, he worked as high as sixth in the early stages and never fell from the top ten. At the final flag of the weekend he was eighth, and Alonso Kart USA had four top-tens from five drivers in Oklahoma.