01/20/2010RDD MOTORSPORTS FLORIDA WINTER TOUR ORLANDO REPORT
Kart Mini drivers Sebastian Ordonez and Dalton Sargeant take wins in opening round of FWT Rotax action
Deerfield Beach, FL – RDD Motorsports of Deerfield Beach, Florida, the exclusive North American importer of the Kart Mini chassis, started the 2010 season in the right direction taking wins in two classes at the Florida Winter Tour. The RRD team took the Saturday win on Junior Rotax with Sebastian Ordonez and in Mini Max with Dalton Sargeant. In total the RDD team had four drivers in the field for the record setting opening weekend of Florida Winter Tour Rotax action.
“Taking in a win in two classes is a good start for us,” comments RDD Motorsports Team Manager Andre Serra. “Dalton had to battle back because of a mistake I made and I could be more proud of him. He is an amazing driver and a very special young man.”
In Mini Max, RDD Motorsports had all three drivers in action aboard the Kart Mini in the huge 44-kart field. Brothers Logan and Dalton Sargeant would line up with cousin Garrett Sargeant for a solid Friday official practice session. In Saturday action all three drivers would crack the top ten qualifying with Logan crossing in sixth, Dalton in second and Garrett in P7. The celebration would be short lived as Dalton was removed from the standings for the wrong part number intake restrictor even though it measured within tolerance. This forced Dalton into the Second Chance race and a back row starting spot. Starting in dead last, he quickly went to the front of the 16-kart field and took the win at the end of 12 laps. Starting the prefinal from the 28th spot, Dalton showed great skill and patience, crossing the line in third place, moving up an amazing 25 places. For Logan contact would take him out early and Dalton would also see contact late in the race to cross in 25th place. For the final Dalton would lineup inside row two and quickly go the front with a great start. He took the lead early and cruised to a solid victory with 12 extra laps on his tires and passing 43 karts in total to take the win. For the other two RRD drivers tight battles and close racing created several incidents with Logan out on lap two and Garrett finishing up in the 27th spot.
On Sunday it was again a great qualifying effort for all the drivers with Logan in P6, Garrett in P8 and Dalton again running second quick, this time holding on to it. A good run in the prefinal for Logan saw him cross in 7th while Garett battled for 18th. Logan would lose several spots in the closing laps to finish in 6th spot and a third row start in the final. In the final Logan would again get caught up in contact as karts collided in front of him and would go out on lap five. Garett ran a solid race battling through for a nice tenth place result. With the leader checked out, Dalton worked over the lead pack who where all chasing the second spot. At the stripe Dalton would win the battle and take P2 for another great run and the points lead heading out of round one.
In Junior Rotax Ordonez was in the thick of things from the start in the 58-kart field. Every session was important to be in position to score valuable points. On Saturday Ordonez would serve notice he was in contention, taking P4 in qualifying and fifth in a tough battle in the prefinal. In final Ordonez would get a great start and join in the lead pack. The early pace was very quick and Ordonez was able to battle forward taking P2 on lap 6 and then the lead on lap nine. He never looked back taking the win by over half a second at the line. On Sunday, Ordonez was again quick taking a 9th place in timed qualifying. A rough start in the prefinal pushed him back deep in the field and he was able to battle forward to grab a 17th place finish. In the final the chase group battled hard making forward progress very difficult. Having a win in his pocket, Ordonez played out a smart race to cross in the 11th position in the end and solid points score.
“The racing at Orlando was very tough especially on the starts,” comments Serra. “Our guys had some good results and some tough ones as well. We will definitely head to the next round at Palm Beach with a full roster ready to battle for wins.”
The RRD Motorsports program expanded in 2010 with the addition of JC Karting of New York, who are a new dealer and satellite racing team of RDD Kart Mini. The team ran drivers in three classes with Michael Auriemma in Rotax Masters and Ben Auriemma in Rotax Mini Max. In Senior Rotax the team fielded Brazilian drivers Felipe Fraga and Jean Claude Paturie, two drivers who saw action aboard the Kart Mini chassis a the 2009 SuperNationals.
“It’s great to have the JC Karting group on board with the Kart Mini chassis,” comments Serra from his shop in South Florida. “They will be focused on building their racing a team and building new Kart Mini customers in the North East.”
Up next for RDD Motorsports is the new CKI/WSK Florida Cup with drivers running in both the Mini Max and Junior Max classes. As well RDD Motorsports development driver Kayla Graham will be testing the Skip Barber car at Homestead Miami Speedway running a two-day advanced school as well as a lapping day. She will then do some kart testing with the RDD team early next week as the team prepares for the opening round of the CKI Florida Cup. The RRD Motorsports team will also compete in the new Rotax Pan Am Challenge and head back to Las Vegas for the SuperNats late in the year.
For more information about this release, the Kart Mini chassis program and the entire RDD Motorsports team please contact André Serra, RDD Motorsports at 954-695-4437.
Dalton Sargeant en-route to victory in Rotax Mini-Max (Photo by: On Track Promotion)
Sebastien Ordonez scored one of two victories for RDD Motorosports in Orlando (Photo by: On Track Promotions)
Prepared by: Autosports Media Group, http://autosportsmedia.com
Photos by: On Track Promotions, http://otp.ca
