March 03, 2012
Gatorz Phoenix Results
Overdrive Motorsports month of February ended with great results all around in Phoenix at the Gatorz Challenge of the Americas.
Junior driver Jim Mckinney had a remarkable weekend. The Phoenix native was determined to put his mark as a front runner and achieved all goals in rounds 3 and 4. Final timed practice on Friday showed Mckinney on top of the charts and he would battle there all weekend long, earning his first podium on Saturday and backing it up with a 4th place finish on Sunday. With these results Jim moves to 5th in the overall Jr Max standings.
DD2 Masters driver Mark Wheeler again came home with a pair of 2nd place finishes aboard his PCR Advance chassis, nevertheless lead a handful of laps on Sunday as he smoothed out his driving on the physically demanding track.
Austin King lead the way for the team in Sr Max using the MXK8 chassis, running within a few tenths of the top dogs all weekend. Focusing on his driving style at this ultra high-grip track aboard his Scuderia PCR, King would come on towards the end of the runs as he finished 10th and 14th respectively. With the field so tight, team ODkarts.com manager Joey Guyon plans to work on the Qualifying setup to move up the order “the top 15 are all so close in performance. That half a tenth in qualifying can mean at least 5 spots at the end of the main. We’ve got a few tests to carry out in March to help Austin’s performance”.
King once again decided to pull the “Iron-man” and enter the DD2 category as well. Saturday’s racing saw the 16 year old pilot run the entire race in 2nd place until the final circuit when fatigue set in and a few errors forced him to settle for 3rd position. On Sunday Austin reluctantly agreed to limit his laps, skipping warm-up and the pre-final in order to be fresh for the main. He ran through the field in short order, but the consistency of the top 3 racers would force King to lay it all on the line to finish in 3rd position.
Phoenix’s Derek Poirier, a team Innovative Karting driver competed for the first time with Overdrive Power. Derek lead the way on Saturday and took the Victory, only to cross the scales a half-pound shy. He had redemption on his mind on Sunday and was leading the heat race until he got spun exiting the Esses. A great drive from 11th to 3rd in Sunday’s Final gave Poirier some redemption and definitely some confidence for the final 2 rounds of the series.
Other notable Overdrive Powered finishes include: Jessica Dezall with a pair of 7th place finishes in MiniMax (timing in less than 0.15 sec of the winner on Sunday), Bryan Lemon with a 12th Saturday in Sr Max, and Matt McMurry in Jr Max with an 11th and 14th.
Overdrive Motorsports’ national level racing team is branded as Team ODkarts.com/Scuderia PCR. The Canadian based operation travels events throughout North America including the Gatorz Challenge of the Americas, Superkarts! USA SuperNationals and the ASN Canada FIA Canadian National Championships. Spots are still available to join us for Western Canadian Championships and Overdrive is looking for independent drivers to represent their Engines and Chassis at every event!
Visit www.overdrivekarts.com or www.facebook.com/overdrivekarts for more information
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