Clark Sanchez-Figueras aboard a Kart Mini Smart chassis once again drove to the front of a very competitive field in Rotax Senior at the Rotax Grand Nationals in Denver, Colorado.

Young Clark struggled with chassis set up issues throughout the long practice days preceding the races.  The new Smart chassis was not happy with the extremely hot and high-rubber conditions that were prevalent during the week-long event.

Under early morning conditions on the first official practice day (Wednesday), Clark was third fastest by two tenths of a second.  Clark, still fighting with the chassis set up, qualified 43rd in the 63 kart field.

Constant chassis work by mechanic Ronald Miron and the invaluable help of Mario Sergio inspired the 21 year old college student to push harder and he finished each heat in 13th position despite being punted off the track by another competitor in the final heat while running 6th.

Clark started the pre-final in 19th position and passed 10 cars on the first lap, working his way up to 8th at the checker. This was a warm up of things to come.  The kart’s performance had improved particularly in the first few laps of the race.  Hopes were high for the final and with some great feedback by Clark, the Kart Mini team were able to improve the chassis for the final.

Clark drove brilliantly and fought back working his way up in spectacular fashion to claim 3rd place with six laps to go.  On the twentieth lap of the 25 lap main event the rain began and Clark experimented with a traditional rain line around one corner and this opened the door for the 4th placed kart to get through.  Despite this, Clark felt sure he could find a way back again as his kart accelerated well in the infield and he counted on those 5 remaining laps to fight his way to a podium finish.

It was a great ending to a fine performance by Clark and the Kart Mini Team finishing fourth on such a competitive event.

Clark would like to extend a warm thanks to the people that made this possible.

1.Ronald Miron for his confidence in Clark’s driving ability and his rigorous and meticulous kart preparation and tuning know-how.

2.Kart Mini of America head, Oswaldo Negri who has counseled Clark on his driving and career decisions.

3.Mario Sergio from Kart Mini Brazil.  A real gentleman and a fine engineer.  Very focused.

4.Ricardo Legree from Legree Racing Engines for those great motors and wonderful humor in the pits.

5.Marco Silva………motivation never lacking despite his own son, Nicolas Silva racing the very same weekend.

6.Ivan………….for his optimism despite an ever-darkening sky.

7.Dad.

Plans are now on the way for a step up into cars.  Keep your eyes on this young man.