11/18/2009

RDD Motorsports Heads To Las Vegas

Kart Mini Team work through a busy month of November as they head to the 13th Annual SuperKarts USA SuperNationals

Felipe Fraga returns to the SuperNationals as the defending TaG Jr Champion
(Photo: Cody Schindel - Autosports Media)

Deerfield Beach, FL – RDD Motorsports of Deerfield Beach, Florida, the  exclusive North American importer of the Kart Mini chassis, has been  working through a very busy month of November, which will conclude  this weekend as the team heads to Las Vegas, Nevada for the 13th  Annual running the Superkarts USA SuperNationals at the Rio Hotel and Casino. The team has been working on preparations for the 2010 season as they put the cap on a very busy and successful 2009 campaign. Over the last few weekends the squad has been running in Florida area regional events as they look to begin the 2010 season in full swing in January.

“We have been getting to the track to work on new setups and get the drivers ready for 2010 season,” comments Andre Serra, RDD Motorsports Team Manager. “We begin in mid-January and I want to be sure all of our drivers are ready to go.”

The month began back at the RDD Motorsports home track, Miami-Homestead Karting, taking part in the fall tune up series. In mini max action the team had three drivers taking to the track with Dalton Sargeant joined by Logan Sargeant and Garrett Sargeant with all drivers looking to score top finishes. In qualifying it was Logan leading the way with top spot to grab pole followed by Logan taking P2 to share the front row for the prefinal. Garett would run strong laps in the qualifying to stay inside the top five. In the prefinal it was Dalton crossing in second with Logan in third spot. In the final Dalton would get out front early, but was under pressure in the opening laps from the second place kart as well as his brother Logan running in third spot. At mid point the kart in second lost a chain and Logan was caught up in contact sending him backwards in the field.
He would charge forward to grab fifth by the checkerd flag, while brother Dalton checked out and took the win.

The lone Rotax Junior Max driver in the field for RDD Kart Mini was Sebastian Ordonez who took third in qualifying and backed that up with a win in the prefinal. In the final Ordonez would battle all race long at the front of the field to grab P3 and a podium spot at the end.  
Joining the team for a one-off test was local micro max driver Matt Thomas. The young pilot stepped into a kart mini and headed straight to the front. Thomas took pole in qualifying, followed by P1 in the prefinal. In the final Thomas would have a great battle in the final to take home the third spot in his first race on board a Kart Mini chassis.

This past weekend RDD Motorsports headed to Palm Beach International Raceway near Palm Beach, Florida as the team took part in the Jon’s Subs Series for Rotax action. In mini max action Dalton would lead the way with a second in qualifying followed up by a win the prefinal and a second place finish in the final. Logan would continue his development in the mini max class taking third in qualifying followed by second in the prefinal and a P3 podium in the final. Garrett had mechanical problems in qualifying and was able to get to fifth in the prefinal and improve one more spot to take fourth in the final event.

In Micro Max class, Matt Thomas would join the RDD squad for a second straight weekend looking to improve on his stellar first outing. And improve he did taking the pole in qualifying, the win the prefinal and first place in the final, a clean sweep of the day.

“Young Matt Thomas is doing very well with our Micro Max program,” states Serra from his base in Florida. “We have lots of Rotax experience and have been able to give him the tools to win. I think he will do very well in 2010.”

This coming weekend the RDD Motorsports Kart Mini Team will hit the track at the largest kart race in North America, the SuperKarts USA SuperNationals. The team will field a total of five drivers in three separate classes. This marks the first trip to the SuperNats for the Florida-based team as they look to end 2009 with a win.

In TaG Junior, RDD Motorsports regular driver Sebastian Ordonez will team up with Brazilian Felipe Fraga. In a 47-kart feature race, Fraga took the inaugural victory in the TaG Junior division, which produced some of the best racing at the 2008 edition of the SuperNationals. The recently crowned CIK-FIA Pan American Champion in the Sudam Junior class, Fraga returns to Vegas to defend his title, this time piloting a Kart Mini. The lone driver in TaG Senior will be Brazilian driver Jean Claude running with Parilla Leopard power on his Kart Mini chassis.

Open wheel rising star Raphael Matos, makes his return to competitive karting in the Super Pro class with RDD Motorsport support racing under the PSL Karting/CRG banner. Joining Matos will be Danilo Dirani who be taking on a huge field of Super Pro competitors. The 26 year-old shifter kart pilot brings in loads of momentum in the Super Nats as he was crowned the Brazilian shifter kart champion just last weekend in Granja Vianna. Dirani returns to the Super Nats, where last year he scored a disappointing 16th in a tough Super Pro final and will look to improve on that result this weekend.

“I think we have a great line up of drivers for our first trip to the SuperNationals,” states team principal André Serra. “I really like our chances for victory especially with two champions in the field. It should be great.”

For more information about this release, the Kart Mini chassis and the entire RDD Motorsports program please contact André Serra, RDD Motorsports at 954-695-4437.

This news release was prepared by Autosports Media Group