01/07/2010

Kart Mini driver Sebastian Ordonez wins a Skip Barber Scholarship to start off the 2010 season in the right direction

RDD pilot Sebastian Ordonez(second from left) earned a Regional Season Scholarship at the 2009 Skip Barber Karting Scholarship Shootout

Deerfield Beach, FL – RDD Motorsports of Deerfield Beach, Florida, the exclusive North American importer of the Kart Mini chassis, puts the wraps on a very successful 2009 racing season and looks to grow in new directions in 2010. In 2009, the team took several major titles in some of the most competitive and exciting classes in the sport. While developing and launching two new chassis in 2009, expanding into new racing programs and running a heartstopping national sprint kart schedule, RRD Motorsports maintained it’s focus on driver training and skills development.

Having a dream season in karting and dominating the National scene was the youngest Kart Mini driver Logan Sargeant. Also having a great season was older brother Dalton Sargeant as he continued to develop his pace in Mini Max and make a big mark in speedway racing. Another Mini Max pilot, Garrett Sargeant, who missed part of the mid season with an injury, came back strong in the second half of the year. The only junior driver on the RDD Motorsports roster, Sebastian Ordonez of Columbia, continued his development in karts and in formula cars.

“I am very happy with how all of our drivers progressed in 2009,” comments RDD Motorsports Team Manager Andre Serra. “We did a lot of racing and threw a lot of new things at our drivers and they all did an amazing job. Each got better and better as the year progressed and their development is right on target.”

The year started off right in the highly competitive Florida Winter Tour, as the team took first in Micro Max with Logan who took two wins and had three podiums. Dalton took third in Mini Max class with three podiums and while Garrett took the 12th spot in the final standings. Ordonez would take 8th in the final standings running consistently at the front and battle for podium spots. Running in the South Florida RMax Challenge at the teams’ home track of Homestead Karting, RDD Motorsports drivers made a clean sweep of the Micro Max with Logan and Mini Max with Dalton and Junior Rotax with Ordonez.

The RDD team packed the trailer and headed west to the flat lands of Oklahoma to enter the Rotax Summer Shoot Shootout, a primer to the 2009 Rotax Grand Nationals. The team took first in Micro Max with Logan and first in Mini Max with Dalton. Also in the top five in Mini Max was Garrett finishing in the fifth spot. Ordonez would battle in the front pack all weekend and grabbed the 4th spot in Junior Rotax. This great showing helped catapult two RDD Motorsports drivers to national prominence. Logan would rank number one in the nation in Micro Max while Dalton would rank first in Mini Max, giving the team a boost heading into the US Rotax Grand Finals.

In early September the team headed back to Oklahoma to contest the Rotax Grand Nationals. The team took first in Micro Max with Logan putting a cap on a dominant season. A strong come back was needed by Dalton, with the pain still evident from a heat race crash, charged forward moving up to third spot on the final lap, only to see contact sending him off track and ending his race in 26th place. In the final the young racer would put on a gutsy performance going from the 13th row to finish inside the top ten with a 9th place finish, setting fast lap of the race while coming through the field.

“Our Rotax program is something we are very proud of in 2009. We work hard to develop that program and we manage to post the fastest time in almost every session,” comments Serra. “We had the fastest lap in the final at the Grand Nationals and that is really important to me and the team. We took a national title back home and that’s a goal we had set.”

The RDD Motorsports team expanded their program in 2009 to include something new, the hotly contested Bandolero Bandits racing program at the Lowes Motor Speedway. It was the teams first look at speedway racing and the full-bodied Bandolero cars. All three drivers won a Rookie Race held on the Monday before each Tuesday night Summer Shootout event. The team racked up three feature wins thanks to Dalton who tied for the overall series championship in his rookie season. In 2010 Dalton will move up to the Bandolero Young Guns class, while Logan and Garett in stay in the Bandolero Bandits class.

Another first for RDD in 2009 was their trip to the SuperKarts USA SuperNationals held in Las Vegas, NV. The team hit the track at the largest kart race in North America, with five drivers in three separate classes. In TaG Junior, RDD Motorsports regular driver Ordonez teamed up with Brazilian Felipe Fraga. The pair both ended the weekend inside the top ten in 9th and 8th place respectively. The lone driver in TaG Senior was Brazilian driver Jean Claude Paturie running with Parilla Leopard power on his Kart Mini chassis. He would grab the 15th spot in the final race. Open wheel rising star Raphael Matos, made his return to competitive karting in the Super Pro class
with RDD Motorsport support racing under the PSL Karting/CRG banner. Also in Super Pro was Danilo Dirani, the 2009 Brazilian shifter champion, who was able to finish just outside the top ten taking the 11th spot in the final. “I think our first trip to the SuperNationals went well,” states team principal Serra. “We will bring the team back in 2010 and look to get the victories we missed this time out. ”

RDD Motorsports grew their racing program in another direction this season testing drivers in single seater cars and adding to the Formula Junior Program, which will be expanded in 2010. Former Kart Mini driver Gabby Chavez took the 2009 Formula BMW Americas title, while current Kart Mini driver Ordonez was in invited to a Skip Barber test and won a regional championship scholarship. Joining the program in 2009 was Kayla Graham of Florida. The talented 17-year-old tested the Skip Barber car in late 2009 and will be testing the USF2000 car in April in preparation for 2011 season. Also testing in the 2-liter open wheel cars in 2010 will be Ordonez and Dalton Sargeant. The team is focused on helping drivers make the transition and develop their racing careers.

“We have been getting to the track to work on new setups and get the drivers ready for 2010 season,” comments Serra, as he preps the team from their south Florida base. “We begin in mid-January and I want to be sure all of our drivers are ready to go.”

For RDD Motorsports there is no off-season. The team takes full advantage of the southern climate to test and race all year long. The team has been running in the South Florida Fall Series, which has one more race to go this January. They will run the FWT Rotax weekend and the CKI Florida Cup both in Mini Max and Junior Max. The RDD team will also compete in the new Rotax Pan American Challenge and head back to Las Vegas for the SuperNats later in the year.

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