04/06/2010

RDD Motorsports FWT Ocala Report

RDD Motorsports ends Florida Winter Tour with a mixed results and prepares for summer season

Dalton Sargeant en route to third place in the FWT standings
(Photo by: Cody Schindel - Autosports Media Group)

When the rain settled on Sunday in Ocala, Sebastian Ordonez had passed a total of 85 karts (Photo by: Cody Schindel - Autosports Media Group)

Deerfield Beach, FL – RDD Motorsports of Deerfield Beach, Florida, the exclusive North American importer of the Kart Mini chassis, wrapped up the winter racing season with the final round of the Florida Winter Tour held at the Ocala Gran Prix facility. While not the weekend any team plans to run, the drivers under the RDD Motorsports tent proved just how tough they could be when things get difficult. The entire team had to battle back from adversity all weekend long to complete some solid runs and log great performances. Mother nature threw everything at the racers attending the final round of Florida Winter Tour Rotax action, but the weather was only one part of the story for RDD Motorsports, as each of the team’s three drivers would have to dig deep to complete the weekend.

“To say we had a tough weekend is an understatement, “ comments Andre Serra, RDD Motorsports Team Manager. “More stuff happened this weekend then we usually see in a season. But you know, our guys battled back hard and showed just how tough they are. I am very proud of all of them.”

In Rotax Mini Max, brothers Dalton and Logan Sargeant would take on the challenging Ocala Gran Prix circuit and contend with the changing weather. In Saturday round five action, things started well with Logan taking P2 and Dalton taking P3 in morning warm up. They would repeat that effort in qualifying taking the same finishing order on the time sheets. Then in the prefinal the brothers would reverse spots, with Logan taking P3 and Dalton earning the second spot. All that good work would be for not in the final. Logan would struggle with contact and fall outside the top ten and then suffer a five-position penalty to end up in 26th. Dalton would run inside the top five before suffering a broken brake rotor with three laps to go and be scored in the 30th position.

With Saturday a distance memory, the Sargeant boys looked for a brighter day on Sunday. But Mother Nature had different plans as she delivered wet weather to the northern Florida region. The duo of Logan and Dalton would warm-up in fourth and fifth respectively, looking to improve their positions in qualifying. The changing conditions caught the team out and the boys qualified back in the order with Logan in 20th and Dalton one better in 19th. The prefinal would be a huge battle as Dalton went out in a lap one crash to finish in 30th and Logan would work for a fifth place finish at the line only to be handed a one lap penalty taking him back to 27th in the finishing order. With the boys setting up at the back of the field for the final, they looked to improve their weekend with a charge forward. Logan would push forward quickly and work his way near the top ten to finish in 13th place. Dalton put on a major charge to run inside the top ten getting as high as 7th place before losing his spark plug cap and retiring in the 30th spot.

“It was not the best day, but we had fun and passed a lot of karts,” smiles 12-year-old Dalton. “We had a good Winter Tour and look forward to the rest of the season. My Kart Mini is super fast and I know we can contest for wins all year long.”

In Junior Rotax action Sebastian Ordonez had two very different days in the final Rotax weekend. Saturday would see Ordonez head into round five sitting in second in the points championship. In morning warm up he would top the charts and back that up with a second in qualifying. Starting from outside the front row for the prefinal, Ordonez had a good run to cross in second place and a shot at winning the final. In the final the young pilot ran well charging to the front and taking P2 at the line to score solid points and stay in second in the Championship.

Sunday would be the opposite day for Ordonez and the RDD Kart Mini crew. Ordonez would run P3 in warm up and be placed in Group Two for qualifying, the faster half of the Junior Class. As Group One completed a damp qualifying session on rain tires the skies opened up and a huge deluge of rain followed as the Group Two drivers hit the track. Running nearly 4 seconds slower then Group One many of the top ranked drivers, including Ordonez, would see themselves way back in the order. Ordonez would sit at the back in 44th spot sending him to the LCQ for the first time in 2010. In the LCQ, Ordonez would need to drive from his eight-row, sixteen-place starting spot into the top six to transfer to the prefinal. With only a handful of laps in the race, Ordonez would cross the line in fifth and secure a last row start for the prefinal. In the prefinal, Ordonez put his head down to complete a great drive moving up to the 16th spot at the line only to be DQ’d at scales for being underweight, putting him in 33rd spot to start the final. In what can only be described as the drive of the weekend, Ordonez shot through the field to cross in an amazing 4th place and a top five finish. Ordonez would pass a staggering 85 drivers in the prefinal, LCQ and final. After the final tally Ordonez would finish in the third spot in the Junior Rotax Championship.

“It was a crazy weekend. Saturday was great and we really had things dialed in well. Sunday was really a struggle for all of us, a big difference from Saturday,” comments 15-year-old Ordonez. “We got third in the Championship which is good. I can’t wait to get on with the rest of the season.”

Up next for RDD Motorsports team will be a very busy and intense month of competition. The team will head this weekend to Indiana and New Castle Motorsports Park for the opening round of the WSK North America Series present by CKI. Brothers Logan and Dalton Sargeant will run in the Rotax Mini Max class while junior driver Sebastian Ordonez will enter in the TaG Jr. class. The team then heads back to South Florida for opening round of the South Florida RMax Challenge on April 17th followed by the opening round of the Pan Am Challenge the following weekend in Houston, Texas.

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.