1/19/2012
Antonio Serravalle
PSERRA RACING STARTS OFF 2012 FLORIDA WINTER TOUR WITH THREE VICTORIES
Unionville, Ontario - Pserra Racing, importers of the Tecno chassis, started off their 2012 karting campaign with three victories at the recent Formula Kart Productions Florida Winter Tour (FWT) opener. Taking place at the Palm Beach International Raceway (PBIR) in Jupiter, Florida, Pserra pilot Antonio Serravalle made a statement in the Rotax Micro Max class by sweeping both final victories, while DD2 Masters pilot Ryan Horses topped the blocks after Saturday's round one action.
Nine-year-old Rotax Micro Max driver Antonio Serravalle was a standout against the competition in the world's largest Micro Max race to date. In a field of 42 hungry competitors from across the globe, Serravalle quickly became the driver to beat all weekend long. Starting out with qualifying for Sunday's events, the 2011 Canadian National Micro Max Champion put his Tecno chassis in the third position. Later that afternoon, Serravalle went on to score second for Saturday's qualifying session, a scant 0.004 seconds off the pole time!
Saturday would see the young gun sweep the day's action, scoring the win during the ten lap prefinal race. Serravalle went on to win the final as well, holding off the advances of a racy competitor as the Pserra driver crossed the stripe 0.040 ahead of the field. Serravalle would also score the fastest race laps during both sessions on Saturday to complete a stellar day. Starting inside of row two for Sunday's prefinal, Serravalle had his only falter of the weekend, falling to seventh when the dust had settled. Determined to make up lost ground in the final, the 2011 Eastern Canadian Karting Championship Micro Max champ quickly made his way up to the leaders. Working with a duo of other drivers to gap the rest of the field, Serravalle overtook his competitors with a few laps to go and went on to score his second victory of the weekend.
Also competing in the Rotax Mini Max class, Serravalle would pull double duty in both of the young Rotax classes. Taking on the older and more experienced grids of the Mini Max class, Serravalle held his own as he would directly transfer to both A mains during the weekend. Posting 16th and 13th for official qualifying, Serravalle suffered an unfortunate DNF in Saturday's' prefinal. Always determined, the nine-year-old racer had a solid showing in the final as he made his way up to 16th. Sunday would see Serravalle cross in 17th after the prefinal race. Looking to move up during the day's final, a flat tire derailed Serravalle's progress, which eventually resulted in an another unfortunate DNF.
"Antonio is definitely on his way to becoming the top-ranked kid in North America," explained Pserra Racing Team Principle Peter Serravalle. "Racing two classes this weekend gave Antonio a lot of experience racing with older kids. Competing in this kind of racing with a lot of drivers is great and Antonio has already learned a lot more. It's not what we are used to in Canada, as the Micro Max and Mini Max classes are very small scale, and Antonio has proved this weekend he can take on the large and competitive grids."
DD2 Masters pilot Ryan Horses entered the 2012 FWT with the goal of taking the class championship. With a trip to the Rotax Grand Finals on the line, Horses started off his campaign on the right foot, posting fourth during Sunday's qualifying session and second during Saturday's run, only 0.132 off pole time. The veteran karter went on to narrowly miss out on the prefinal win but bounced back in the final. In dramatic fashion, Horses found himself leading the majority of the race, only to succumb during the closing stages of the action. Regaining the lead with only a few laps to go, Horses went on to score his first Florida Winter Tour victory. Sunday would see Horses maintain his fourth place starting position during the prefinal, but a 13th place finish wouldn't sour Horses victory from Saturday.
"Ryan did a great job in DD2 Masters winning on Saturday," continued Serravalle. "It really shows that our equipment is top notch, and Ryan had an amazing drive."
South African pilot Caleb Williams rounded out the Pserra Racing line-up at the FWT opener. Struggling during the test days leading up to official on track action, Williams would continue to work out the kinks during qualifying. Clocking 25th and 27th was not where the two-time World Champion wanted to be, with Williams' tough streak continuing during Saturday. Crossing 25th after the prefinal race, Williams went on to post an unfortunate DNF in the day's final. Showing great improvement on Sunday, Williams progressed nicely through the field to take 20th during the prefinal and then further improved to score a top-20 result in the final with his 18th place finish. Look for Caleb to be at the front when the tour resumes in February.
Pserra Racing will next see action as the Florida Winter Tour heads south to sunny Homestead, Florida for the third and fourth rounds of the prestigious series. Taking place at the Homestead Karting Complex on the grounds of the Homestead-Miami Speedway, Pserra Racing will look to add to their win tally in 2012.
Pserra Racing has race-prepped Mini Rok and shifter KZ engines available for rent for the Formula Kart weekend of the Florida Winter Tour as well as Pserra-prepared Rotax engines for RMC action. Interested parties are asked to call 1.877.880.6455 to reserve their engines today. Pserra Racing is also proud to announce a new line of MIR race wear is currently available.
Pserra Racing is the importer for the Tecno chassis, Canadian importer for Beta tools, and is also a dealer of the Italian LKE engines and MIR race gear. Pserra Racing has the entire Tecno chassis line in stock, including the 4-cycle chassis.
For more information about Pserra Racing, the Pserra Racing team, Tecno chassis and Pserra's engine program and arrive and drive programs, please visit their website, www.pserraracing.com or contact them toll free at 1.877.880.6455.
Submitted By: Admin Account
