ROK MINI CUP USA 2014

Weather was perfect on the Saturday morning, and the forecast was for similar weather all weekend. Great to finally have a racing weekend free of wet weather. The racing schedule for the weekend was as follows: Saturday, 2 official practice sessions, Qualifying, Heat 1 and 2. Sunday, warm up session, Heat 3, pre Final and Final. Official practice, Lochie went well finishing 4th fastest, which we thought was very good, given the class field of international drivers. Qualifying was next, a five minute timed session. Lochie let the all the karts go out of the pits before him, so as to ensure a clean lap. As qualifying was only 5 minutes, it meant Lochie would only get 4 timed laps. On lap 2, Lochie drove just about the perfect lap, setting a lap time that was almost half a second faster than the second fastest driver. This put us on pole for each of the three heats. Heat 1, Lochie got an average start and was shuffled back to 4th during the first lap. He then fought his way through the pack to win the race, just in front of Arias Deukmedjian as they crossed the finish line. Heat 2, Lochie got off to a great start, coming out of turn 1 in first place. Lochie led the race for the first couple of laps, and was then overtaken by Lachlan DeFrancesco. Lochie drove a very smart race and sat on DeFrancesco's rear bumper for the rest of the race, as they built a big gap away from the rest of the field. Then on the last lap Lochie made his move and overtook DeFrancesco down the straight. Coming into the final corner Lochie drove narrow, defending the inside line, this gave Lochie a poor exit, and in the drag to the finish line DeFrancesco won by .03 of a second. 2nd was still a great result for heat 2. Heat 3 on Sunday morning was a cracker for Lochie. He led out of turn 1 by about 4 kart lengths, and just drove away from the field, leaving the rest to battle for the minor places. Pre Final, as a result of the two firsts and a second in the heats, Lochie was to start on pole for the pre final. Once again Lochie got a great start, and drove away to achieve commanding victory over the rest of the field. After some words of advice from 6 time world karting champion Mike Wilson, Lochie lined up on the grid in pole position for the final. Kenny had prepared the kart to perfection, once again, allowing Lochie to get a great start and repeat his dominating display from the pre final. Lochie drove to victory with Brazilian champion Gianluca Petecof in second position. This was Lochies first overseas victory, and was a great achievement against a quality field of experienced drivers from around the world. It was only possible with the great support from Goodwood Kartsports from Canada, Kenny Bensley for preparing a sensational Praga Kart, Bordogna Engines for the best Mini Rok Engine, Praga for the great racing kart, and rest of the team behind the scenes, especially Dad for making all this possible. Lochie now looks forward to round 3 of the Florida Winter Tour, with practice starting on Thursday.