EASYKART - INTERNATIONAL

5th EASYKART INTERNATIONAL GRAND FINALS JESOLO (VE) – ITALIA, CLASSES 50 TRAINING, 60, 100, 125 LIGHT, 125 HEAVY, 125 SHIFTER

GREAT SUCCESS FOR THE FINAL IN JESOLO

THE INTERNATIONAL TITLES GO TO ARONE (60), FRANCESCON (100), MONTOYA (LIGHT) AND VIETS (HEAVY). IN THE SHIFTER, WHICH ALSO SAW LAUDATO AND COZZAGLIO RACE, RANICA WINS.

More than 230 drivers from 15 different countries took part in the 5th edition of the Easykart International and Italian Finals on the track in Jesolo (Ve).

Thanks to Birel Group’s organisation and the great work carried out by the Italian Sports Authorities this turned out to be an extremely high profile event; this was confirmed by the high number of participating drivers and the positive comments of both the press and all the people involved in the event.

The event also confirmed the general merit of the project which, after only 5 years, is achieving very reassuring results both in terms of training (by drawing the attention to many talents in the categories 60 and 100), and in all the categories 125 for over-16 drivers, which are always very crowded.

In sporting terms, all the races which have taken place have given great thrills and entertainment.

Starting from the very young drivers of the category 60, in which Riccardo Arone prevailed over Kevin Lavelli by just thousandths after a splendid race.

The Slovenian driver Bembic climbed onto the third step of the podium, whereas the Columbian driver Tunjio, who started in pole position, concluded the race in 4th place in front of Iannacone.

The young Arone (Fg Racing) also won the Italian title.

In the 0100cc, Paolo De Conto won the race over Andrea Francescon, although soon after the end of the race the winner was excluded for having regained his position during the 2nd launch lap, this procedure being prohibited by the regulations.

Furthermore, De Conto was also investigated for overtaking Cavalieri while the yellow flag had been shown.

The measures taken by the Board of Stewards do not, however, deny the merits of this promising driver who, during the race, also managed the fastest lap, thus proving himself as one of the most interesting drivers of the season.

The International title was therefore won by Francescon; Cavalieri and Tolfo gained the 2nd and 3rd step of the podium respectively.

A great Celegato finished in 4th position, followed by the Polish driver Szczepanic, Lucia Miklavec, the American drivers Chavez and Formal, and the Italian driver Favetta.

Andrea Francescon is also national champion. In the 125 Light, Ballarini was very unlucky; despite gaining the pole position in the race, he was a non-starter.

The driver from the Arrow team slipped off to the rear and finished the race in 18th position.
Victory went to Federico Montoya, who also did the fastest lap of the race.

The brother of the former McLaren driver preceded Marco Gagliano who was the first Italian driver to conquer the national title.

For the driver of the Vrk team, who was the International and national champion of the last season, this is the confirmation of his position at the top of the category.

Alberto Cola gained the 3rd step of the podium, whereas Davide Pavan ended 4th.

Dominic Scheer, the International champion of the class 100 in 2004, arrived 6th in front of Von Molke, Arenas, Savaria and Scarlato.

The German driver Sascha Viets, on the other hand, won the International title of the category 125 Heavy beating Daniele Mercatelli and Salvatore Fichera only in the last stages of the race.

The last season’s International Champion Renzo Calcinati had to make do with a 4th position in front of Campo, Munoz, Baiguini and Villa.

Viets, having raced with an Italian licence and having earned all the qualification rights provided for by the Italian regulations, managed to win the National title.

The afternoon programme ended with the new 125 Shifter, the category which completes the presence of Easykart within the professional arena.

For promotional purposes, and out of category, the official Birel drivers Franceso Laudato and Manuel Cozzaglio also took part.

After springing from the first row, the two drivers lead the race up to when Cozzaglio was obliged to stop because of a chain problem.
In the last stages of the race, Laudato had to make way for Ranica who, also thanks to Menegazzo’s withdrawal, managed to take the lead.

The Superteam driver went on to win over Galimberti and Castiglioni.

In the morning, the ‘C’ and ‘B’ finals for the categories 60, 100 and 125 Light took place, which qualified the last 6 drivers for the afternoon’s International Finals.

In the first race of the programme, the ‘C’ Final of the category 60, Francesca Raffaelli won despite having started last because of a double exclusion in the qualifying stages.

The ‘B’ Final of the 60cc on the other hand saw 10 drivers go off track at the first turn; success went to Bagnato who won in front of Sactigna, Rimoldi, Pietro Fittipaldi (nephew of Emerson), Sances and Messina.

In the category 100cc, De Berardinis won over Villa and Torta.
Next came Molnar, Zonzini and Bonacina.

Finally, in the 125 Light, Baroni ended ahead of Schirosi and De Castro; Ghezzi, Fioravanti and Ferro also managing to qualify.

In the same morning, the promotional event dedicated to the category 50 Training was held with great success, thanks to the participation of 22 drivers.

During the lunch interval, the spotlights were on the presentation ceremony which saw the 230 finalists parade together with Jesolo’s town band.

As part of the ceremony the American, European and Italian national anthems were played and all the drivers of the category 50 were awarded a prize by the Chairman of Birel, Oscar Sala.

All drivers were also given a medal to commemorate their participation in the event.

The 5th edition of the International Finals therefore culminated with the awarding of the prestigious Titles, with highly professional races and, more than anything, with a fundamental and important moment in terms of experience for all participating drivers.

The highlights of this event will be broadcast by National Odeon TV on Saturday, 21st October at 12:30.

The International Finals will also feature in an episode of “Fuori Pista”, the programme with Guido Schittone dedicated to motor racing broadcast on Nuvolari.

Further services will be guaranteed according to a schedule which will be made known by the event’s television producers who, as usual, broadcast all races live on the Maxi-screen of the track.

The rendezvous is now for 2007, when the Federations of Greece, Turkey, Germany and the United Kingdom will also join the 15 countries already participating in the Easykart project.