EASYKART EUROPEAN GRAND FINALS POZNAN (POLAND), AUGUST 22 -23 -24, 2008

GREAT SUCCESS FOR THE 1ST EUROPEAN FINAL

The first Easykart European Final, raced on the Polish track at Poznan August 22-24, ended with exceptional organizational success.  There were a good 10 countries represented with over 120 drivers who competed for continental recognition in the 60cc, 100cc, Light, Heavy and Shifter classes. The Poznan track that hosted the prestigious event and the Organization of the Polish Federation were excellent, receiving full agreement between the drivers and workers. The organizational standards, from all points of view were, in fact, those of one of the highest level international meets that has been lacking in Poland for about 20 years.  From the sports point of view, the lion’s share went to Russia who earned three of the five titles in competition, winning the 60cc Final with Sitnikov, the Light with Kramarskiy and the Heavy with Deltsov. The 100cc went to the driver from the Czech Republic, Radim Maxa, while Italy won in the Shifter with Alessandro Zanoni from the Veneto. The Polish drivers, expected protagonists on the eve of the race were left wanting even though they won many important placings. The program of the race was opened with the “B” Finals of the 60cc and 100cc classes that qualified the last 6 drivers for the afternoon’s continental Finals.  In the 60cc the dominator was the young Hungarian driver Josef Havasi (age 8) who won with a good 11 second advantage over the Pole, Grudzinski. On the third step of the podium was Kolendo, while following him were Malczak, Bielecki and the German, Grobmair.  Of note were 3 time penalties ( 10" for the drivers Kowalski, Krencisz and Bravanec) for irregular starts, a result of the attention that the Sporting Commission placed on the starting procedure, applying the International regulations with the aid of a radar for maximum speed (40Km/h) and a telecamera for alignment. This caused many precautions to be taken in the following races.   Also in terms of penalties, in the 60cc “B” Final, Fiaccadori was excluded for a technical non-conformity: the Italian had reached 2nd place at the finish line.  On the other hand, in the 100cc “B” Final, the passport for the European Final was taken by the winner Strozynski who preceded Mikulski and Jager. 4th place went to the excellent lady Katarzyna Klos, followed by Grzedzinski who was ahead of Bartsch. Among the most spectacular moments of the weekend, before the afternoon Finals, was the presentation of the drivers, grouped by nationality, with each participant being given a souvenir of the event along with the greeting of the highest level officials of the Polish Federation.   The continental Finals, on the other hand, were opened by the 100cc, the category in which, after 5 laps saw the withdrawal of Maszkowski who requested the red flag for safety reasons.  Therefore, the class was drafted in the preceding lap with Maxa in the lead ahead of the Pole, Kisiel; the Russian, Godovanjuk (after the qualifying round) and the Italian, Beccaria. The second round then took off with this starting lineup and decreed the success of Radim Maxa who, for the entire race, was capable of controlling Michele Beccaria who hit the finish line first in the 2nd split, but without succeeding in taking the advantage that the driver from the Czech Republic had accumulated in the 1st part of the race.  Therefore the class saw Maxa win the first European title of the day, Beccaria with an excellent 2nd and Kevin Lavelli standing out on the 3rd step of the podium.  It was Italy again with 4th place won by the excellent Alessandra Brena who preceded the Pole, Jan Kisiel. On the other hand, the Russian, Javorovskiy was unfortunate, ending in 4th place but then penalized by 10” for having passed the white lines during the start and moved back to 6th place.  In 7th place was the Pole, Szczepanik who preceded the Russian, Bolshikh; Labecki (Poland) and another Russian, Timofeev. The other Italians who qualified in the top 20 were Cattaneo with 14th place then Adrenaline Blu in 18th and Di Fabrizio in 19th place.  Of note was an accident that left Godovanjuk out of the race while he was in among the top positions, also requiring x-rays for the Russian driver, while Cunati was forced to withdraw due to a broken tailpipe during the first part of the race after having obtained 3rd place in the qualifying round. In the 125 Light, the poleman Pirovano compromised his race with a spin in the first phase while he was in the lead and was forced to try to come back from 9th place.  The lead was then taken over by Rzucidlo who went on to win, keeping the Russian, Kramarskiy under control for the entire race.  But, at the finish line, the race judges gave a 10” penalty to the Pole for excessive speed in the startup, changing the order of arrival and giving the title to the Russian driver.   A penalty also set back Szczepanik from 3rd place to 6th place, allowing the Italian, Pirovano, to finish his climb to the third step of the podium.   Another Italian, Davide Spreafico, finished in 4th place and then the Englishman, Richard Hudson.  Marco Bambace, on the other hand, won 8th place.  In the 125 Heavy, together with the Light, the victory went to the Russian, Deltsov who preceded the Italians, Sorci and Filippo Bambace, as well as the Russian, Divak.  The Italian national anthem was finally played for the 125 Shifter thanks to Zanoni’s clean victory who started out ahead of the Russian, Shykolnyy and the Italian Alessandro Schirosi.  Following were the Pole Szufrajda and the Italians Reggiani and Sibani, with Sibani receiving a 10” penalty for having passed the white line at the start.  The last Final of the day, in the 60cc, was also the most exciting and fought over.  From the start it was the Slovakian driver, Patrick Pastorok, but soon afterward a threesome formed in the lead with the Pole Kalinowski and the excellent Italians, Drudi and Geltrude to compete for the victory. Right behind them was a group of over 10 drivers in competition, among them were Pastorok, Sitnikov, Iannacone, Svoboda and Waldherr. Unfortunately, a contact set back the Russians, Shwartzman and Chubarov while they occupied the top spots. The race’s epilogue was reached only in the final lap, which began with Drudi in the lead ahead of Geltrude and Kalinowski; but, as often happens, among three combatants, the 4th, the Russian Sitnikov, came out ahead.  Taking advantage of a light contact between Geltrude and Drudi, he succeeded in taking advantage of their decisive wake and won the title by a hair over Riccardo Geltrude. In 3rd place was the Pole, Kalinowski, who preceded Mattia Drudi, all in less than two tenths. Another Italian was in 5th place with an excellent race by Armando Iannacone, while 6th place went to the color bearer of the Czech Republic, Svoboda.  Following were the German, Waldherr who preceded Pastorok, then the Russian Malyshev and the Pole, Nowosad.

Players’ comments:

Nikita Sitnikov -Russia (Winner of the European Title in the 60cc class): "I’m very happy because after the contact slowed down Shwartzman we lost a few meters from the top three and I didn’t think I would be able to re-enter the competition for the win.  But instead, they got in each other’s way and with a little luck I found the right gap to pass from 4th to first.  For this victory I also want to thank my team, the Mazzotti Corse."

Radim Maxa - Czech Republic (Winner of the European Title in the 100cc class): "With the race divided in two fractions I knew I could count on the advantage won over Beccaria in the first 4 laps and in the 2nd round I did everything I could not to lose his trail.  In the end, with a little luck, arriving right behind him, I was able to win by 6 tenths.  This is a victory that has made my season, after having narrowly lost the victory in the KF3 Open and having raced excellent races in the Easykart in Italy: I want to dedicate it to my team, Emilia kart and to Birel who have been giving me a lot of help."

Alexsander Kramarskiy - Russia (Winner of the European Title in the 125cc Light Class): "How great to climb on the highest step of the podium and to hear the Russian National Anthem.  It’s too bad about the penalty received by Rzucidlo, who I wasn’t able to beat on the track, but I am happy with my race and for Easykart Russia who, along with me, has won this great victory."

Andrej Deltsov - Russia (Winner of the European Title in the 125cc Heavy Class): "This category has proven itself to be in top form on the International level and the success of this European Final confirms it.  In this matter compliments go to the Polish Federation who did excellent organizational work.  As for my race in the Heavy class, which isn’t raced here yet, we were not many which made my life easier; therefore it was nice to see so many Russian drivers in the top spots in all of the classes.”

Alessandro Zanoni - Italy (Winner of the European Title in the 125cc Shifter Class): "During the trials we found the set up to be excellent and in the race everything went smoothly even though in the last laps it seemed like it wouldn’t end.  I am very happy and would like to thank my team, Emilia kart, with whom I would like to share the credit for this success."

Marco Angeletti – Birel Manager: "The balance of the event was positive beyond any of our expectations: the Polish Federation did exceptional work, guaranteeing excellent organizational standards for the race.  You only need to think about the personnel committed to the track, the medical staff, the services in the closed park, the management and cleaning of the paddocks and the control instruments for the starting procedures, besides, the great track guaranteed a particular choreography to the event.  From the sporting point of view, I am happy with the performance of the drivers who we are observing up close and who also proved themselves to be very competitive in this occasion; I’m thinking of the great race by Maxa and Beccaria in the 100cc for example, but also of the enormous amount of drivers that are making themselves known in the 60cc class, the reservoir from which we are determined to identify which drivers to support in the next competitive season.”