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Blayze Coaching Race Report
ROK Sonoma Presented by Titanium Sports Nutrition Completes Round Three
VLR classes see bigger numbers
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| May 21, 2023 – As the 2023 season rolls on, ROK Sonoma Presented by Titanium Sports completed its third round of competition this past weekend. With a huge increase in numbers in the VLR classes, ROK Sonoma is gaining popularity with the heart of the karting season just around the corner. With three of nine race weekends in the books, championship battles are beginning to take shape as teams and competitors shift their focus to the next round in mid-June.
“Congrats again to all of our winners and podium finishers,” expressed Steve Cameron. “We were happy to see some new faces this past weekend and look forward to welcoming more in the future. The wheel-to-wheel action continues to be great, and I can’t wait to see what the rest of the season has in store.”
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| Max Altman-Jr. VLR |
Junior VLR With the VLR classes continuing to gain popularity at ROK Sonoma, it was 12 divers who would battle for the VLR Junior race win. Max Altman reigned supreme in the day’s main event taking the win courtesy of the fastest race lap to beat Eri Doan by .828. It was a two-horse race upfront as Altman and Doan pushed away from the rest of the field by nearly ten seconds to battle for the win. Behind them, Hudson Sharp earned a podium result coming home third with Nico Sarphati and Zoquan Holbrook in fourth and fifth.
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125cc Shifter Ltd presented by Altwell / Master ROK presented by Radical Northwest |
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| Travis Bowles-125 LTD |
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| David Palic-Master ROK |
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| Twelve drivers showed up to compete in the 125cc LTD class but none faster than Travis Bowles. Despite only having the fourth fastest lap time, Bowles remained consistent to open a nearly four-second gap to the second-place runner of Steven Piggott. With Bowles earning the win, Piggott narrowly held on for the second position ahead of Samuel Gluss in third. While the fastest lap of the race went to the sixth-place finisher of Hunter Hagenbuch, he failed to be able to work his way around Andrew Wait and Ori Della Penna who held on to fourth and fifth respectively. In the Master ROK class, it was David Palic who earned the win ahead of Scott Bradley.
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| Stephen Eisert-Sr. VLR |
Senior VLR presented by OPI Builders
Nineteen competitors took part in the ROK VLR Senior final but only one would find his way to the top step of the podium and that was none other than Stephen Eisert. Claiming the win by a scant .497 in the 18-lap main event, Eisert led Ryan Persing and Gina Sandoval to the podium with Sandoval claiming the fastest lap of the race with a blistering 53.886. It was another Sandoval that was in the top-five with Matteo in fifth as he finished just behind the fourth-place runner of Anthony White as the top-six were separated by just 2.186 when the checkered flag flew. Growing in size week after week, the VLR Senior class has become one of the biggest at the 2023 ROK Sonoma program.
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Mini & Micro ROK presented by SSI Racing |
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| Mateo Calderon-Mini ROK |
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| Aidan Go-Micro ROK |
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| It was a familiar name at the top of the results sheet and a familiar face on the top step of the podium as Mateo Calderon was once again the Mini ROK driver to beat. Dominating the 15-lap main event to take the win by 9.122 over his closest rival, Calderon celebrated on the podium. To his right stood the second-place finisher of Cason Hodge and to his left was Julian Sanchez who had crossed the line third. Case Wan and Mika De Keijser rounded out the top-five with Calderon earning the fastest race lap on the way to the win. On the Micro ROK side of the program, the top-three could be covered by a blanket as Pratyush Lyer finished .572 behind the race winner of Aidan Go while James Fogarty was less than .200 behind Lyer with the top-three separated by a total of .704 when the checkered flag flew. Kylie Johnson and Piyush Lyer secured fourth and fifth in the finishing order.
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| Dan Jones-Mstr VLR |
Master VLR
It was all Dan Jones in the VLR Master class as he pushed his machine to the limit to score the fastest race lap and eventual win in the 18-lap main event. Jones was the only driver to dip below the 55-second mark and in doing so, opened the gap to the second-place finisher to nearly five seconds. Georgios Georgiou was the best of the rest in the second position, ahead of Scott Formanek, Michael Ting, and Dan Rivera who completed the top-five in the 13-kart-strong VLR Master field.
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Pro ROK Shifter & Master ROK Shifter presented by Altwell |
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| Brian Keck-Pro ROK Shifter |
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| Marcin Kloda-Mstr ROK Shifter |
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| Brian Keck took the win in the fastest class on the weekend as he finished the 20-lap main event in just under 18 minutes to take the Pro Shifter victory. A veteran to the sport, Keck used consistency to draw away from his rivals to take the checkered flag by 2.642. Michael Avansino crossed the line in the second position ahead of Aidan O’Neill, Tazio Ottis, and Collin McGrath. In the Masters Shifter class, Marcin Kloda took the win ahead of Thomas Parmentier.
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| Next up for the ROK Sonoma Presented by Titanium Sports is round four over the June 17-18 weekend.
For more information, visit ROK Sonoma online via their Facebook page by searching ROK Sonoma or at their website www.roksonoma.com.
For information on press releases or other media services offered by Race Tech Development, please contact Mike Maurini via e-mail at Info@RaceTechDevelopment.com or 317.270.8723. Race Tech Development can also be found on Twitter at @RTDMediaAndMgmt as well as Facebook at their Race Tech Development Fan Page.
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