Johnny Johnson

Norberg finds his way on Sunday in Senior

It wasn't easy, but the better pace won out in the end.

Ryan Norberg
Photo: Johnny Johnson / Kart360

The PSL Karting lead-driver had his hands full on Friday and Saturday, and even for half of the prefinal, but it was the breakout win in the final most were expecting from Ryan Norberg.

Diego Ramos came out with the pole on Friday, and a win in the first heat by .001 as he and Norberg banged side pods down to the finish. Norberg regained the upper hand on Saturday with a pair of heat wins, but by no means walkaways.

The opening laps of the pre final on Sunday was a thing of beauty between Norberg and Ramos, as the BraziIlian got the whole shot and defended wonderfully to stall the Floridians attempts at the lead. The two lead drivers swapped the lead multiple times, including an incredible move by Ramos around the outside of Norberg in the huge sweeper, or “showcase” corner, 5 or 6 laps in.

Ramos got a slight push from Eduardo Barrichello that propelled him much deeper in the braking zone than Norberg. The rest was history, as the Kosmic Kart stuck the outside line and completely caught everyone by surprise.

Despite the glamorous pass, Norberg had ran Ramos back down shortly after, taking the lead and going through to lead the final half of the race comfortably. 

That trend continued into the final with a flag to flag result for the Birel ART driver. Ramos finished second, followed by Ryan MacDermid, who had really great pace but was caught up in an accident in the prefinal that had him starting ninth for the final.

Fourth and fifth went to Arthur Leist and Eduardo Barrichello.

Leist had been one of the favorites coming into the weekend, but was not at his best this weekend and struggled at times to crack the top five. His wreck in the prefinal with MacDermid spoiled any chance in the final. Leist also ran shifter, which was the first we've seen of him in that category, and perhaps the splitting of his focus played a factor there.

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