U.S. Rotax MAX Grand Nationals: Photo Review
Another great delivery from Rotax and the display of the new distributors.
Now in the books is the 2018 US Rotax MAX Grand Nationals, held at one of the finer facilities in the country, New Jersey Motorsports Park last weekend -- July 6-8. Here are 26 images that represent the competition and atmosphere from the The Garden State.
Reports from each final can be found in the Kart360 event stream.
The Rotax Max engines patiently waiting to be raffled on July 4.
The organizers of the Rotax Max Challenge, including the new partners from J3 Competition and the RTX Group
Tyler Gonzalez persevered through a wrist injury he sustained in Thursday practice to finish on the podium and secure a RMCGF ticket to the Brazil.
Englishman Bradley Barrett showed great speed in Senior Max but slipped to third on the podium in the Final.
Mathias Ramirez made a last lap lunge for second place, but earned a penalty for knocked Barrett off the track in the process.
Incredible recovery skills by Brent Crews helped him to finish third place and secure the Micro-Max ticket to Brazil.
Canadian Thomas Nepveu was fully focused all week in New Jersey, helping him take home the Junior Max victory after an eventful Final.
From Peru, Michael Greenfield was quite quiet until the DD2 Final where he second a second place finish.
For the second year in a row, Hannah Greenemeier secured a Rotax Grand Finals ticket in New Jersey.
For most of the week, Diego Laroque controlled the Mini-Max category, but he fell short in the Final and placed second.
Traveling to New Jersey for the second year in a row, Australian Scott Howard came within a tenth of a second of the victory in DD2 Masters, leading nearly every lap throughout the weekend in the process.
The early pace-setter in DD2, defending champ Davide Greco crashed in the PreFinal that really hurt his chances at victory.
Derek Wang will represent Team USA at the Rotax Grand Finals for the eighth (!) time.
Canadian Samuel Lupien was perfect in the Senior Max Final, leaving the rest to fight for second.
In the Mini-Max Final, James Egozi was able to pull away from Laroque in the closing laps to secure the win.
Former Formula 1 driver Antonio Pizzonio earned the RGF ticket in Max Masters and will compete at the event in his home country.
Justin White (232) jumped out to the early lead in the Junior Max, but fell down the order as the race went on.
Honourable mention to Patrick Woods-Toth, who led a couple different times in the Junior Max Final and initially crossed in second before being penalized.
Ecuador's Juan Diego Villacis led the majority of the DD2 Final, but crashed on the final lap and was left with a fifth place result.
Derek Wang slipped by Scott Howard for the DD2 Masters after the Australian went wide exiting the final corner of the final lap.
Celebrating five US Rotax Grand National titles was Danny Formal, who made his first DD2 start since 2013.
The hardworking group from GoRotax, ASRQ, NJMP and Rotax Max Challenge who helped put on a super US Open of New Jersey.
The three J's from J3 Competition: Justin, John, and Jim.
The ten drivers who secured their Rotax Grand Finals tickets in New Jersey
For the second year in a row, Rolison Performance Group won the Rotax Senior Final.
Senior Max winner Samuel Lupien had his brother Cedrik turning the wrenches for him in New Jersey and we've been informed the roles will be reversed for the Canadian Open in Mont-Tremblant.