Johnny Johnson

Montoya defends pole position in Junior ROK Final

It was a frenzy early, but the Columbian found himself back in front when it mattered.

Sebastian Montoya 2018 ROK The Rio
Sebastian Montoya led both early and late in the Junior ROK Final. Photo: Johnny Johnson / Kart360

Although he didn't lead the entire race, in the end Sebastian Montoya (Team Montoya / Tony Kart) found himself right where he started — in first.  It was a frantic race nearly all 25 laps with constantly changing positions inside the top five. Montoya, Luca Mars (SCR / Tony Kart), and Thomas Nepveu (PSL / BirelART) all had their karts out font at some point with Connor Zilisch (Team Felon / Tony Kart) and Jak Crawford (Kosmic) right in the mix.

When the race settled near lap 20, Montoya had the advantage out front and rain lap times just fast enough to keep the lead. Nepveu and Mars had dropped back a few spots and been replaced by Zilisch and hard charger, Paolo Ferrari. Ferarri, in third, was now up 24 spots and running the fastest laps on track. The Italian always had the pace, but a few DNFs in the heats was ultimately why he was found up front until the very end of the feature race.

With enough space between each of the top five, no changes were found up front in the closing circuits. Mars and Nepveu had slipped just slightly back to fourth and fifth, followed by Crawford in sixth.

Race Results - Top Five

2018 ROK The Rio Junior ROK Final
Rnk # Driver Gap Best Time
1 258 SEBASTIAN MONTOYA 49.327
2 272 CONNOR ZILISCH 0.493 49.218
3 200 PAOLO FERRARI 0.915 49.153
4 208 LUCA MARS 1.444 49.072
5 224 THOMAS NEPVEU 2.143 49.296
Full standings
Rnk # Driver Gap Best Time
6 252 JAK CRAWFORD 4.045 49.474
7 257 TYLER GONZALEZ 5.32 49.598
8 287 JEREMY FAIRBAIRN 8.416 49.562
9 265 MACKENZIE CLARK 10.467 49.399
10 288 AUSTIN TORGESON 10.737 49.631
11 254 DALE CURRAN 12.238 49.333
12 256 JONATHON PORTZ 13.404 49.525
13 243 JOEY ATANASIO 14.011 49.431
14 289 JULIAN NAZARIO 15.198 49.444
15 202 ASHTON TORGERSON 16.688 49.811
16 299 RAFA ABDULALI 17.293 49.619
17 237 DIEGO CONTECHA 17.732 49.237
18 277 CELSO NETO 19.413 49.774
19 217 EMMO FITTIPALDI 19.787 49.486
20 234 WILLIAM COX 24.001 49.86
21 219 EDDIE SHIMMON 27.69 49.804
22 212 MARCELLO PANICCIA 27.737 49.973
23 268 ETHAN HO 27.872 49.65
24 251 BRENDEN RUZBARSKY 32.265 50.117
25 222 ALEXANDER BERG 44.858 50.583
26 220 ALESSANDRO DE TULLIO 5 Laps 49.061
27 293 DANIEL FELLOWS 5 Laps 50.746
28 211 MARCOS TELLE 22 Laps 51.286
29 218 GUILHERME FIGUEREDO 24 Laps
30 221 MAXIMILIAN OPALSKI 24 Laps
31 225 AIDAN KENNY 24 Laps
213 NOLAN SIEGEL DNS
236 WILLIAM FERGUSON DNS
280 MATTHEW MARROCCO DNS
291 COOPER BECKLIN DNS
269 BRANYON TINER DSQ