Coulton FWT Micro MAX Vice-Champion
Tweetpress release
Continuing his trend of earning excellent results at the 2012 Formula Kart Productions Florida Winter Tour, Lakeland, Florida's Harry Coulton completed the final round with three more trips to the podium. Recently taking to the challenging Ocala Gran Prix facility, Coulton again battled world-class competition in the Rotax Micro Max class and rose to the occasion in the tight 36-kart strong field. Taking third place honors on Saturday, Coulton scored his second feature win of the series on Sunday and was presented the Micro Max Vice-Championship trophy during the final podium presentations.
Above: Harry Coulton earned the Sunday Micro Max win in Ocala
pic - Ken Johnson, studio52.us
Starting off his official on-track activity with two qualifying sessions on Friday, Coulton would put his MRP Motorsports / Birel in the sixth place for both Saturday's and Sunday's wheel-to-wheel action. With his outside third row starting position for each prefinal, Coulton would need good starts and avoid any opening lap melees to continue his trend of solid finishing results.
And Coulton would do just that in Saturday's prefinal race. Staying near the pointy end of the field during the 12-lap heat race, Coulton would gain two positions and cross the stripe in fourth. Gaining two more positions after a few penalties were assessed on his competition, the nine-year-old would move up to the front row for the day's final race. At the drop of the green, Coulton, starting on the unfavorable outside row, fell to fourth entering turn one. Soon making a pass for third, Coulton held station for the rest of the 16-lap event to bring home a solid third place podium finish.
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Coulton made two appearances on the podium Sunday, once for his race win and once for second place honors in the overall class championship |
Back on track Sunday for the final day of the 2012 Florida Winter Tour, Coulton got a good start for the prefinal race, improving to fifth and earning the more-preferred inside line for the feature race. Taking to the technical, 6/10-mile layout for the last time on Sunday, Coulton had worked his way up to fourth by the mid-point of the 16-lap main, passing his main championship rival, Jamaica's Justin Sirgany. Coulton reeled in the lead pack after passing Sirgany, and the top four drivers headed into the last lap separated by inches. Contact between three of the four karts in turn three resulted in another dramatic last lap pass by the MRP / Birel driver as Coulton scored his second win in the ultra-competitive class.
Again taking in all the post-race glory, Coulton topped the blocks during the afternoon podium presentations, hoisting a trophy nearly as tall as him during the celebration. Recalled to the podium again, Coulton was honored with the Vice-Championship trophy on the strength of his two wins, third place podium finish and two top-fives in the six race series. Despite his strong showing in Ocala, Coulton just missed out on the overall Micro Max class championship by just 55 points, after drops were factored in.
Coulton would like to thank his coach and tuner Tim Lobaugh of MRP Motorsports and his engine builder Ariel Castro of AM Engines. Without their knowledge, guidance and support, Coulton's Vice-Championship run would not have been possible. Coulton also thanks all the staff at MRP, his parents, family members and friends for their support and offers congratulations to the Sirgany Family for their FWT Championship Campaign.
