Askew Is Junior Rotax FWT Champion
Tweetpress release
Ocala Gran Prix / Tony Kart driver Oliver Askew attained his first goal of 2012 by securing the Rotax Junior championship at the prestigious Formula Kart Productions Florida Winter Tour. In a challenging weekend at the Ocala Gran Prix facility in central Florida, the K1 RaceGear supported driver went on to take two pole positions, one heat race win, a podium result and a solid drive from 34th on the grid to score a seventh place result.
above: Oliver Askew will represent Team USA at the 2012 Rotax Grand Finals in Portugal
pic - Cody Schindel, Autosports Media
Showing his speed throughout the unofficial test days, Askew would post some of the quickest times of the week as he looked to start his championship-winning weekend off on the right foot. Taking to the track for Friday's official practice and qualifying sessions, Askew would again show his speed in the morning warm-up sessions as well as in his afternoon qualifying efforts.
With the Florida Winter Tour event weekend seeing a huge increase in competitors, Friday afternoon's sessions would determine the starting grids for both Saturday and Sunday's prefinals. With the first session setting the grid for Sunday's wheel-to-wheel action, Askew went on a tear and turned the fastest Rotax Junior lap of the weekend with a 36.588 to take the pole position. Back on track later that afternoon, Askew also managed to take the pole position for Saturday's competition with a time of 36.742.
With the championship on the line, Askew was determined to play the upper hand and take control. With points being awarded for both the prefinal and main events, every position and every point would count in the overall championship chase. Showing his true speed on Saturday morning, Askew claimed the prefinal victory by nearly two seconds as he drew away from his rivals. Securing 50 points in the championship chase, Askew would line up on the inside front row for the main event.
Taking the point early, Askew led a few laps before his biggest championship contender would take the top spot. As the pair swapped positions, other drivers would enter the fray and contact was made on multiple occasions. With a bent tie rod and after falling all the way back to sixth, the Ocala Gran Prix pilot put together a fantastic final few circuits to move forward to the third position when the checkered flag flew. With an on track penalty to a fellow competitor, Askew was awarded the second place podium position and would head to Sunday with the championship point lead.
Staring from the pole position for Sunday's prefinal, disaster would strike for Askew on the warm-up lap, as he knew something was wrong with his Tony Kart chassis. Falling back on the opening lap and eventually outside the top ten by lap three, Askew retired from the race with a mechanical failure and would be forced to start from the tail of the field for the main event.
"After the prefinal on Sunday it looked as if my championship hopes were gone," expressed Askew. "My biggest championship rival had finished in fourth and gained a lot of points on me, but he would be sent to the tail of the grid after failing post race tech."
Setting up an epic battle for Sunday's main event, Askew would line up in the 33rd position and would look to gain as many positions as possible. At the drop of the green flag, a huge multi-kart pile up would see Askew make contact and fly up in the air. With several drivers needing medical attention, crews were given 30 minutes to work on their equipment for a complete restart.
With a severely bent chassis, the Ocala Gran Prix squad went to work to straighten Askew's Tony Kart in the limited timeframe. Twisted in multiple directions, the kart was bent back in the best way possible all while abiding by the Florida Winter Tour and Rotax Max Challenge rules.
Starting the main event for the second time that afternoon, Askew held his distance from the field to ensure he made it through the first complex of corners. Closing the first lap in 29th, the talented youngster would begin his march forward from there. With a still bent and ill-handling chassis, Askew went on to score the second fastest lap of the event as he drove to an impressive and well-deserved seventh place result.
Though the results from this past weekend were not what Oliver had hoped for, the points gained were enough to secure the Rotax Junior Florida Winter Tour Championship as well as a ticket to the 2012 Rotax Grand Finals to represent Team USA in Portiamo, Portugal later this year.
