Two days of rain for qualifying and the heat races turned into a fine day for finals at La Conca’s round 3 of the WSK Super Master Series on the weekend.
While several of the Aussies who competed in Europe earlier this year returned to Australia for the AKC round, several are still in Europe.
Griffin Peebles qualified 24th in OK Junior and rocketed up the rankings after some great heat results. Starting off grid 6, he fell to 9th in the opening lap of the final and progressively bounced up and down the order, eventually crossing the line 14th.
William Calleja again proved fast in Mini, qualifying 14th in the 67-strong field. Unfortunately, an incident in the roll-up lap for the first heat injured his ankle, ruling him out for the rest of the meeting. Calleja is hoping the bruising will have subsided enough to be back in the kart this weekend at Sarno.
Meanwhile, our other OKJ driver, Dante Vinci, was on target to make the finals until a heat race DNF and penalty in the pre-final ballooned his point score.
Aussie Wrap
- William Calleja (Mini #503) – Parolin Motorsport, Parolin/TM
Q: 14th (of 67). DNS for all races (injury). - Griffin Peebles (OKJ #302) – Koski Motorsport, Tony Kart/Vortex
Q: 24th (of 54). Heats: 5, 8, 3, 5. Ranking: 6. Pre-Final B: 4th. Final: 14th - Dante Vinci (OKJ #370) – Shamick Europe, Parolin/TM
Q: 51st. Heats: 16, 11, 22, 12. Ranking: 42. Pre-Final B: 24th (penalty). Final: did not transfer
official WSK report
Very nice finals at the third round of the WSK Super Master Series in La Conca
After the rain in the past two days, the final stages of the WSK Super Master Series on Sunday benefited from nice weather that allowed all drivers to show their best at the International Circuit La Conca in Muro Leccese.
A lot of young talents came to the fore in the three categories entitled in this penultimate event, namely OK, OKJ and MINI. The final of OK-Junior was won by Oleksandr Bondarev (Ricky Flynn/LN-Vortex-Vega), that of OK by Joe Turney (Tony Kart Racing Team/Tony Kart-Vortex-LeCont) and MINI’s by Jindrich Pesl (BabyRace/Parolin-Iame-Vega).
The winners of Prefinals
OKJ. In Prefinal-A of OKJ the victory went to Maxens Verbrugge (Forza Racing/Exprit-TM Racing-Vega), who got the most of the 3s time penalty handed to Dmitry Matveev (Koski Motorsport/Tony Kart-Vortex). Prior to the penalty, the latter had managed to complete a great comeback race and crossed the finish line as the first driver. In Prefinal-B the classification leader Oleksandr Bondarev (Ricky Flynn/LN-Vortex) claimed an important win for the classification.
OK. Prefinal-A of OK was won by Kean Nakamura-Berta (KR Motorsport/KR-Iame-LeCont), who led Cristian Bertuca (BirelART Racing/BirelART-TM Racing), while Prefinal-B went to Artem Severiukhin (Ward Racing/Tony Kart-Vortex) from Joe Turney (Tony Kart Racing Team/Tony Kart-Vortex).
MINI. In MINI, Prefinal-A was won by a surprising Iacopo Martinese (BabyRace/Parolin-Iame-Vega), who built a good margin on the rivals that were led by Iskender Zulfikari (Team Driver/KR-Iame). Prefinal-B was won by Jindrich Pesl (BabyRace/Parolin-Iame) from his teammate Oliver Palocko, who completed a good comeback himself too.
The Finals
Bondarev wins OKJ and pulls away in the championship
Classification leader Oleksandr Bondarev (Ricky Flynn/LN-Vortex-Vega) had the upper hand in the OKJ Final that he has been leading since the beginning. At the flag, Bondarev proceeded Douwe Dedecker (KR Motorsport/KR-Iame), who had been successful in qualifying heats.
The fight for P3 was won by Kirill Dzitiev (Ward Racing/Tony Kart-Vortex) due to a penalty handed to Dmitry Matveev (Koski Motorsport/Tony Kart-Vortex), who completed a good comeback race. Matveev was relegated to P4 instead, while the fifth place went to Maciej Gladysz (Ricky Flynn Motorsport/LN-Vortex) at the end of a strong race.
OKJ Final Classification:
- Oleksandr Bondarev
- Douwe Dedecker
- Kirill Dzitiev
WSK Super Master Series OKJ Championship:
- Oleksandr Bondarev points 253
- Dmitry Matveev points 135
- Douwe Dedecker points 127
Turney wins the OK Final and is the new classification leader.
Thanks to his experience and speed, Joe Turney (Tony Kart Racing Team/Tony Kart-Vortex-LeCont) secured the victory in OK with a successful overtaking move on Kean Nakamura-Berta (KR Motorsport/KR-Iame) in the closing stages. The latter had to settle for P2.
The third position went to Freddie Slater (Ricky Flynn Motorsport/LN-Vortex) from Oscar Pedersen (Ward Racing/Tony Kart-Vortex), as both drivers recovered several places from the starting position. The fifth place went to Rashid Al Dhaheri (KR Motorsport/KR-Iame). Joe Turney installed himself on top of the classification inheriting the lead from Tuukka Taponen (Tony Kart Racing Team/Tony Kart-Vortex), who was only 18th in the Final.
OK Final Classification:
- Joe Turner
- Kean Nakamura-Berta
- Freddie Slater
WSK Super Master Series OK Championship:
- Joe Turney points 196
- Tuukka Taponen points 167
- Kean Nakamura-Berta points 163
The victory of MINI to Pesl who pulls away in the standings.
A great race was also run in MINI where the classification leader Jindrich Pesl (BabyRace/Parolin-Iame-Vega) managed to take an early lead with his teammate Iacopo Martinese chasing him, as the latter installed himself in P2 a few laps into the race. Pesl crossed the finish line on top trailed by Martinese.
The third place went to a strong Christian Costoya (Parolin Motorsport/Parolin-TM Racing). The Spanish driver led his teammate Dries Van Langendonck, who had displayed a great shape in the heats. The fifth place went to Filippo Sala (Team Driver/KR-Iame). Pesl pulled away in the provisional classification.
MINI Final Classification:
- Jindrich Pesl
- Iacopo Martinese
- Christian Costoya
WSK Super Master Series MINI Championship:
- Jindrich Pesl points 310
- Dries Van Landendonck points 187
- Christian Costoya points 186
Complete results are available at: www.wskarting.it/index.asp
The next round of WSK Super Master Series:
4th Rd – 13/03/2022 SARNO – MINI-OKJ-OK-KZ2