CKI: RDD Motorsports Phoenix WSK event summary

RDD Motorsports drivers work through a tough weekend as Garrett Sargeant makes his Junior racing debut and Logan ties for top points

Deerfield Beach, FL - RDD Motorsports of Deerfield Beach, Florida, the exclusive North American importer of the Kart Mini chassis leaves the desert state of Arizona with some highs and some lows. The official factory Kart Mini team ran at the sharp end of the time sheets all weekend, but would be rattlesnake bit by contact and controversy. The RDD team headed into Phoenix for the second weekend of WSK North American Series racing action at the Phoenix Raceway Park at full strength as Garrett Sargeant made his national debut in Leopard Junior joining teammate Sebastian Ordonez. In Rotax Mini Max, brothers Logan and Dalton Sargeant took to the track looking to follow up on the round one momentum. The heat of the desert would see teams and drivers search for the right setup and tempers rise with the mercury.

"As a team manager this is one of those weekends that turns your hair grey," comments Andre Serra, owner of RDD Motorsports. "All of our drivers had good speed and ran near the front, but we left the weekend with not many points to show. Logan did a great job in Mini Max to tie for first on weekend points. "

In Junior the duo of Sebastian and Garrett looked to make some noise, as the team would now be able to field a pair of drivers to share information and compare data. In Saturday action Ordonez would run at the front all day taking third in qualifying and following that up with second in the prefinal. Sargeant would run a solid pace as he got up to speed in the bigger kart taking fourteenth in qualifying and eleventh in the prefinal. With a front row starting spot for the final, Ordonez would battle hard right from the start and look to take home a podium. He would settle for a fifth spot at the line, while Sargeant went out early from contact and was classified in fourteenth.

Turing to Sunday Ordonez would clock through in the fourth spot in qualifying while Sargeant grabbed the thirteenth spot. In the prefinal Ordonez would cross in the sixth position after an intense battle, while Sargeant closed the gap on the leaders to cross in the thirteenth position. In the final race of the weekend, Ordonez would get a great start only to loose his front nose cone early in the race after contact, forcing him to retire in the thirteenth spot. Garett would continue to gain speed and rally to cross in the eleventh spot.

"I am really proud of Garrett this weekend. He did pretty good and gained a lot of speed on the leaders over the weekend," continues Serra. "He is learning the bigger kart and will continue to work on kart setup over the coming week."

In Mini Max, the tandem of Logan and Dalton Sargeant would complete an eventful weekend. In Saturday competition, Dalton would qualify in fourth with Logan clocking in the fifth spot. Dalton would take the prefinal win with Logan crossing in the fifth spot to keep both RDD drivers in the top five. Dalton would use his front row spot to take the lead and win the final while Logan battle hard to grab second place making it an RDD Kart Mini 1-2 finish in day one action. Moving into day two festivities, Dalton would grab the second spot in qualifying just nipping his teammate Logan who took the third spot. The RDD duo would dominate the prefinal with Dalton taking the win and Logan crossing in second for an all-RDD front row for the final race of the weekend. In the final the battle up front was intense with passing coming on every lap. At the line it was Dalton in second and Logan in the fifth spot. A post race penalty for contact after the checkered flag would see Dalton removed from the final standings. This moved Logan to fourth and a share of the top point tally for the weekend.

"Logan was good all weekend and to get two top fives and tie for top points is really great," smiles Serra. "We will have to sit down and talk about the post race contact with Dalton and series officials to make sure we don't repeat that situation in the future."

Up next for RDD Motorsports will be the second round of the South Florida Rotax Max Challenge at Homestead Karting outside of Miami.

-source: rdd motorsports