FWT - PSL Karting Moroso round three preview

PSL KARTING BACK TO MOROSO AFTER MIXED ROTAX WEEKEND IN FLORIDA
Canadian team scores 10 top-ten finishes at Moroso event and is looking for more

JUPITER, FL (January 15, 2008) -- PSL Karting looked to continue their solid start to the 2008 season when they trekked to Jupiter, Florida for the second Rotax round of the Florida Winter Tour at Moroso Motorsports Park last weekend. The first of two weekends at the 9/10-mile facility saw the team's CRG drivers back under the Quebec-based kart shop tent and while they showed quickness throughout the weekend, nagging gremlins kept the 13 drivers working harder than expected. After a short week 'off', the team is back at Moroso for the back-end of the doubleheader this weekend to support a new cast of drivers in the gearbox, direct drive and TaG categories.

With the absence of 'Bad' Brad Smith to an illness, the rest of PSL's Masters squad stepped up last weekend, recording five top-ten finishes. Leading the way was Denis Lachance with duplicate results during the two days of competition. After a sixth in qualifying and moving up to fourth in the Prefinals, Lachance scored fifth place in both Finals. Michel Legrand scored duplicate results in the finals as well - running just outside the top-10 throughout the weekend before stepping up in the Finals with a pair of seventh place results. Camille Villeneuve was battling in the top-five Saturday before falling to 20th in the Final. On Sunday, he returned to the front and recorded a sixth place result. Martin Lachance showed improvement from round one, running near the top-10, but trouble in both finals put him outside the top 20.

The Junior contingent was led by Tommy Beshro. The Quebec pilot was unable to find a quick qualifying set-up, starting both Prefinals outside the top-10. Once green flag racing began, however, Beshro worked into the top-10, scoring 10th place results in both Finals. Florida pilot Jesus Rios Jr. was quick all weekend as well. Running in the lead group, trouble in Saturday's Final took him out of podium contention. On Sunday, Rios was up front again, recording and eighth place finish. Chris Ernst had a difficult weekend, running 31st and 21st.

Olivier Sirois led the Senior drivers on the weekend, transferring his quickness from round one to round two. Qualifying tenth on Saturday, Sirois worked up to finish seventh on the day for another strong points day. Sunday looked to be a better day, qualifying outside row one but trouble in the main event dropped him to 29th. Mexican pilot Rodolfo Camarillo ran to a 15th and eighth place finishes, while Julia Claveau sat out the remainder of the weekend following Saturday's Prefinal run.

Three drivers made up the Mini Max PSL squad for the first time in 2008. Zacharie Scalzo recorded finishes of 12th and 19th. Colombian Camillo Forero was 21st on Saturday and 28th on Sunday, while fellow countryman Juan Garcia was 18th on Saturday before sitting out Sunday's events following qualifying.

This weekend will be the Group B of the Florida Winter Tour at the Moroso facility, which will include the CIK/Shifter/TaG classes where PSL will look to return to the podium. The team will have nationally-ranked drivers Fritz Leesmann and Tom Cadieux in the Pro Shifter category, joined by Jacob Neal, Corey Rossman, Jey Riceputo and Anthony Llopiz. In Masters Shifter, Gus Vidal and Michel Legrand will lead the charge.

-credit: www.pslkarting.com