CIK-FIA Macau Races Thrilling Finals

The CIK-FIA Asia Pacific KF3 Championship was widely acknowledged as one of the great KF3 races this season.  Jehan Daravulo from India entered the finals as the odds-on favourite, having led every qualifying heat and the pre-final leading up to the Sunday final. But the young Japanese pilot Sato Marino grabbed the early lead  and held on through the first 13 out of 21 laps.  In the first hairpin at lap 13, Daravulo grabbed the lead but Marino fought back in the second hairpin to reclaim the lead.   Daravulo wasn’t done yet, though, and took back the  lead in the 19th lap. But it was a 21 lap race and Marino reclaimed the lead at the top of lap 20 with an aggressive maneuver that sent both drivers briefly off track in a scrappy battle for first.  Marino looked like he would pull off a major upset, but he went wide at the final hairpin and Daravula was able to seize the inside advantage to  grab the lead and victory.  Marino finished second and Joe Ishida, also from Japan, completed the podium.
The second round of the CIK-FIA World Karting Champtionship was equally thrilling. In the first race, Tom Joyner took first, followed by Max Verstappen and Pedro Hiltbrand.  Ben Hanley, racing with the Tillotson HW-11B, crossed second, but a 10 second penalty pushed him down to 6th place.  Flavio Camponeschi had entered the race in pole position but a faulty starter motor prevented him from starting and he was forced to start the second final at the back of the field.  Despite that bit of bad luck, Camponeschi was not to be denied a podium place on the first day and fought his way from last to 2nd place.   Joyner held him off to take his second first place finish and Jordon Lennox-Lamb took third.  Sunday’s racing continued the excitement.  Camponeschi reclaimed his pole position in the qualifying heats, followed by Vesrstappen, Felice Tiene, Eddy Tinini and Jordan Lennox-Lamb all from CRG.   Joyner managed only a 7th place start.  That proved to be a blessing, though, as Camponeschi and the four CRG racers started the first lap in a pile up that earned Verstappen a 10 second penalty and allowed Tom Joyner, Ben Hanley and Felice Tiene to sneak past and drive on to victory.  In the final race, Joyner, Tiene, Camponeschi and Hanley fought traded places regularly from start to finish, and Karol Basz from Poland jumped into the mix from an 8th place start.  In the end, Joyner claimed his fourth 1st place finish, followed by Felice Tiene and Basz.  It was a great day of racing all around!