The second round of the 2020 ROK Cup USA Florida Winter Tour was good to Speed Concepts Racing and Redspeed. Taking place at the Ocala Gran Prix facility in Ocala, Florida, local track knowledge was a benefactor for the elite level karting program as the team went on to score pole positions, heat race victories, prefinal wins, and a pair of podiums over the four-day event.
“The last two weekends of racing have been a huge boost for our team and our drivers,” expressed Mike Speed. “I feel like we were a little down on luck but that turned around as soon as we hit February. All five of our drivers qualified in the top-ten on Friday and that was really what we needed to have a good weekend. A huge thanks to the team for all of their hard work and effort.”
Leading the way on the results sheet was ROK Senior driver Luca Mars. After moving up to the senior ranks and scoring a win back in December, Mars entered Ocala looking to return to the podium. A fifth place result in qualifying turned into consistent and steady improvement through the heats with fifth, fourth and first place results. Saturday afternoon’s prefinal saw Mars back up front to score the win and the pole position for Sunday. Looking to take advantage of the prime starting spot, Mars was jumped on the start and quickly relegated back to fourth as the senior drivers attacked early. Showing composure, Mars took all the pressure in stride, regrouped and earned his way back to a podium result.
Jace Park joined Mars on the podium as he was able to secure a third place result in ROK Junior. Qualifying fifth and having three heat race results in the top-five including a win in heat two, Park went on to secure the second position in Saturday’s prefinal and outside front row starting spot for Sunday’s main event. Battling hard at the front of the field, Park secured his second podium result in as many races putting the Speed Concepts Racing brand on the podium in P3.
Paul Bocuse overcame a disastrous prefinal race that saw him classified outside the top-30 to drive forward and claim a top-ten result. Starting from the outside of row fifteen, Bocuse advanced forward 21 positions in Sunday’s final to earn the race’s hard charger award.
Jack Jeffers had an up and down weekend and experienced the highest of highs and lowest of lows. After scoring the ROK Junior pole position on Friday and a fourth place result in heat one, Jeffers was victim of on track incident in heat two and fell to 17th in the final tally. Rebounding in heat three to take the victory, more contact in the prefinal saw him well down the running order. Jeffers returned to the track on Sunday looking to salvage something from the weekend and after starting the main event in 29th, moved forward 18 positions to end his weekend in 11th.
Showing the strength of the Speed Concepts Racing program, Canadian and junior rookie Ayden Ingratta qualified his Redspeed machine in P10 on Friday. Moving forward in heat one to run inside the top-six and eventually claim an eighth place finish, Ingratta was a victim of contact on Sunday and even though he failed to complete a lap in the main event, learned a lot through the trials and tribulations of the event.
Speed added, “Congrats to all our drivers and our complete team. Thank you to SwedeTech Racing Engines for the power, and we are now on to our next event this coming weekend.”
Speed Concepts Racing will bring a trio of drivers to the Orlando Kart Center this weekend for the final round of the World Karting Association (WKA) Florida Winter Cup, but also the first event of the WKA Mid-Season Shootout. Chasing ROK Cup Superfinal and ROK the RIO prizes, Luca Mars, Paul Bocuse and Jack Jeffers will look to carry the momentum from this weekend into Orlando.
For more information on Speed Concepts Racing and the Redspeed Racing Kart, please contact Mike Speed via email to Mike@Speed-Concepts.com. Be sure to follow Speed Concepts Racing on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for news, results, information, and photos from the event. Find us at ‘Speed Concepts Racing’ or @SCR_Karting.
Photos: CanadianKartingNews.com