Kiwi karter Arie Hutton has come away with second place in the Super ROK Final at the Franciacorta Karting Track in Italy.
Following a win in yesterday’s third qualifying race, Hutton capitalised on a front row start for last night’s 20-lap finale to bully himself past polesitter Elliott Shaw to snatch an early lead.
Shaw dropped to sixth by the end on the opening lap, and Hutton was left to fend off Italian karter Cristian Comanducci in the dispute for the lead.
There the Kiwi led for the first 15 laps before he slipped behind the hard-charging Alex Machado. The karter from Andorra had started a lowly 14th but had come alive in the final to push himself through the pack, snaring the lead before eventually easing home for victory.
Hutton hung to second, putting in a late fightback to narrow the margin to Machado to under three-tenths while Comanducci rounded off the podium.
The other New Zealander in the field was Jacob Douglas. He had claimed two wins in the weekend’s earlier qualifying heats to put him in the box seat for the shot at the Junior ROK title.
After a false start saw the 30-plus strong field forced to circle for another formation lap, Douglas got an electric start from fourth to leap himself into second. There he was engaged in a three-way duel for the lead over the opening few tours.
However, Douglas’ pace began to fade as the race wore on, and he was demoted to fifth around the mid-way point.
Unfortunately, the 15-year-old’s race was eventually ended when he damaged his nose cone, resulting in him having to pit for repairs with just two laps remaining. He ultimately finished 29th.
Italian karter Riccardo Ianniello won the 16-lap finale.
The result could potentially have been very different for Douglas. He had provisionally won all three of his heat races the day before. But a post-race time penalty for a start infringement had him classified only 15th in Race 3, demoting him off the front row.
Images: Fast Company/Umberto Fraenkel/Sportinphoto